Are these the Novichok poisoners?
▶ British PM said two military intelligence agents were behind attack on Skripal and his daughter
Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May said two suspects accused of poisoning a former Russian spy and his daughter in Salisbury, southern England, worked for Russian military intelligence.
English police yesterday released the names and photographs of two Russian nationals they believed carried out the attack in March on Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33.
Mrs May repeated her government’s assertion, first made in March, that Russia was responsible for the attack.
She said that the government had since concluded that the men were from the GRU intelligence agency.
“This was not a rogue operation. It was almost certainly also approved outside the GRU at a senior level of the Russian state,” Mrs May told MPs yesterday.
The two suspects are believed to have travelled to Britain on authentic Russian passports under the aliases Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov. Police said they were thought to be aged “about 40”.
Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said the photos were released in the hope that a member of the public would recognise the men.
The Crown Prosecution Service announced yesterday that there was now enough evidence to charge Mr Petrov and Mr Boshirov, who were thought to have returned to Russia after the attack.
The charges include conspiracy to murder Mr Skripal and causing grievous bodily harm to Yulia Skripal and Nick Bailey, a police officer who became ill after attending to the Skripals after their poisoning.
The CPS said that it would not be applying to have the two suspects extradited from Russia because Moscow does not allow extradition of its nationals.
The Kremlin has consistently denied involvement. The Russian Foreign Ministry yesterday said that the names and photographs of the men released by British police “do not mean anything to Moscow”.
Mr Basu said the two suspects arrived at Gatwick Airport from Moscow on March 2, two days before the poisoning.
Mr Petrov and Mr Boshirov stayed in Bow, East London, for two nights, travelling by train on March 3 to Salisbury for what police believe was a “reconnaissance” trip of the area, returning to London that day.
The pair went back to Salisbury the next day, where police believe they contaminated Mr Skripal’s front door with Novichok. CCTV footage shows them in the area around Mr Skripal’s house.
They returned to London after the attack, boarding a flight to Moscow from Heathrow Airport on the evening of March 4.
Police also released more information about the Novichok poisoning of two Amesbury residents, Charlie Rowley and Dawn Sturgess, believed to have been the victims of secondary contamination.
Mr Rowley, 45, and his partner, Ms Sturgess, 44, became ill on June 30 after coming into contact with the substance in a contaminated container, which was labelled as a Nina Ricci perfume.
Sturgess died in hospital just more than a week later. Mr Rowley, who was also treated in hospital, has been discharged.
On Tuesday, the international chemical weapons watchdog confirmed the two had been poisoned by the same agent used to poison the Skripals.
“We have now linked the attack on the Skripals and the events in Amesbury that affected Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley,” Mr Basu said.