The creator of the nerve agent "Novice" Vil Mirzayanov believes that in Russia did not expect that after the poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal, traces of the substance will be found.

The scientist said this, commenting on the journalists' statement that the attempt on Skripal "was emphatically demonstrative," Radio Liberty reports..

"This is really demonstrative punishment, but, in my opinion, Moscow was confident that no traces of the substance will be detected. This "drug" does not officially exist, it is not mentioned in any of the lists of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Almost 30 years, no one has been engaged in its development. It is obvious to me that Moscow was counting on the fact that no one will catch them, "Mirzayanov said..

In addition, according to him, "Novice" has the effect of deferred action.

As Mirzayanov said in an interview with the BBC, people who could have been in contact with the Novice had to be examined for a long time in a clinical setting.

"Alas, these substances have a so-called deferred action," said the chemist.

He explained that the particles of the substance can get on the skin and then gradually penetrate the body, as a result of which it gets irreversible damage.

At the same time, Mirzayanov is pessimistic about treating people who have been poisoned with this substance. The scientist spoke about one of the creators of the "Novice", who died due to accidental poisoning.

"My friend Andrey Zheleznyakov, who was working on the binary version of this Novice, was amazed at the time of his work, he started a miosis. And he said so: "Guys, I seem to have got caught". And he was introduced an antidote and all the rest, but in the long run, when they reached Taganka in Moscow, he fell just. And then he was taken to the Sklifosofsky Institute, years and years he was tried to treat (Zheleznyakov, who suffered a poisoning "Novichkom" in 1987, became disabled and died in 1992 - Ed.. ), - said Mirzayanov.