Police ‘are sure’ Russian agents were responsible for Novichok attacks in UK
British police say they have identified several Russian suspects from security camera footage collected after a nerve agent attack targeting a former double agent, according to a report on Thursday.
Investigators have crosschecked footage from security cameras in the English city of Salisbury with aircraft passenger records and are “sure” those behind the attack in March are Russians, according to a source cited by the Press Association.
Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, have been released from hospital, but a woman unconnected with the Skripals died this month after unwittingly spraying herself with the Novichok agent after retrieving a discarded perfume bottle.
Details of the suspects were released as an inquest into the death of Dawn Sturgess, 44, opened. She died eight days after coming into contact with Novichok reportedly from the same batch used in the attempted murders of the Skripals.
The bottle was found during a search of the home of her partner, Charlie Rowley, 45, in Amesbury, about 15 kilometres from where the Skripals live. He remains in hospital and has been able to provide police with evidence.
The day before they were stricken, the pair were known to have visited a public park close to where Mr Skripal and his daughter were found slumped on a bench in March.
Mr Rowley and Sturgess later caught a bus together to Amesbury, where they became ill.
The area where Mr Skripal was found is covered by security cameras. The high-definition footage is sharp enough to identify car number plates, according to Salisbury City Council leader Matthew Dean.
“Investigators believe they have identified the suspected perpetrators of the Novichok attack through CCTV and have cross-checked this with records of people who entered the country around that time,” the source told PA. “They [the investigators] are sure they [the suspects] are Russian.”
Police were on Wednesday carrying out a finger-tip search of the park. The British government claimed Russia’s link to the development of Novichok, the Kremlin’s history of targeted assassinations in the UK – including the murder of former spy Alexander Litvinenko in 2006 using radioactive material – and the rarity of the nerve agent point to Russian state involvement.
The attack resulted in a titfor-tat expulsion of diplomats by the UK, its allies and Russia.
It also prompted the UK to successfully push for changes at the global chemical weapons watchdog that would allow inspectors to attribute blame for attacks involving banned substances.
Russia has denied that it was behind the attack.
President Vladimir Putin told US broadcaster Fox News this week that unspecified issues could have been responsible for the death and injuries.
“We recently heard that two people suffered,” he said.
“I have never even heard the names of these people. What kind of package? What chemical formula?
“Maybe there is some other reason for death.”