Russian spies tried to hack lab where experts were testing Salisbury novichok
RUSSIAN spies tried to steal data from a laboratory examining the nerve agent used in the Salisbury attack, it emerged yesterday.
The pair, arrested in The Hague in the Netherlands, were reportedly on their way to the Spiez centre near Bern in Switzerland.
They were carrying equipment that would have allowed them to hack into the laboratory’s computer systems and steal data or sensitive documents, a Swiss newspaper claimed. The arrests followed a joint operation by the British, Dutch and Swiss secret services.
The full details were not made public at the time, but the Dutch did announce in March the expulsions of ‘two Russian intelligence agents working at the Russian embassy’.
It is unclear why the pair were in The Hague, which hosts the headquarters of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
Isabelle Graber, head of communications at the Swiss Federal Intelligence Service, said in a statement yesterday: ‘The Swiss authorities are aware of the case of Russian spies identified in The Hague and expelled from there.
‘The FIS took an active part in this operation together with its Dutch and British partners. The FIS has thus con- tributed to preventing illegal activity targeting critical Swiss infrastructure.’
The Russian embassy in Bern dismissed the account, saying: ‘ We consider such false statements simply absurd and nothing other than another attempt to stoke an anti-Russian atmosphere.’
The Russian foreign ministry said it did not know who the reports were referring to, and called on European officials to release more information.
Sergei Skripal, a former Russian military officer and double agent for MI6, and his daughter, Yulia, were poisoned in Salisbury on March 4.
That month the OPCW provided samples to designated laboratories abroad to corroborate the finding of British scientists at Porton Down, near Salisbury. The Spiez laboratory subsequently confirmed their claim that the Skripals had been victims of the military-grade nerve agent novichok.
In April Russia’s foreign minister said he had received a report from the Spiez laboratory that showed the poison to be western-made. But intelligence sources said Sergei Lavrov could not have received the analysis report legally.
The centre, which was also investigating poison gas attacks by the Russian-backed Assad regime in Syria, advises countries and international organisations on arms control and environmental protection.
Earlier this year it confirmed that it was the target of hackers but said no data was compromised. The Dutch government has declined to comment on the expulsions.
On Thursday Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, the two men accused of executing the attack in Salisbury, gave an interview to Russian state television claiming they were visiting the city as tourists. They described themselves as fitness product salesmen who were only there to visit the cathedral, which they described as ‘famous not just in Europe but in the whole world’.
Petrov and Boshirov are not linked to the Swiss incident. However, Petrov admitted the pair had visited that country, too.
He said: ‘If memory serves me well, we had just a couple of trips to Switzerland. We spent some time during the new year holidays there. Our trips are not always business-related. We went to Switzerland on holiday. We did have some business trips there as well, but I can’t really remember when.’
Downing Street said the interview contained ‘blatant lies’.
Mr Lavrov yesterday said Britain was using the Salisbury case to rally European partners behind it at a time when Brexit was isolating London.
‘There are no facts which we can address meaningfully,’ he told reporters in Berlin after meeting German counterpart Heiko Maas. ‘It is pointless to have this discussion and we confirmed to our German partners that we see no proof.’
‘Data and sensitive documents’