U.K.: 2 victims may have been poisoned at their front door

LONDON — The former Russian double agent and his daughter who were targeted with a nerve agent more than three weeks ago may have come into contact with the poison at their front door, British authorities said Wednesday.

Sergei Skripal, 66, and Yulia Skripal, 33, were found incoherent and comatose, respectively, on a park bench at an outdoor shopping center in the quiet medieval town of Salisbury on March 4.

Prime Minister Theresa May said earlier that investigators concluded that it was “highly likely” that Russia was responsible — and that the nerve agent had a signature that linked to its chemical weapons program.

Police did not say whether the nerve agent was delivered in person or by other means.

Police said traces of the nerve agent also have been found at other locations in Salisbury “but at lower concentrations to that found at the home address.”

Viktoria Skripal, a relative of the victims, said their chances of survival were dim.

May condemned the poisoning as a reckless, hostile assault on British soil. She said that as many as 130 people could have been exposed to the nerve agent — though only one of them, a police officer, was sickened. He was recently released from the hospital.

“This shows the utterly barbaric nature of this act and the dangers that hundreds of innocent citizens in Salisbury could have faced,” May said this week.

In the aftermath of the attack, Britain, the United States and 25 additional nations expelled nearly 200 Russian diplomats and alleged spies out of their embassies.