Boris Johnson says spy poisoning was Russian message to potential defectors

Giving evidence to the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, Foreign Secretary Mr Johnson said the trail of evidence on the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury led "inexorably" to the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Mr Johnson said: "As we saw in the case of the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, the trail of responsibility for such assassinations and assassination attempts does lead inexorably back to the Kremlin."