Weapons watchdog: Nerve agent never declared

MOSCOW (AP) — The global chemical weapons watchdog says the class of nerve agents that Britain says was used to poison a Russian ex-spy and his daughter earlier this month has never been declared to the organization by any of its member states.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons also says that it "expects some action will be taken soon" in response to its offer to help the British investigation.

The OPCW didn't elaborate on what action could be taken, but the British representative to the organization said earlier this week that British authorities and police are working to allow the OPCW to independently verify the type of nerve agent used.

Britain says Russia is most likely behind the attack and alleges it involved a nerve agent known as Novichok.

The Kremlin has denounced British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson's claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the poisoning of an ex-spy as "shocking and inexcusable."

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies that Johnson's statement was "shocking and inexcusable breach of diplomatic propriety."

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said that it's "overwhelmingly likely" that Putin ordered the use of a nerve agent against former spy Sergei Skripal in the English city of Salisbury.

Peskov emphasized that "we have repeatedly said that Russia has no relation to that."