Russian propaganda treats Novichok death as a joke
THE risible cover story that the Novichok assassins visited Salisbury to see the world famous cathedral spire rather than to smear toxic poison on the door of Sergei Skripal’s home is laughable – deliberately so.
With details sourced from Wikipedia, the two accused killers claimed they were in the town to take in the English gothic style, like the 123-metre height of the spire.
Making their cover story sound ridiculous is a crude attempt to make the whole thing a joke. We’re told to believe the GRU men were architecture tourists who flew from Moscow to stay in an east London hotel for 48 hours and make two visits to Salisbury before hurriedly flying out.
Expect the Russian Embassy in London’s Twitter feed and Russian bots to follow up with oh-so-dry witticisms about how James Bond has been mistaken. Shaken not stirred, perhaps.
Only one aspect of their cover story sounded credible. Asked about the perfume bottle used to deliver the toxin, one of the spies denied carrying it. He said: “Is it silly for decent lads to have women’s perfume?”
That rings true, the agents almost certainly did not act alone and were merely henchmen in a extensive, sophisticated operation.
The whole episode is, of course, deadly serious and resulted in the death of an innocent woman. Just as serious is the media vehicle Moscow used to deliver the plea of innocence.
If anyone needed persuading that Russia Today is an arm of the Putin propaganda machine, surely they have their eyes opened by this.
Yesterday’s Alex Salmond Show on RT made no mention of Salisbury but carried on its investigation into plans for Britain’s railways. That’s no laughing matter either.