LONDON ¨C The sheer audacity of Russia¡¯s chemical-weapon attack on the U.K. can be traced through the journey of a small ¡ª and fake ¡ª Nina Ricci Premier Jour perfume bottle.
It contained Novichok, a lethal Soviet-era nerve agent, and was smuggled from Russia into Britain on a regular Aeroflot flight. Landing at Gatwick Airport ¡ª used by more than 45 million travelers a year ¡ª it passed through London Victoria and Waterloo train stations and a budget hotel on its way to Salisbury, a sleepy medieval town in southern England.
There, in broad daylight on a Sunday afternoon, it was sprayed onto the door handle at the home of a former Russian spy, Sergei Skripal.
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