A truly poisonous prank: Police probe Russian f lag in Salisbury
SICK pranksters draped a huge Russian flag from Salisbury Cathedral as the condition of one of the Novichok poison victims deteriorated.
The flag, raised overnight on Saturday and spotted yesterday morning, was an apparently mocking tribute to the two Russian secret agents thought to have perpetrated the attack on the orders of the Kremlin.
Four people were poisoned by the nerve agent in March and June last year. One, Dawn Sturgess, died in hospital on July 8. Yesterday doctors issued an update on the health of assassination target Sergei Skripal, 67, a former spy. ‘His health has got worse and he’s been receiving medical care at his home,’ an intelligence source said. ‘No one has any idea of what will happen to him because there’s very little that’s known about the impact the nerve agent will have in the long run.’
His daughter Yulia, who was also poisoned, is in better health.
Intruders climbed scaffolding and the flag flew for several hours from the 13th century cathedral’s north side, which is undergoing renovation, before being removed. Police said inquiries are ongoing. The Dean of Salisbury, the Very Reverend Nicholas Papadopulos, said: ‘This was a remarkably stupid thing to do and makes light of the huge personal tragedies involved, and the damage done to the city by the unprecedented nerve agent attacks on Salisbury.’
Local MP John Glen tweeted: ‘What a stupid stunt – mocking the serious events sadly experienced in Salisbury last year.’
In September Russian agents Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov told Russian TV they had only visited the city to see the ‘world-famous’ cathedral, especially its ‘123metre spire’.