On Saturday, Yakovenko met with Rowley and his brother Matthew to discuss situation around inquiry into the poisoning incidents in Salisbury and Amesbury.
Rowley told the Sunday Mirror newspaper in an interview that Yakovenko said he would communicate the request to the president, and asked where Rowley would like to meet with Putin.
Moreover, the newspaper reported that, according to Rowley, Yakovenko promised to send him an e-mail after the latter talked to the president or in case he received any new information.
On 4 July 2018, the UK police reported a "serious incident" in Amesbury, where two people were exposed to an unknown substance and hospitalized in critical condition. Shortly thereafter, the police announced that the couple, Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley, were believed to have handled an item supposedly contaminated with the same military-grade nerve agent which was allegedly used in the March attack on the Skripals. Sturgess died in hospital on 8 July, while her boyfriend, Rowley, was discharged from hospital on 20 July.
Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were reportedly found unconscious on a bench at a shopping centre in Salisbury in March last year. The United Kingdom has accused Moscow of orchestrating the attack, with what UK experts claimed was the A234 nerve agent. Moscow has refuted the allegations and repeatedly pointed to the lack of evidence provided by London.