Talent-spotted in the army

Sergei Skripal’s was first talent-spotted by the GRU – Russia’s military intelligence unit – when he served in Afghanistan with Soviet troops in 1979, friends claimed last night.

Col Skripal grew up in Kaliningrad with his father listening to the BBC World Service.

In his 20s, he joined the elite Soviet Airborne Troops and became a champion army boxer, according to the BBC. He served in central Asia and was among the first to enter Afghanistan in the Seventies. As a military intelligence officer, he reportedly served twice undercover in the Eighties and Nineties, before British intelligence approached him. Following the death of his wife Liudmila in 2012, he spent much of his time playing World War Two tank games on his computer.