LONDON — Russian ex-double spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were likely poisoned using a military-grade nerve agent, according to Reuters. <br /><br />British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Monday it was "highly likely" they were poisoned using a military-grade nerve agent. <br /><br />Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, were discovered slumped over on a park bench in Salisbury on March 4. They are in critical, but stable condition in the hospital, according to BBC. <br />In front of parliament on Monday, May identified the chemical used in the attack as a group of nerve agents known as Novichok. <br /><br />The name means "newcomer" in Russian and refers to a group of advanced chemical agents secretly developed by the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s, according to BBC. <br /><br />One of the chemicals — A-230 — can kill a person within minutes and is reportedly five to eight times deadlier than VX nerve gas.<br /><br />Some come in liquid form, while other exist in a solid state. Some are also binary weapons, meaning they are stored separately, but when mixed produce the lethal nerve agent. <br /><br />Novichok agents were designed to evade detection by international insectors. <br /><br />The Foreign Office has called on Russia's ambassador to provide an explanation by Tuesday.
