UK charges third Russian agent over Novichok attack
LONDON: Britain on Tuesday warned three Russian intelligence officers wanted for a 2018 Novichok attack on a former double agent in the English city of Salisbury that they face arrest and prosecution if they ever leave their home country.
UK home secretary Priti Patel said Britain “will not tolerate such malign activity” and said it applied for an Interpol notice to detain and extradite all three from abroad if given the chance.
“Should any of these individuals ever travel outside Russia, we will work with our international partners to take every possible step to detain them and face justice,” she told parliament.
Patel’s warning came after prosecutors said there‘s evidence to charge a third Russian man with the attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. Counterterrorism detectives said it was in public interest to charge Denis Sergeev who went by the alias “Sergey Fedotov”, with conspiracy to murder.
Skripal and his daughter were left fighting for their lives after the attack in 2018 while a cop probing the case fell ill and a woman who came into contact with the nerve agent later died.
The incident soured diplomatic ties between Britain and Russia that were already strained by the 2006 radiation poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko. The announcement of a third suspect came as Europe’s top rights court ruled that Russia was responsible for the murder of Litvinenko, a dissident former agent who accused President Vladimir Putin before his death.
Moscow rejected the court’s claim as well as renewed British allegations the Kremlin was behind the Skripal attack. “We resolutely condemn all attempts by London to shift responsibility onto Moscow,” said foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.