Poisoned police officer now able to talk
A BRITISH police officer who was harmed by a nerve agent used in an attack on a Russian ex-spy is now able to talk to people although his condition remains serious, Home Secretary Amber Rudd said on Thursday.
Former double agent Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were found unconscious on Sunday on a bench in Salisbury and have been in a critical condition in hospital since then. DetectiveSergeant Nick Bailey who was at the scene was also hospitalised.
“I heard this morning from the head of counter terrorism policing that he [the police officer] is at least engaging with, talking to, people, but that doesn’t mean that his situation isn’t serious,” Ms Rudd said during an interview on BBC radio.
“It remains serious. He’s not in intensive care but it is a serious situation.”
Mr Skripal, once a colonel in Russia’s GRU military intelligence service, and his 33-year-old daughter, Yulia, were found slumped unconscious on a bench outside a shopping centre in Salisbury on Sunday afternoon. Both remain critically ill.
“This is being treated as a major incident involving attempted murder by administration of a nerve agent,” London Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley told reporters. “I can also confirm that we believe the two people originally who became unwell were targeted specifically.”
Mr Rowley said government scientists had identified the specific nerve agent but he would not say what it was because it was part of the investigation. He also declined to give any details about how it was administered to Mr Skripal and his daughter.
England’s chief medical officer said the incident posed a low risk to the wider public but anyone feeling unwell was advised to seek medical advice.
While Mr Rowley would not say any more about the investigation, a US security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the main line of police inquiry was that Russians may have used the substance against Mr Skripal in revenge for his treachery.
Mr Skripal betrayed dozens of Russian agents to British intelligence before his arrest by Russian authorities in 2004.
He was sentenced to 13 years in prison in 2006 after a secret trial and in 2010 was given refuge in Britain after being exchanged for Russian spies caught in the West as part of a Cold War-style spy swap at Vienna airport.
On Tuesday, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said if Moscow were behind the incident then Britain could look again at sanctions and take other measures to punish Russia, which he cast as a “malign and disruptive” state.
Russia denied any involvement, scolded Mr Johnson for “wild” comments and said anti-Russian hysteria was being whipped up intentionally to damage relations with London.
Mr Rowley said hundreds of detectives were now working on the Skripal case to build up a timeline of his movements over the last few days.