Soldiers flood village:
ARMY chemical weapons experts and investigators in hazardous material suits descended on a Wiltshire village as the Russian spy probe widened.
A swarm of activity could be seen in Winterslow, around eight miles from Salisbury, where Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were poisoned with a nerve agent.
The UK Government suspects that the March 4 attack was carried out on the orders of the Kremlin, and experts are examining a number of sites feared to be contaminated with a lethal substance said to have been developed during the days of the Soviet Union.
Police sealed off a Sainsbury’s car park yesterday while helicopters circled above. In recent days the Army has removed a number of police cars and an ambulance over contamination fears.
A cemetery where Mr Skripal’s wife and son are buried has also been investigated.
Convoys of army trucks escorted by police motorbikes were seen moving vehicles out of Salisbury towards the Porton Down biologicalwarfare lab yesterday, among them a white van.
The vehicle found in Winterslow was marked with the branding of local company Ashley Wood Recovery, who declined to comment. The substance used in the attack has been identified as a kind of nerve agent called Novichok, the term for a group of nerve agents created by Soviet scientists in the 1970s and 80s. The substances are said to be at least five times more potent than sarin gas.
Winterslow postmaster Bella Thomas said: “We’re obviously a sleepy village, it’s a bit of a shock. It’s like a scene from the Twilight Zone, something you would see in the movies.” She said that the massive police investigation, supported by the military, has crippled some businesses in Salisbury city centre.
“I do feel for the shopkeepers. They are really suffering. It’s not cheap having a business in town and it has crippled some of their businesses,” she added.
Hundreds of diners and pub-goers were urged to wash clothes and phones a week after potentially coming into contact with the nerve agent. The “precautionary advice” was issued after traces of the substance were found in The Mill pub and the nearby Zizzi restaurant.
The Tory leader of Salisbury City Council, Matthew Dean, insisted the warning was issued quickly enough. He told the BBC: “Consistently the advice has been that this is a very, very precautionary approach.”
Meanwhile, the Russian embassy accused the UK Government of playing a “very dangerous game” with British public opinion and warned of the risk of “serious long-term consequences”.
A spokesman said: “We would like to stress once again that we are outraged by the anti-russian media campaign, condoned by the Government.”