Russian spies ‘tried to hack Swiss lab’ for Novichok test
TWO Russian spies were arrested in the Netherlands in the immediate aftermath of the Salisbury poisonings as they allegedly attempted to hack into the computers of the Swiss laboratory analysing the Soviet-developed Novichok, it has emerged.
The pair were detained in The Hague and extradited back to Russia following an intelligence operation run in conjunction with British, Dutch and Swiss agents.
Their arrest in March is said to have been directly linked to the world-renowned Spiez laboratory near Bern that tested the military-grade nerve agent used in the attempted assassination of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal.
Several sources told Swiss newspapers the pair were arrested on suspicion of preparing to target the lab. They reportedly had equipment which would allow them to break into its computer system.
The arrests throw a further spotlight on the two countries to which Mr Skripal’s would-be assassins travelled several times in the months leading up to the attack, increasing suspicions they could be key locations for Russian agents embroiled in the plot.
Flight records seen by the ‘Daily Telegraph’ show that Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov made at least six separate trips to Geneva between November 2017 and February this year. They also travelled in and out of Amsterdam, both separately and together.
Mr Petrov and Mr Boshirov this week insisted in a widely ridiculed television interview they had gone to Salisbury as tourists to visit its cathedral, “famous for its 123m spire and its clock”.
Isabelle Graber, head of communications at Swiss intelligence service FIS, confirmed the two unidentified Russians, not thought to be Mr Petrov and Mr Boshirov, had been arrested earlier this year in The Hague.
She said: “The Swiss authorities are aware of the case of suspected Russian spies discovered in The Hague and expelled. The FIS participated actively in this operation together with its Dutch and British partners.”
The Skripals were poisoned in Salisbury on March 4.
Novichok samples used in the attack were tested at the UK defence laboratory in Porton Down before being collected by inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) on March 19.
Inspectors also collected blood samples from Mr Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, who at the time were in a critical condition under heavy sedation, to conduct their own analysis. The Spiez laboratory subsequently confirmed British assertions the Skripals had been targeted with Novichok. The laboratory has also investigated poison gas attacks by the Syrian regime, which is backed by the Kremlin. (© Daily Telegraph, London)