On 15 March, the United Kingdom, together with allies Germany, France and the United States, issued a collective statement regarding the allegation that the assassination attempt on ex-spy Sergey Skripal and his daughter Yulia were orchestrated by agencies in the Russian Federation:
CNN International reported today that Great Britain deployed some 180 specialist troops on Friday, March 9th, to remove potentially contaminated objects from the English city where two former Russians were poisoned with a nerve agent. Sergey Skripal, aged 66 and his daughter Yulia, 33, are presently in intensive care and have been there ever since they were found unconscious on a bench Sunday afternoon, March 4, in the city of Salisbury.
