UK defense lab: No ID yet for source of nerve agent

Putin hopes chemical watchdog will put an end to ongoing dispute

LONDON - The British military facility analyzing the nerve agent used to poison a spy said on Tuesday it could not prove the substance was made in Russia, as Russian President Vladimir Putin put his hopes in a meeting with the world's chemical weapons watchdog.

Gary Aitkenhead, chief executive of the Porton Down defense laboratory, told Britain's Sky News that analysts had identified the substance as military-grade Novichok, the word used for a category of nerve agents developed in Soviet times.