UK MILITARY TO PROBE RUSSIAN SPY ATTACK

London, March 9: British police requested military assistance in investigating a nerve agent attack on a former Russian double agent as speculation mounted on Friday about how London could respond if a state actor were to blame.

Police extended the cordon around the modest suburban home of Sergei Skripal in Salisbury where he and his daughter Yulia were found slumped on a bench on Sunday.

The pair remain unconscious in a critical, but stable condition, while Nick Bailey, one of the first police officers on the scene, is now sitting up and talking after initially being admitted to intensive care.

With police also hurt in the attack, pressure is intensifying on Prime Minister Theresa May to find and punish the culprits.

The involvement of “a British citizen, especially a policeman, requires the immediate and strong involvement of the British authorities,” Chatham House analyst Mathieu Boulegue said.

Around 21 people have been treated, according to Kier Pritchard, chief constable for Wiltshire Police. “A number of those have been through the hospital treatment process, they’re having blood tests, they’re having treatment in terms of support and advice,” he added. Authorities are racing to find the source of the nerve agent used against 66- year- old Skripal, who came to Britain in 2010 as part of a spy swap, as politicians warned it bore the hallmarks of an attack by Russia.

The involvement of a British citizen, especially a cop, requires the immediate and strong involvement of the British authorities — MATHIEU BOULEGUE, Chatham House analyst