New York Post

Poisoned Russians US-bound

New lives & IDs

- By MICHAEL HECHTMAN

Former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and daughter Yulia reportedly will get new names — and start new lives in the US.

The Sunday Times of London said British spy agency MI6 is working out arrangemen­ts with the CIA to make sure the two are not attacked again.

On March 2, father and daughter (inset) were exposed to the deadly nerve agent Novichok — developed by Russian scientists during the Cold War.

The attack took place in the English city of Salisbury.

They’re both now conscious and are expected to be interviewe­d by officials probing the attempted murder.

Although Sergei, 66, and Yulia, 33, are no longer in critical condition, doctors fear they’ll suffer lifelong problems requiring “ongoing medical care,’’ the newspaper added.

The report noted that mi6 wants them to resettle in one of the so-called “five eyes’’ countries: Britain, the US, Canada, Australia or New Zealand. “The obvious place to resettle them is in America, because they’re less likely to be killed there and it’s easier to protect them there under a new identity,” a source told the newspaper. “There’s a preference for them to be resettled in a five-eyes nation because their case would have huge security implicatio­ns.”

The chemical attack — for which Russia denies responsibi­lity — outraged the US and nations of the European Union. It led to the expulsion of 60 Russian diplomats from the US.

The Russians, in retaliatio­n, gave the heave-ho to the same number of US diplomats.

Similar expulsions were ordered by several US allies — which were then hit by the same tit-fortat actions from Moscow.

The report also quotes UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson describing opposition leader Jeremy Corbin as “the Kremlin’s useful idiot,’’ in part because Corbin refused to say “the Russian state was responsibl­e.’’

Meanwhile, Russia’s London embassy Saturday sought a meeting with Johnson over the poisonings, saying its dealings with Britain had been “utterly unsatisfac­tory.”

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