WE’RE NOT SPIES WE’RE TOURISTS!
Novichok suspects in ‘ridiculous’ TV claim
THE suspected Russian assassins wanted over the Novichok poisonings yesterday claimed they were innocent tourists.
Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov insisted they visited Salisbury to see Stonehenge and the city’s cathedral.
And they said claims they sprayed the nerve agent on the door handle of Sergei Skripal’s home there were “complete bulls**t”.
The pair denied they were members of Russia’s GRU military intelligence service sent to Britain to kill ex-double agent Mr Skripal.
Instead, they maintained they had gone to visit the “wonderful” Wiltshire city where he lived.
Petrov and Boshirov went on Russia’s state-backed RT TV to claim they were victims of a UK smear campaign. They said it had left them scared to leave their homes.
Police obtained European arrest
TARGET: Ex spy Sergei Skripal warrants for the pair alleging their 48-hour trip to Britain in March was to assassinate Mr Skripal, 67.
Detectives say the Russians sprayed Novichok from a fake Nina Ricci pump-action perfume bottle on to his door handle.
He, his daughter Yulia, 33, and Det Sgt Nick Bailey, 38, who visited the house probing the attack, were left fighting for life after being exposed to the nerve agent. Dawn Sturgess, 44, died two months later when she unwittingly sprayed Novichok on her wrists after boyfriend Charlie Rowley found a perfume bottle in a bin.
The Russian duo – who yesterday claimed they work in the “fitness industry” – were caught on CCTV heading to Mr Skripal’s house moments before the attack.
But Petrov insisted they only visited Salisbury because friends had been “telling us for some time we should visit this extraordinary town”.
Boshirov rejected claims they smuggled Novichok into Britain in the bogus perfume bottle. He said: “No, that’s complete bulls**t.”
Last night security sources called the pair’s claims “beyond ridiculous”. Downing Street said they were “lies and blatant fabrication”.
The Star Says: Page 6