The discovery a nerve agent of a type developed by Russia was used in the attempted murder of a former Kremlin spy has sparked worldwide outrage.
And Mr Browder said: “Let’s be clear: the only person who has the authority to make such a decision is Putin.
“No individual or group would take such a risk, one for which they would pay a catastrophic price.”
He told France’s Le Figaro newspaper: “Everyone has been taken by surprise by the new level of escalation and by the new level of provocation.
“It’s as though Vladimir Putin is testing the limits of what the outside world will accept.”
Mr Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, have been in hospital in a critical condition since they were found slumped unconscious on a bench outside a shopping centre in Salisbury in what Britain has described as a state-sponsored attempted murder.
British Prime Minister Theresa May blamed the attack on Moscow on Tuesday after it was found that the Soviet-made nerve agent Novichok – a deadly chemical weapon of military grade – had been used to poison the ex-spy.
Mrs May was quick to retaliate against Russia after the Kremlin refused to offer an explanation for the attack, giving 23 Russian diplomats identified as “undeclared intelligence officers” one week to leave the country and saying that British officials and the Royal family would not be attending the upcoming Russia-hosted World Cup.
When asked why Mr Putin would risk tainting his image by ordering an assassination on British soil just weeks before Russia’s presidential election, Mr Browder said that the Russian leader had wanted to warn traitors that they would end up dead if they betrayed him.
He said: “The logic [behind the attack] is simple: force military and intelligence officials to rally behind Mr Putin. What he’s saying is: ‘Don’t even think of betraying me, because if you do, you know what will happen to you. We will find you and we will come after you and your family’.”
“The fact that the scandal erupted days before the election is to Mr Putin’s advantage. The Russians are angry. And so he’s purposely deflecting this anger on to the West so that it’s no longer aimed at him.”
The anti-Kremlin activist said the international community needs to “wake up” to the Russia threat. But Britain is also to blame for the diplomatic rift between London and Moscow, Mr Browder said.
He said: “The British government is in part responsible for the current situation because of its failure to respond to the 2006 murder of [former Russian spy Alexander] Litvinenko. This passivity gave Russia carte blanche to hit again.”