3RD RUSSIAN CHARGED IN POISONING OF EX-SPY IN BRITAIN
British police said Tuesday they are charging a third Russian suspect, a member of the country’s military intelligence service, in the 2018 nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy in England.
Prosecutors believe there is sufficient evidence to charge Denis Sergeev, who went by the alias “Sergey Fedotov,” with conspiracy to murder, attempted murder, possessing and using a chemical weapon, and causing grievous bodily harm, according to London’s Metropolitan Police force.
Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, were targeted in a nerve agent attack in March 2018 in the English city of Salisbury. British authorities say the poisoning had almost certainly been approved “at a senior level of the Russian state.“Moscow has vehemently denied the allegations.
The Skripals survived, but the attack later claimed the life of a British woman and left a man and a police officer seriously ill.
Police previously charged two other Russian military intelligence agents, known by the aliases Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, saying they traveled to the U.K. for the poisoning operation then flew back to Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed the suspects were civilians, and the two suspects appeared on Russian television claiming they had visited Salisbury as tourists.
Police said Tuesday they have evidence that the third suspect, Sergeev, was also a member of the Russian military intelligence service known as the GRU.
Arrest warrants have been issued for all three men. Police said they will apply for Interpol notices for Sergeev, but British prosecutors said they will not apply to Russia for his extradition because the Russian constitution does not permit extradition of its own nationals.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson acknowledged that “any formal extradition request is futile” while the suspects remain in Russia.
“Should any of these individuals ever travel outside Russia, we will work with our international partners and take every possible step to detain and extradite them to face justice,” Home Secretary Priti Patel told Parliament members Tuesday.