Skripal ‘did have meeting with Czech spies about the Russians’

SERGEI Skripal told European intelligence services about Russian spies in their countries, a Czech intelligence source said yesterday.

Double agent Mr Skripal, who was poisoned in Salisbury in March, had ‘crucial information on how the Russian system works, how they work abroad’, the source claimed.

There had been reports in that Mr Skripal, who was recruited by MI6 in 1995, had visited Prague in 2012. The source told news agency AFP said: ‘Yes, something like that did happen. The participants in the meeting considered it most beneficial. When an intelligence agency, whether British or American, recruits someone like this, they use him for this purpose.

‘They offered him to allies, not only to the Czech Republic.’

Mr Skripal, 66, remains in hospital after the nerve agent attack on him and his daughter Yulia, 33.