PRAGUE, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Czech Chamber of Deputies foreign affairs committee on Thursday adopted a resolution stating that no type of the Novichok nerve agent was ever produced or stored in the territory of the country, said Czech Defence Minister Karla Slechtova.
Speaking at a press conference after the committee's meeting, Slechtova said that the committee dealt with the reports of secret services on the occurrence of Novichok in the Czech Republic.
"I can disclose the public information that the meeting resulted in a resolution in which the committee says that the Novichok agent was never produced or stored in Czech Republic," Slechtova said.
Lubomir Zaoralek, chairman of the committee, said the deputies from all the parties had accepted the explanations and facts delivered to them by experts. He said the basic information for the public is that no such substances were produced in the Czech Republic.
Last week, Czech President Milos Zeman said that according to a report provided by military intelligence, Novichok was produced and tested in small quantity in the country.
Following Zeman's statement, Czech Defence Ministry said within a defence program launched in 2017, a Czech military institute used microscopic amount of the A230 substance for testing. The A230 substance is different from the A234 substance, which was allegedly used in the poisoning of the ex-double agent Sergei Skripal in Britain in March, Czech government spokeswoman Barbora Peterova said.
Czech Defence Ministry dismissed the notion that the substance could have got out from the laboratories.
Slechtova reiterated on Thursday that the preparation of Novichok for laboratory tests could not be considered as production or storing. She said any preparation by means of microsynthesis for subsequent analysis is not production.