What is Novichok? How lethal is Soviet-era nerve agent found in Alexi Navalny's samples?

Novichok, a lethal nerve agent, has been in the news recently for its alleged use on the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. It's a highly-toxic chemical weapon first developed by the Soviet Union at the peak of the Cold War.

The nerve agent, which dates back to the time when both the United States and Soviet powers were developing their own chemical weapons arsenal, was designed to achieve few major objectives -  to beat the NATO's chemical detection equipment during the 1970s-80s and defeat NATO's chemical weapon gear while being safer to handle. 

Read: German Doctors Find Soviet-era Nerve Agent Novichok In Alexei Navalny's Samples

How lethal can it be? 

A few milligrams of the nerve agent is said to be enough to kill a person within minutes. The odorless agent that is equivalent to the weight of a snowflake causes slowing of the heart function and difficulty in breathing, leading to the death of the person by asphyxiation.

The nerve agent can also be carried as a binary weapon, where another chemical as a precursor is added just prior to its use to make it more lethal. It makes the substance safe to handle. The chemical agent can be delivered in various forms, such as liquid, gas, powder, including bombs, missiles, etc.

The agent could remain deadly for a long time as it can also be used by spraying on surfaces or fabrics as it was done in the Salisbury case in 2018, where the agent was sprayed on the door of a house in the Eglish city in an attempt to kill a former Russian officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. That was also the last time when the infamous nerve agent was in the news.  It is believed that the traces of the nerve agent can disappear from the body after some time. 

Read: Germany Faces Pressure To Drop Russian Pipeline Project Over Navalny's Poisoning

Navalny in 'medically-induced coma'

One of Russian President Vladimir Putin's staunchest critics, Alexei Navalny has been in the headlines since he fell sick under mysterious circumstances on a flight back to Moscow from Siberia on Aug 20. He was rushed to a hospital in the Siberian city of Omsk after the plane made an emergency landing and has been in a coma ever since.

Navalny's supports were quick to suspect he had been poisoned but Russian authorities had denounced the allegations and expressed concerns over this well being.

After much debate over his transfer, Navalny was later moved to Berlin’s Charite hospital, where doctors last week admitted to indications of poisoning. His spokesperson on August 28 had informed that the Russian critic is facing no serious threat to life as he remains in a medically-induced coma with ventilator support. 

(With AP Inputs)

Read: Russia 'must Answer' Questions About Alexei Navalny's Poisoning: Merkel

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