Ex-russian spy ill after ‘poisoning’

A Russian convicted of spying for MI6 is believed to be fighting for his life after being exposed to an unknown substance.

Sergei Skripal, who is 66, was granted refuge in the UK following a “spy swap” between the US and Russia in 2010.

He was found unconscious with a woman in her 30s on a bench at a shopping centre in Salisbury, Wiltshire on Sunday afternoon. Detectives are investigating whether a crime has been committed.

A man who is critically ill after being exposed to an unknown substance is a Russian national convicted of spying for Britain, according to reports.

Sergei Skripal, who is 66, was granted refuge in the UK following a “spy swap” between the US and Russia in 2010. Police declared a major incident on Sunday after a man and a woman were report- ed ill at a shopping centre in Salisbury. The substance has not been identified. A number of locations in the city centre were cordoned off and the A&E department was closed.

Skripal, who is a retired Russian military intelligence colonel, was jailed for 13 years in 2006 for spying for Britain. He was convicted of passing identities of Russian intelligence agents working undercover in Europe to MI6.

Russia said Col Skripal had been paid for the information, which he had been supplying from the 1990s. He was one of four prisoners released by Moscow in 2010 in exchange for ten US spies.

Colonel Skripal was later flown to the uk. he and a woman, thought to be in her 30s, are being treated at Salisbury District Hospital. Police are investigating whether a crime has been committed. The incident began at 4:15pm on Sunday at the Maltings shopping centre.