RUSSIANS ‘MUST BE EXHUMED’

® THE bodies of two Russian exiles who died in mysterious circumstances in Britain could be dug up to see if they were poisoned.

Neither Badri Patarkatsishvili nor Alexander Perepilichny were tested for exposure to nerve agents.

Meanwhile, poison victims Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, are still fighting for life in hospital.

Mr Patarkatsishvili, who had been living in the UK since 2001, was found dead at his mansion in Leatherhead, Surrey, 10 years ago, aged 52.

He was a business partner of Boris Berezovsky – Russian president Vladimir Putin’s arch enemy – who was found dead at his Surrey home in 2013.

Mr Perepilichny collapsed while jogging near his home in St George's Hill, Surrey, in 2012, aged 43. He had provided evidence of fraud committed by Kremlin-linked officials.

Their deaths are among 14 Home Secretary Amber Rudd has ordered to be investigated again following the attacks on the Skripals in Salisbury, Wilts.

A friend of Mr Patarkatsishvili said: “The Home Office must consider exhuming Badri’s body.

“They never did the toxicological report on Badri.

“Surrey Police just said he had a bad heart and had a heart attack.

“But I had seen him before his death and he was absolutely fine.”

A former associate of Mr Perepilichny called for his body to be exhumed as well.

Yvette Cooper, Labour chairman of the Home Affairs Committee, said: “It is clear that further criminal investigations are needed into the activities of the Russian state on our soil.”

Yesterday officials from the Organisation of the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons arrived to examine the Novichok nerve agent used to target the Skripals.

Russian officials claim it could have come from Porton Down defence labs eight miles from Salisbury.

Last night the Met said about 250 counter terrorism detectives were working “round the clock” on the case.