[ad_1]
Britain charges two Russian men with poisoning former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, England, earlier this year.
Prosecutors said they had sufficient evidence to charge two men, identified as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, for conspiracy to attack.
Prime Minister Theresa May added Wednesday that the two men were Russian intelligence officers, also known as the GRU.
"Security and intelligence agencies have conducted their own investigations," May told parliament on Wednesday. "Today I can tell the House that the government has concluded that the two appointees are Russian intelligence agents."
Skripal previously worked as a military intelligence colonel at GRU, but he was recruited by British spies to convey state secrets. He was later arrested and jailed, but was pardoned and released to the UK by the Russian government in 2010.
May said that the authorization of the attack "almost certainly came" senior officials of the Russian government. She added that she would insist for more sanctions from the European Union against Russia because of the poisoning.
It is now thought that the two men are in Russia. The authorities plan to formally request by Interpol that the Russian police stop them.
The British police also published a detailed description of the location of the suspects in the run-up to the attack, as well as a series of images taken from the surveillance images of the two men in London and Salisbury.
Neil Basu, a senior official of the London Metropolitan Police Terrorism Unit, said the two men who had most likely traveled under pseudonyms and that Petrov and Boshirov were not able to -be not their real names.
It is estimated that the two suspects are 40 years old.
Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, collapsed in Salisbury in March after being exposed to Novichok, a nerve agent developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The two eventually left the hospital.
Poison in a bottle of perfume
A British couple in Amesbury, a town near Salisbury, was exposed to poison after coming in contact with a bottle of perfume containing it at the end of June.
The result was the death of Dawn Sturgess, who became ill after applying the substance to her wrists. The other victim, Charlie Rowley, left the hospital about two weeks after his collapse.
Rowley told the police that he had found a box containing perfume in a charity bin late June, more than three months after the collapse of the Skripals.
The box contained a bottle, purporting to come from the Nina Ricci designer brand, and an applicator, and Rowley seized poison when he tried to reunite the two rooms at home.
Tests conducted by the Ministry of Defense revealed that the bottle contained a "significant amount" of Novichok, the police said.
"The way the bottle was changed is no doubt that it was a blanket for the smuggling of the weapon in the country and the method of delivery for the attack against the door. entry of the Skripals, "said May.
Police said on Tuesday that the two incidents were linked.
The authorities said they thought the couple were not deliberately targeted but "have become victims of the carelessness with which such a toxic nerve agent has been eliminated".
Diplomatic relations between Britain and Russia suffered after London accused Moscow of being at the origin of the poisoning of the Skripals. The Kremlin has repeatedly denied being aware of the attack.
The location of the suspects
Police believe the two suspects were in the UK for only three days to carry out the attack. On Wednesday, the force indicated where the two suspects were following the Skripals' poisoning in March:
- March 2, 3 pm: The suspects arrive at Gatwick airport after taking off from Moscow with Aeroflot flight SU2588.
- 17h (approx): They travel by train to Victoria Station in central London. They then travel on London public transport.
- 18h to 19h: They spend about an hour in Waterloo before going to the City Stay Hotel on Bow Road, East of London, where they stay the next two nights.
- March 3, 11:45 am: They arrive at Waterloo Station from their hotel, where they take a train to Salisbury, where Skripal lives.
- 2:25 pm: They arrive at Salisbury. The police believe that this trip was intended for reconnaissance of the area and do not believe it poses a risk to the public at this stage.
- 4:10 pm: They leave Salisbury and arrive at their hotel four hours later.
- March 4, 8:05 am: The two men arrive at Waterloo Station to get to Salisbury.
- 4:45 pm: They return to London from Salisbury.
- 22:30: They leave London for Moscow from Heathrow Airport on Aeroflot SU2585 flight.
Skripal and her daughter collapsed on a bench in a Salisbury mall around 4:15 pm March 4th.
Source link
