Scientist who accused Moscow of abusing his Novichok nerve agent for ‘state-level’ hits is found dead

Vladimir Uglev, a scientist who helped develop Novichok and later accused Moscow of using it in state-directed poisonings, has been found dead aged 80. His death highlights the history and human consequences of the nerve agent, which has been used against Kremlin critics and in the 2018 poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Britain.

Uglev died on 26 October, according to The Insider, but no cause of death or explanation for the delay in announcing it was reported. He worked on early Novichok agents in Soviet laboratories from 1975 to 1990, and said the Skripal attack was a “state-level hit”. Novichok was also used to poison Alexei Navalny in 2020; he survived, returned to Russia and died in prison in 2024.