Novichok poisoning 'gives Russia strength to get away with it' survivor Charlie Rowley tells ITV News

Video report by ITV News Correspondent Juliet Bremner


Novichok poisoning survivor Charlie Rowley has told ITV News the latest chemical attack has "given Russia some strength to carry on and get away with it".

Nerve agent Novichok was used to poison Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, a move Chancellor Angela Merkel called "attempted murder".

Mr Navalny is being treated in a Berlin hospital and remains in a coma.

Mr Rowley told ITV News: "I felt devastated the fact that it happened again, I thought it was over but it clearly isn't.

"I think it gives the Russians some strength that they can carry on with their business and get away with it."

His partner, Dawn Sturgess, died after being exposed to the nerve agent in July 2018, following the attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury in March that year.



Ms Sturgess was exposed to the nerve agent when Mr Rowley presented her with a perfume bottle he had found, thinking it was a brand of designer fragrance

Mr Rowley survived coming in to contact with the chemical weapons, although it has had a lasting impact on his health.

Even after two years, he said he is "still left with problems with my eyesight in my right eye, I get out of breath and suffer from depression".

He added: "I suffered with memory, my eyesight was affected, and my general health, physical and mental.

"I lost the ability in my left arm for best part of a year and a half.

"Luckily my arm is better. I’m still left feeling lost and confused...

"When I heard about the other attack, I was in shock.

"The fact that it happened again made me feel that it could happen again any time and I believe that they feel they can get away with almost anything."

Dawn Sturgess died in hospital in Salisbury after exposure to Novichok. Credit: PA Wire/PA Images

Despite the fact it has been two years since he and his partner were poisoned, Mr Rowley said he feels as though "justice hasn't been served".

He said: "I feel justice hasn’t been served and I hope this new incident will bring on more news and we will get some truth.

"I think Russia will carry on denying it to the end."

He added: "I hope we will get justice in the end and find out who is to blame."

Mr Navalny, a politician and corruption investigator who is one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critics, fell ill on a flight back to Moscow from Siberia on August 20.

He was taken to hospital in the Siberian city of Omsk after the plane made an emergency landing.

He was later transferred to Berlin’s Charite hospital, where doctors last week said there were indications he had been poisoned.

Alexei Navalny is being treated in Germany Credit: AP/Pavel Golovkin, File

Boris Johnson condemned the attack on Wednesday saying: "It’s outrageous that a chemical weapon was used against Alexey Navalny."

The prime minister added: "We have seen first-hand the deadly consequences of Novichok in the UK."

"The Russian government must now explain what happened to Mr Navalny – we will work with international partners to ensure justice is done."