The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
UK rejects Salisbury suspects’ claim they were just tourists
Russia accused of lies after pair tell state-run TV they wanted to visit city during weekend trip to UK
Britain has accused Russia of responding with “obfuscation and lies” after the prime suspects in the Salisbury nerve agent attack claimed they visited the UK as tourists.
Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov told Russian state-funded news channel RT they travelled to the “wonderful” city in Wiltshire after recommendations from friends.
The pair claimed they have been left fearing for their lives after Britain pointed to their involvement and said they were officers in Russian military intelligence service the GRU.
In the interview, with RT editor-inchief Margarita Simonyan, they said they worked in the fitness industry.
In a translation from Russian, the broadcaster quoted Petrov as saying they arrived in London on March 2 and attempted to visit Salisbury on March 3 but were thwarted by snow.
They returned the following day when it was warmer to see the cathedral.
He said: “Of course, we went there to see Stonehenge, Old Sarum, but we couldn’t do it because there was muddy slush everywhere. The town was covered by this slush.
“The government is clear that these men are officers of the Russian military intelligence service–the GRU–who used a devastatingly toxic, illegal chemical weapon on the streets of our country. UK GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN
“We got wet, took the nearest train and came back (to London).”
In the men’s first interview since they were named publicly, they denied carrying women’s perfume, after police discovered a counterfeit bottle that contained a “significant amount” of Novichok.
Boshirov acknowledged they may have been near Mr Skripal’s house but they did not know where it was.
They also asked for an apology from the UK authorities.
UK authorities believe the pair smeared the highly toxic chemical Novichok on a door handle at the Wiltshire home of former GRU officer Sergei Skripal, leaving Mr Skripal and his daughter Yulia critically ill.
Tests on the east London hotel room where the suspects had stayed showed contamination of Novichok.
A government spokesman said: “The government is clear these men are officers of the Russian military intelligence service – the GRU – who used a devastatingly toxic, illegal chemical weapon on the streets of our country.
“We have repeatedly asked Russia to account for what happened in Salisbury in March. Today – just as we have seen throughout – they have responded with obfuscation and lies.”
Detectives formally linked the attack on the Skripals to events in nearby Amesbury where Dawn Sturgess, 44, and her partner Charlie Rowley, 45, were exposed to the same nerve agent.
Ms Sturgess died in hospital in July, just over a week after the pair fell ill.
A police officer who visited the home of the Skripals shortly after the attack, Nick Bailey, was also left critically ill from exposure to the substance.