Kremlin: This is a matter of verification
RUSSIA bizarrely demanded more information yesterday to help identify the two men behind the nerve agent attacks in Salisbury.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said: “It is necessary to identify these people, whether there are such citizens or not. This is a matter of verification.
“We want to do this as quickly and efficiently as possible, so we once again call on the United Kingdom to help identify these people.”
But the UK Government believes the Kremlin knows both men, who have been named as spies from Russia’s GRU military intelligence.
DECONTAMINATING
The pair, operating under the aliases Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, were pictured on CCTV arriving at Gatwick before the attack in March. They were pictured going to Salisbury by train twice – the second time to apparently daub novichok on Sergei Skripal’s door handle.
Meanwhile, specialist military teams began decontaminating the house where ex-spy Sergei, 67, and daughter Yulia, 33, were poisoned.
Scotland Yard handed control of the site over to Wiltshire Council earlier this week, meaning it is no longer classed as a crime scene.
Council sources said they had to get permission from Sergei, who still owns the property, to begin the work.
Locals have called for the house to be demolished, with one saying: “Enough is enough, why don’t they just raze that bloody house of horrors and be done with it so we can all go back to normal?”