The British government has been accused of failing to address the rising threat of political poisonings in the UK after an A-Level student presented a report to the House of Lords highlighting its inaction.
Labour peer Baroness Kennedy KC, who chaired the panel in the Palace of Westminster on Thursday, highlighted Sophia Browder’s “revelatory” research but added it was “embarrassing” for the government that a 17 year-old was having to point out its shortcomings.
Sophia is the daughter of financier Bill Browder, formerly the largest portfolio investor in Russia before being declared a national security threat by Vladimir Putin in 2005.
Ms Browder said she felt compelled to conduct this research following the case of Vladimir Kara-Murza, a friend of her father’s who has been poisoned twice allegedly by affiliates of the Kremlin.
She studied 78 cases of political poisoning over the last 450 years, finding that instances of this form of extrajudicial killing had increased threefold in the last 70 years.
Her paper accused the government and local authorities of being “unprepared and ill-equipped” to deal with what has become “one of the primary ways of eliminating” dissidents abroad.
The accusations follow a warning from MI5 that such attacks could become another key way of carrying out terror attack that allows the regimes responsible to avoid responsibility.
Speaking toThe Independent, Ms Browder said: “At present the government doesn’t have adequate protocols in place to address it.
“Sometimes it’s easier to come in without any preconceived notions and just look at the facts. That’s what I tried to do and I’m sad to say that the issue of political poisoning is currently very real and at present the government doesn’t have adequate protocols in place to address it.”
Bill Browder is a leading international campaigner against corruption in Russia— (AFP via Getty Images)
Asked if she believed the cases could rise further given Russia’s heightened anti-Western status following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, she said it was highly likely.
In her research paper, she called for tighter border control measures to prevent lethal poisons entering the UK in the first place, and the introduction of ‘status cards’ that dissidents could carry to alert medics to their higher risk of poisoning if they do fall ill.
Baroness Kennedy welcomed the teenager’s research at the meeting.
“Politicians have been slow in responding to this threat and Sophia’s recommendations are sensible and not costly,” she said. “Her report is an invaluable tool for us.”
Marina Litvinenko, the widow of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko, who was killed after figures affiliated with the Kremlin poisoned him with radioactive polonium-210, said the report sent a “very strong message to politicians who try to ignore the threat”.
Alexander Litvinenko at the Intensive Care Unit of University College Hospital on November 20, 2006— (Getty)
Speaking after the hearing, Ms Browder’s father told The Independent he was among many living in London who have to face the uncertainty of being targeted.
“Putin has exponentially increased the use of poison to silence dissidents, opposition politicians and journalists,” he said. “Many, including myself and my colleagues, live in London and have to face the uncertainty of being targeted.
“It would help to know that the British government took this threat seriously and that we could be confident that there are protocols in place to deal with this.
“At the moment I’m afraid there are not and it’s every man for himself. Sophia’s policy recommendations go a long way to addressing these issues.”
