*NERVES AND AGENTS*

LONDON : Russian former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with a nerve toxin that-

Had been left on the front door of their home in England, British counter-terrorism police said on Wednesday.

After the first known use of a military-grade nerve agent on European soil since World War II.

British blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for the attempted assassination.

Russia, has denied using Novichok, a nerve agent first developed by the Soviet military, to attack Skripal.

Moscow has said it suspects the British-secret services are trying to frame Russia to stoke anti-Russian hysteria.

''We believe the Skripals first came into contact with nerve agent from their front door,'' said Britain's senior national coordinator for counter-terrorism policing.

''Specialists have identified the highest concentration of the  nerve agent, to date, as being on the door of the address,'' Scotland Yard said in a statement.

The attempted murder of Skripal, a 66-year old former Colonel in Russian military intelligence who betrayed dozens of Russian agents, to Britain's MI6 spy service, has plunged Moscow's relations with the West to a new post-Cold War low.

British lawmakers launched a new inquiry into money-laundering, sanctions and economic crime, with a particular focus on properties bought with so-called ''dirty money'' [Reuters].