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Ruslan Boshirov, left, and Alexander Petrov attend their first public appearance in an interview with the Kremlin-funded RT television station in Moscow, Russia on Thursday, September 13, 2018. (AP)
MOSCOW – The two men named by Britain as suspects in the assassination attempt on a former Russian spy said on Thursday that they were just visiting the small English town and had been falsely accused.
Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov denied using a Novichok-based military-class nuclear officer against Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia during their one-hour ride in Salisbury in March.
"Maybe we have passed Skripal's house, but we do not know where he is," Boshirov said.
"For a while, our friends told us to visit this beautiful city," Petrov added.
The two men look like pictures of security cameras published by British police detailing their case against men.
Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov walk on Fisherton Road, Salisbury, England, March 4, 2018. (Metropolitan Police / AP)
The men admitted that they had gone to Salisbury, where they could admire its famous cathedral and its ancient clock, but their trip was interrupted because of snow and slush in the streets.
Pictures published by Scotland Yard show the pair walking on a largely unobstructed sidewalk, with a light layer of snow in the corners.
When asked if they were transporting Novichok with them, Petrov and Boshirov laughed at it. "Do not you think it would be silly for real men to have women's perfumes with them?"
John Glen, a member of Salisbury's parliament, called their statements non-credible. He tweeted that he was "delighted" that the men had been able to visit Salisbury's "world-class attractions," but said that it was "very strange to go all the way for two days while carrying Novichok in their luggage. "
"The Petrov / Borishov statements are not credible and do not correspond to the widely accepted information we have about these people," he said.
The interview comes a day after the president Vladimir Putin said the two men were not criminals, overturning his government's earlier claims that the names given by London were meaningless.
Karla Adam in London contributed to the report.
Read more:
Putin says that two men accused by Britain of espionage poisoning are only "ordinary citizens"
United States, 3 other countries, support Britain on the role of Russia in the poisoning of the former spy
What is Novichok? The poison used against a former Russian spy
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