Skripal? He’s just a traitorous scumbag
Furious Putin lashes out at the double agent poisoned by his henchmen
VLADIMIR Putin lashed out at poisoned ex-spy Sergei Skripal yesterday – branding him a ‘scumbag’ and a ‘traitor to the Motherland’.
In his first direct condemnation of the former double agent, the Russian president said he was shocked to see Mr Skripal painted as a victim when he had in fact betrayed his own country.
He also suggested it was ‘nonsense’ to think that Russian agents would bother targeting ‘homeless’ people, referring to the death of local woman Dawn Sturgess.
British MPs accused the Russian leader last night of adopting the ‘mentality and language of the mafia’ and said this showed he ‘all but approved’ of the attack.
Britain has pointed the finger at the Kremlin over the nerve agent poisoning, but Moscow has denied having anything to do with it.
Mr Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found slumped on a bench in Salisbury in March after being targeted with Novichok. A policeman who came to their aid was hospitalised but later recovered.
Ms Sturgess, from nearby Amesbury, later died from contact with the poison, which was found inside a discarded perfume bottle picked up by her partner.
Speaking at an energy conference yesterday, Mr Putin complained Mr Skripal had been treated as if he was ‘some kind of human rights activist’.
He said: ‘He is simply a spy, he betrayed his motherland. Do you understand? There is a term: traitor to the motherland.
‘Picture this: you are a citizen of your country, and then there’s someone who betrays their own country. What would be your attitude to them? He is simply a scumbag. That’s all there is to it.
‘We didn’t need to poison anyone over there.
‘This traitor Skripal was caught, he was punished and did five years in prison… we let him go, he left the country and he continued to cooperate there and consult some foreign intelligence services. So what?’
Referring to the death of Ms Sturgess, the Russian leader added: ‘Some guys turned up and started poisoning the homeless people over there in Britain? What nonsense.’
British Conservative MP Julian Lewis, chairman of the defence select committee, last night said of Mr Putin’s comments: ‘This all but admits that he approves of the attack… it is the mentality and the language of the mafia.’
Tory MP, Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the foreign affairs select committee, said Mr Putin’s dismissal of the attack did not ‘remove the clear responsibility the Kremlin have’.
The Russian president has insisted the two men Britain has accused of the attack were simply innocent civilians on holiday.
The pair, named as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, went on Russian television to claim they travelled to Salisbury twice in two days just to see its cathedral. Last week investigative website Bellingcat unmasked one of them as highly decorated military intelligence officer Colonel Anatoliy Chepiga.
‘Mentality and language of mafia’