RUSSIAN MI6 SPY POISONED
Ex-agent collapses after exposure to mystery substance
A RUSSIAN jailed for being an MI6 spy has been found poisoned in a British street.
Sergei Skripal, 66, was exposed to a substance at Salisbury, Wilts. He is fighting for life. Police said: “We are keeping an open mind.”
A BRITISH city was at the centre of Russian spy murder plot fears last night after a former agent was found poisoned in the street.
Sergei Skripal, once jailed for treason in Moscow for working with MI6, was unconscious at a shopping centre along with a woman aged 33. They had been exposed to an “unknown substance” and were fighting for life in hospital.
As a specialist chemical response unit removed the substance, the A&E where the pair were taken was closed amid contamination fears.
Skripal, 66, had been granted refuge in Britain after he was one of four prisoners included in the most dramatic agent swap with the US since the Cold War.
One witness told of the drama at the Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury, Wilts, where the ex-spy and the woman collapsed. She said: “They looked like they’d taken something quite strong, they looked so out of it I wasn’t sure how I could help.”
They were taken to Salisbury District Hospital as the scene was examined for clues and a major incident declared.
Another A&E patient said the arrival of the pair sparked “chaos”. The man, in his mid-20s, said: “The staff said something to me about chemicals. “There was a green tent in the drop-off area and people in forensics clothes.” The A&E later reopened. Skripal and the three other Russian spies were exchanged in 2010 for 10 agents operating in the US including “femme fatale” Anna Chapman. The former colonel had been sentenced to 13 years in 2006 after being accused of passing identities of agents to MI6. He was later pardoned and flew to Britain where he led a quiet life in Salisbury. He decided to stay in Britain rather than continue to the US. Neighbours were shocked at hearing he was a spy.
One said: “He was the loveliest man, really friendly, I knew he was Russian but the idea he was a spy is incredible to us.”
Wiltshire Police assistant chief constable Craig Holden said Skripal and the woman were found unconscious on a bench at 4.15pm on Sunday. He added: “The pair, who we believe are known to each other, did not have any injuries.
“They are being treated for suspected exposure to an unknown substance. Both are currently in a critical condition.
“We retain an open mind. The focus is trying to establish what has caused these people to become critically ill.
“We currently do not believe there is any risk to the wider public.”