London, September 5
British prosecutors on Wednesday charged two Russian nationals, described as officers from the Russian military intelligence service GRU, with the attempted murder of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter with a deadly nerve agent in the UK earlier this year.
There was “sufficient evidence” to charge two Russian nationals, Scotland Yard said.
The suspects, named as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, believed to be in their 40s and using the names as aliases, Scotland Yard and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said in a statement.
In an update to the House of Commons, British Prime Minister Theresa May pointed the finger of blame directly at the Russian government. The 66-year-old former Russian double agent and his daughter Yulia, 33, were found unconscious on a shopping centre bench in the southern English town of Salisbury on March 4. They spent weeks in hospital in critical condition before Yulia being released in April and Sergei in May. They had been sent to an undisclosed location.
Britain blamed Russia for poisoning them with a military-grade nerve agent, Novichok, developed by the Soviet military in the 1970s and 1980s, a charge vehemently denied by Moscow.
The poisoning had sparked a Cold War-style diplomatic crisis between Russia and the West, including the expulsion of hundreds of diplomats from both sides.
Terming the incident in March as “appalling”, May said the chemical weapons attack on the UK soil was part of a wider pattern of Russian behaviour that persistently seeks to undermine the UK’s security and that of its allies around the world.
“We know that the GRU has played a key part in malign Russian activity in recent years. The actions of the GRU are a threat to all our allies and to all our citizens,” she said, adding that the UK and its allies would continue to undermine Russia’s efforts to undermine the international rules-based system.
Scotland Yard gave some details of its investigation into the chemical attack and the movement of the two suspects, who were caught on CCTV footage conducting reconnaissance around their target of Skripals’ home in Salisbury.
“We now have sufficient evidence to bring charges in relation to the attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury and domestic and European arrest warrants have been issued for the two suspects. We are also seeking to circulate Interpol Red Notices,” said Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, the UK’s National Lead for Counter Terrorism Policing.
“We know that Novichok was applied to the Skripals’ front door in an area that is accessible to the public, which also endangered the lives of members of the public and emergency service responders,” Basu said. — PTI
Suspects intelligence officers: May
- In the House of Commons, PM Theresa May laid the blame with the Russian state, describing the suspects, Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, as officers in Moscow’s GRU military intelligence
- “Based on a body of intelligence, the government has concluded that the two individuals are officers from the Russian military intelligence service, also known as the GRU,” May said
- “The GRU is a highly disciplined organisation with a well-established chain of command,” she said
UK move means nothing: Moscow
- Russia’s foreign ministry said the names given by Britain did not mean anything to Moscow, which has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attack
- Kremlin aide Sergei Ushakov said on Wednesday that it was hard to understand what Britain was trying to signal to Moscow by as these names were apparently aliases
- Former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and and his daughter Yulia, 33, were reportedly attacked with Novichok, a military-grade nerve agent in Salisbury on March 4
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