‘Overwhelmingly Likely’ That Putin Ordered Spy’s Poisoning, Britain Says

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson of Britain said on Friday that it was “overwhelmingly likely” that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia personally ordered the nerve agent attack against a former Russian spy this month.

Mr. Johnson’s remarks were a significant escalation in the dispute between London and Moscow, directly linking the Russian leader to the poisoning of Sergei V. Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in the English city of Salisbury.

“Our quarrel is with Putin’s Kremlin and with his decision, and we think it overwhelmingly likely that it was his decision to direct the use of a nerve agent on the streets of the U.K., on the streets of Europe, for the first time since the Second World War,” Mr. Johnson said at a news conference. “That is why we’re at odds with Russia”.