Worldwide hunt for spy assassins
Double agent and daughter fight for their lives
A GLOBAL manhunt was under way last night for the suspected poisoners who tried to assassinate Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia as they continued to fight for life in hospital
Met counter-terrorism chiefs – now leading the investigation – fear the attackers have already fled Britain after the murder bid in a city centre and the net will have to be widened.
Experts at the top secret military laboratory Porton Down in Wiltshire were trying to establish what the mystery substance was that left Mr Skripal, 66, and 33-year-old Yulia unconscious on a bench.
And the Foreign Secretary deepened fears they were poisoned by declaring the attack “echoes” the case of Alexander Litvinenko, who was killed in Britain in 2006 with radioactive polonium-210. His comments sparked a diplomatic row with Vladimir Putin, who furiously denied any Kremlin involvement.
Within hours of the pair being discovered, former Russian spy Anna Chapman – one of the agents involved in a dramatic swap by America and Moscow that included Mr Skripal - posted pictures of herself on social media.
And one former intelligence officer said of the attack: “The chief suspect is obviously Russia. MI5 and police will be looking at the behaviour of diplomats and intelligence officers in the weeks before to see who they were meeting. But this may have involved ‘illegals’, personnel working for Russian intelligence, undercover, called upon for the operation, and unknown to UK intelligence. As for the hit team, they could be long gone by now, travelling through Europe to unknown destinations and it could take a long time to realise who they are.”
Mr Skripal, who was jailed in Moscow for handing secrets to MI6 before being released in the 2010 swap deal, had told relatives he feared Russian agents would one day come for him. CCTV showed some of his and Yulia’s last movements before they were found slumped at the Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury, Wilts, on Sunday afternoon. It is believed the pair visited the Mill pub for a drink then went on to Zizzi’s restaurant. Footage showed them outside a gym at 3.47pm. At 4.03pm, personal trainer Freya Church saw them on the bench and said she was “100%” sure it was the pair spotted on CCTV. She said the woman had passed out and the
man was behaving strangely. Freya added: “They didn’t seem with it. I thought they were just drugged out as they were in a weird state.”
Medics were called at 4.15pm and Mr Skripal and Yulia were taken to Salisbury District Hospital, both in a critical condition.
Detectives are also examining CCTV of a man and woman walking through an alleyway shortly before the pair were found.
Met Police assistant commissioner Mark Rowley said his officers are trying to trace the victims’ movements and attempting to identify and interview everyone they came into contact with. They are also taking forensic samples at the scene, and doing toxicology work on samples taken from the victims.
Mr Rowley added: Mr Rowley said: “It’s a very unusual case and the critical thing is to get to the bottom of what’s caused these illnesses as quickly as possible.” He said the case has not been declared a terrorist incident and insisted there was no risk to the wider public.
Asked about a string of suspicious Moscow-linked deaths in the UK, the officer added: “We have to remember Russian exiles are not immortal, they do die and there can be conspiracy theories. But we have to be alive to the fact of state threats, as illustrated by the Litvinenko case.” Litvinenko’s widow Marina said yesterday: “It’s like deja vu what happened to me. “In Russia it is still an old-fashioned, old-style KGB system... It’s still all the same. If there is an order to kill somebody it will happen.” But expert Professor Malcolm Sperrin said the substance used in this attack was unlikely to be radioactive as it appeared to have an instant effect. He added: “Radiation poisoning can take days to show symptoms. This may have been chemical.” Home Secretary Amber Rudd is due to chair an emergency COBRA meeting on the case this morning. Mr Skripal settled in Salisbury after the 2010 spy swap instead of heading to the US. Yulia joined him here the same year. It is believed she moved back to Moscow in recent years to work for PepsiCo and was visiting her dad on holiday when they were attacked. Mr Skripal’s wife, elder brother and his son have died in the past two years, some in mysterious circumstances.