EU sanctions target Salisbury hitmen
RUSSIAN spies behind the deadly Salisbury poisoning will be hit by new sanctions across Europe.
The military intelligence officers are expected to be the first targets of a tough new regime aimed at punishing the use of chemical weapons.
News of the sanctions came as it was claimed Sergei Skripal may have been targeted as he was helping Swiss authorities investigate a suspected Russian spying operation. The mission came just three months after Russia’s GRU spy agency carried out a cyber attack on the World Anti-Doping Agency, the Lausanne body that leads the fight against drugs in athletics, prompting an investigation into ‘political espionage’.
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt yesterday hosted his EU counterparts to thank them for their support against rogue states and the new sanctions regime on chemical weapons, tabled by Britain and France, will be adopted tomorrow at the Foreign Affairs Council in Luxemburg.
Pressure has been mounting on Russian president Vladimir Putin since the unprecedented nerve agent attack in March, when two senior GRU officers tried to kill Mr Skripal. The spies – identified as Anatoliy Vladimirovich Chepiga and Dr Alexander Mishkin – smeared chemical weapon Novichok on his front door, but Mr Skripal and daughter Yulia survived.
Local woman Dawn Sturgess died and her boyfriend Charlie Rowley was left in coma after they found a perfume bottle used to store the poison.
The Kremlin has denied any involvement.