Russian scourge treating UK to a bit of Novichok (5)
I believe the answer is:
knout
'russian scourge' is the definition.
'knout' can be an answer for 'scourge' (I've seen this in another clue). I am not certain of the 'russian' bit.
'treating uk to a bit of novichok' is the wordplay.
'treating' indicates an anagram.
'a bit of' says to take the initial letters.
The initial letter of 'novichok' is 'n'.
'uk'+'to'+'n'='ukton'
'ukton' anagrammed gives 'KNOUT'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for knout that I've seen before include "Flog" , "It was used to inflict punishment" , "Russian whip is finally not at home" , "Whip once used in Russia" .)