Claims UK is ‘poised to ask Russia to extradite Salisbury attack suspects’

The government is set to submit an ex tradition request to Moscow for two Russians suspected of carrying out the Salisbury nerve agent attack, it has been reported.

The Guardian said the Crown Prosecution Service( CPS ), which has been preparing papers, has completed the process and was ready to file.

While the request is almost certain to be rejected out of hand by the Russian authorities, it will likely reignite the bitter diplomatic row which erupted following the poisoning of former Russian spy Ser- gei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in March.

Neither the Metropolitan Police nor the CPS was pre - pared to discuss the rep or t. The Home Office said the UK would neither confirm nor deny an extradition request had b een made or received until an arrest has been made.

The government has been consistent in pointing the finger of blame at Moscow for the poisoning using novichok – a military-grade nerve agent developed by the former Soviet Union.

Two more p eople – Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley – were subsequently treated for exposure to novichok.

In 2007, President Vladimir Putin rejected an extradition request for two Russians suspected of the assassination of the former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko in London using radioactive polonium.