Novichok duo are civilians, claims Putin
Suspects to go on Russian TV
THE Russians identified as the Salisbury nerve agent attackers were last night preparing to break their silence.
The pair – who used the names Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov – told Russian authorities they will go public within days.
Speaking to the state news agency Russia 24, Petrov said: ‘I don’t have any comment for now. Maybe later. I think next week.’
Hours earlier, Vladimir Putin urged the men to speak out, suggesting a TV appearance is highly likely.
During a visit to Vladivostok, the Russian president said: ‘We have checked what kind of people they are. We know who they are, we have found them. We hope they will turn up very soon and will tell everything themselves. It will be better for all of us. There is nothing criminal in it.’
Denying claims that the men were GRU military intelligence officers, Putin added: ‘These are civilians.’
The comments are the latest manoeuvre in an extraordinary game of diplomatic cat and mouse between the Kremlin and the West.
Scotland Yard insist the men travelled under aliases on officially issued false passports during their two-night March trip to the UK.
They checked into a hotel in east London where traces of novichok were found and were later caught on CCTV in Salisbury where Sergei and Yulia Skripal were poisoned.
A custom-made fake perfume bottle containing the novichok nerve agent was left behind, fatally poisoning Dawn Sturgess, 44, after it was picked up by her boyfriend, who fell seriously ill.
The Russians have brazenly denied any involvement, ridiculing the British Government and disputing the evidence.
Their London embassy said: ‘The impression grows that the British public is being prepared for aggressive actions against Russia disguised as “defensive measures” with eventual consequences impossible to predict.’
In a separate bizarre twist, Russian media claimed Petrov previously ran a failed lingerie company near the Ukrainian city of Odessa. He is also registered to an address in Moscow where neighbours claim he has never been seen.
A supposed former business partner accused him of being a fraudster. ‘In a word, he cheated half of Odessa,’ the man said.
‘Many are looking for him but nobody found him yet.’ The lurid allegations have led to suspicions a genuine businessman may have had his identity stolen by those behind the attack.
British police suggested they knew the identity of the two spies as they appealed worldwide for help to prove their real names. Russian double agent Mr Skripal, 67, and his daughter Yulia, 34, remain in hiding under police protection.
It comes as Robert Hannigan, the former director of GCHQ, said there was an increasing trend of rogue states suggesting they ‘simply don’t care’.
He told a House of Lords committee: ‘Russia is the most obvious example, both in cyberspace and the streets of Salisbury – really not minding the fact that people know they did it and sticking two fingers up to any sense of the international rules.
‘And they are not the only state doing that. That has emboldened a lot of bad behaviour that we didn’t see before. There were certain red lines that most states did stick to... and I think that has been eroded.’
Former national security adviser Sir Mark Lyall-Grant added: ‘Russia is deliberately trying to undermine our system of governance, our democracy, our institutions.’
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said all efforts to get an explanation from the Russians had been rebuffed.
‘These men are officers of the Russian military intelligence service, the GRU,’ he said. ‘We have repeatedly asked Russia to account for what happened in Salisbury in March and they have replied with obfuscation and lies.’
‘He cheated half of Odessa’