London: Britain will invest 48 million pounds in a new chemical weapons defence centre and vaccinate thousands of British soldiers against anthrax, the defence minister said on Thursday after the nerve agent poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain.
"We are investing 48 million pounds (54 million euros, $67 million) in a new Chemical Weapons Defence Centre to maintain our cutting edge in chemical analysis and defence," Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said in a speech.
Williamson said the centre would be based at the existing Porton Down facility, a secretive British army base which analysed the nerve gas used to poison former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the city of Salisbury on March 4.
The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory its official name employs 3,000 scientists across a sprawling rural site, and has an annual budget of 500 million pounds.
In the 1950s scientists at Porton Down developed non-lethal CS gas, better known as tear gas, as well as the deadly nerve agent VX.
"If we doubted the threat Russia poses to our citizens, we only have to look at the shocking example of their reckless attack in Salisbury," Williamson said on Thursday.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
"We are investing 48 million pounds (54 million euros, $67 million) in a new Chemical Weapons Defence Centre to maintain our cutting edge in chemical analysis and defence," Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said in a speech.
Williamson said the centre would be based at the existing Porton Down facility, a secretive British army base which analysed the nerve gas used to poison former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the city of Salisbury on March 4.
The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory its official name employs 3,000 scientists across a sprawling rural site, and has an annual budget of 500 million pounds.
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In the 1950s scientists at Porton Down developed non-lethal CS gas, better known as tear gas, as well as the deadly nerve agent VX.
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"If we doubted the threat Russia poses to our citizens, we only have to look at the shocking example of their reckless attack in Salisbury," Williamson said on Thursday.
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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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