Skripal was meeting spies in Prague and Estonia before Salisbury attack

SERGEI SKRIPAL had been briefing Eastern European intelligence officers in the years before the Salisbury assassination attempt, it has emerged.

The former Russian spy is said to have travelled widely, offering information on Russian espionage techniques to security officers in both Prague and Estonia.

Such briefings were yesterday cited as a possible motive for Russia’s attempt to kill him and his daughter Yulia with a powerful nerve agent in March.

According to The New York Times, he met Czech intelligence officials several times, including in 2012, in Prague, when he reportedly told them about Russia’s spying methods and the activities of former colleagues operating in Europe. His information, though dated, was described as “beneficial”.

He arrived there shortly after the death of his wife, Lyudmila, but was in “good spirits”, drinking with spies and joking that his whisky had been prescribed

by his doctor for his high blood pressure. The liaison was so helpful that Czech intelligence officers continued to meet him, reportedly making several trips to Britain.

Col Skripal is said to have visited Estonia in June 2016, during which “very sensitive information” was discussed with a “select group of intelligence officers”. MI6 facilitated the meeting, it was claimed, and the trips were kept secret. Col Skripal began spying for MI6 in 1995 as a double agent in Spain.

In 2006, he was caught and sentenced to 13 years’ jail in Russia for spying for Britain. He was released in 2010 in a spy swap with Britain.

The colonel remains in Salisbury District Hospital following the chemical attack on him, but doctors hope to discharge him soon. Yulia is at a secret location after being released from hospital last month.

Andrew Parker, the head of MI5, yesterday publicly identified the Kremlin as responsible for the nerve agent attack on the Skripals in a speech to security chiefs in Berlin.

In his first public remarks since the poisoning, he said the Skripals had only been saved thanks to “near miraculous” medical treatment.

Russia has denied any involvement and criticised the British investigation for its alleged “lack of transparency”.