Third Russian ‘spy’ charged over poisoning

BORIS JOHNSON has called on Russia to hand over the Salisbury Novichok poisoning suspects, after charges were authorised against a third alleged spy.

The Prime Minister said the Kremlin should recognise “our sense of justice must be done is not abated” after it was announced Denis Sergeev, who used the alias Sergey Fedotov while in the UK, faces a string of charges, including trying to kill former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, his daughter Yulia and ex-police officer Nick Bailey.

The news comes as the European Court of Human Rights ruled Russia was responsible for the assassination of Alexander Litvinenko, who was poisoned with a radioactive substance in London in 2006.

The Skripals were left fighting for their lives in March, 2018, when members of a Russian military intelligence squad are believed to have smeared the deadly chemical weapon on Mr Skripal’s door handle in Salisbury, Wiltshire. Mr Bailey was one of the officers investigating the case and also became seriously ill. Months later, 44-yearold Dawn Sturgess died and her partner, Charlie Rowley, became seriously ill, after they also came into contact with the substance.

Sergeev is accused of seven charges: three of attempted murder as well as conspiracy to murder Sergei Skripal, causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Yulia Skripal and Nick Bailey, and possession and use of a chemical weapon – the same counts faced by two other suspects, Alexander Mishkin and Anatoliy Chepiga.