May: Salisbury denial is an insult to our intelligence
“Our friends had been suggesting for a long time we visit this wonderful town. It’s famous - Salisbury cathedral - famous for its 123m spire... the clock... the oldest of its kind in the world that is still working.”
THERESA MAY has accused Moscow of “insulting the public’s intelligence” after the two Russian agents accused of the Salisbury poisonings claimed they were merely tourists.
In an extraordinary interview with state-funded news channel RT, Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov said they made a weekend visit to Britain to see Salisbury Cathedral and were victims of a “fantastic fatal coincidence”.
The two men broke cover a day after Vladimir Putin insisted they were “civilians” and urged them to tell their story, a move that asenior government source said put the Russian president “directly in the frame”. Downing Street dismissed their account as “lies and fabrications” that would be “deeply offensive” to the victims of the nerve agent attack on Salisbury and their families.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman also accused Russia of responding “with contempt” to the murder of Dawn Sturgess and the attempted murders of Sergei Skripal, a former Russian spy, his daughter Yulia and of Ms Sturgess’s partner Charlie Rowley.
“Sadly, it is what we have come to expect” from Russia, the spokesman said.
Arrest warrants have been issued for Petrov and Boshirov, who are accused of murder and attempted murder after being identified by detectives as agents of the Russian military intelligence agency the GRU. The would-be assassins claimed that their sole reason for visiting the UK was to see the historic sites of “wonderful” Salisbury, on the recommendation of a friend. Such was their enthusiasm that they took a fourhour flight from Moscow to embark on their two-day break, arriving at Gatwick at 3pm on Friday March 2.
They travelled to Salisbury the following morning but claimed that the snow and adverse weather conditions were so dramatic that they were “wet to the knees” and forced to abort their sightseeing tour before it began.
They returned the following day and were captured on CCTV in the vicinity of Col Skripal’s home, which is in a culde-sac in a residential area outside the city centre, shortly before midday.
The men insisted that despite further snowfall, which Met Office forecasts suggest did not take place, they found the time to go to the cathedral and the less well-known Old Sarum historical site before leaving after lunch.
“The cathedral is very beautiful, there are lots of tourists there, there are lots of Russian tourists,” Boshirov said. “We were sitting in the park, we were sitting in a cafe and drinking coffee. We were walking around and enjoying this English Gothic, this beauty.”
Petrov said it started to snow again at around lunchtime, and that is why they left “early”. The pair travelled back to London and got the Tube to Heathrow, leaving for Moscow early that evening.
A senior government source said the account of the visit was “nuts” and was “straight from the pages of Wikipedia”. They said “the mind boggled” at the idea that Old Sarum was one of their chosen destinations, a place that many Wiltshire residents had not heard of. They said the interview put Mr Putin “at the heart of the picture. It may well be a tightening of the noose around their necks for failing to complete the job.”
Sir Andrew Wood, the former British ambassador to Russia said: “Moscow is demonstrating utter contempt for Britain and the West by putting these two up. But there may also be an element of punishment for not doing a better job. They looked pretty uneasy.”
Last night the US State Department said it was planning “severe” sanctions on Russia over the Skripal poisoning.
JUST 24 hours after Vladimir Putin called on the men suspected of the Salisbury Novichok attack to come forward and explain their innocence, they broke cover to appear on Russian television.
Looking uncomfortable throughout the interview, Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov delivered a preposterous explanation for their time in Britain, which was peppered with lies and disinformation.
Here are the main topics they covered.
Why did they come?
Petrov: We planned to go to London and let loose, so to speak, it wasn’t a business trip. We planned to go to London and in Salisbury in one day. In England on March 2 and March 3 there was a transport collapse – snow so powerful we couldn’t get back. Petrov: We were there three days. We came on March 2, we looked at the train schedule.
Boshirov: We planned to go for one day and look around. Salisbury is a normal touristic city.
Petrov: We came to Salisbury on the March 3, we were there for, we tried to walk around the city, but since the city was covered in snow, we were able to only for a half an hour, we got wet. Boshirov: No media, no TV channels are showing that on that day, the third, there was a collapse in that city, a snow collapse, it was impossible to go anywhere, we got wet to the knees. Petrov: Of course we went to visit Stonehenge, Old Sarum, the cathedral of the Virgin Mary, but it didn’t work out because it was slush, as we’d say in Russian, total slush. We got wet, returned to the train station and went back on the next train.
What did they do in Salisbury?
Boshirov: We were drinking hot coffee because we had gotten all wet, on the third we spent no more than an hour there.
Petrov: The trains were going with big gaps because of the transport collapse, we went back to London and continued our travels.
Boshirov: We walked around London. On the third yes (an hour in Salisbury).
Petrov: It wasn’t possible to go anywhere. On March 4 we returned because London had thawed out, it was warm weather.
Boshirov: The sun was shining. Petrov: We wanted to visit Old Sarum and the cathedral, we decided to finish this task on March 4. To visit them. Boshirov: To see this famous cathedral, to look at Old Sarum. We saw them.
Petrov: On March 4 we saw them, but again around lunch snow started, that’s why we left early.
Boshirov: The cathedral is very beautiful, there are lots of tourists there, there are lots of Russian tourists, there are lots of Russian-speaking tourists there.
Petrov: There should be many photographs (with us). Of course we took pictures.
Boshirov: We were sitting in the park, we were sitting in a café and drinking coffee. We were walking around and enjoying this English Gothic, this beauty.
Petrov: For some reason they’re not showing this. They’re only showing us at the train station.
Did they go to Skripal’s house?
Petrov: Maybe we went by there. Boshirov: Do you know where the Skripals’ home is? I don’t.
Petrov: If we would have known where it was.
Boshirov: Maybe we passed by it, maybe we didn’t pass by it, I don’t know, I hadn’t heard. I hadn’t heard this surname, I didn’t know anything about them before this situation, this nightmare with us started.
Did they bring Novichok in a perfume bottle?
Boshirov: No.
Petrov: I think this is total nonsense. Boshirov: Isn’t it silly for a normal man to carry women’s perfume? Even just passing through customs. When you pass through customs they check all your things, or just any police officer can look through them, I think if we would have had something, they would have had questions. Why does a man in his luggage have women’s perfume?
Petrov: That would raise questions even among simple people, why a man has women’s perfume. We didn’t have it.
Why were they always pictured together?
Boshirov: Let’s not get into our personal lives. We came here to you for protection, but it’s turning into some kind of interrogation, and we’re starting to get really deep into things. We’re not asking you things. We’re not here for an interrogation. The British are making a lot of allegations, that we stayed in a hotel room where they show a single bed, but that the nearby rooms are for two or three people.it’s normal for a tourist to come and stay in a two-person room, in a suite of two rooms, to save money, it’s just life, to live together is more fun and simpler, it’s normal for any normal person.
Why are they speaking to the media?
Boshirov: We came for protection. Petrov: If it can be said quietly, after our lives turned into a nightmare we didn’t know what to do, where to go. To the police, to the investigative committee, I don’t know, to the UK embassy.
Boshirov: To the FSB.
Petrov: We really didn’t know what to do, where to go, to say, hello people. Boshirov: When our lives were completely overturned – you don’t know what to do, where to go. Lots of people were writing, go to the British embassy and explain things.
Petrov: Of course we read it (what is being written about them). Boshirov: Of course you read it because we can’t go out on the street. We’re afraid, we’re worried. We fear for ourselves, we fear for our lives and those of our loved ones, we fear those people who know us.
Petrov: We even read [in] publications that there’s a reward for us. Boshirov: (Dmitry) Gudkov [Russian opposition leader] promised a trip to England for whoever brings these two people in. Do you think that’s OK? You think we should just sit, walk around, smile, not be afraid and go around and say hi to people? Any normal person would be afraid.
Who are they and what do they do?
Boshirov: We are ordinary entrepreneurs. If we talk about our business it will suffer, and the people we work with will suffer, and we don’t want this.
Petrov: We will reduce the search area for your colleagues. It’s the fitness industry, related to sport nutrition, vitamins, micro-elements, proteins, gainers and so on. If we say more, our partners and a wide circle of acquaintances. We consult here, now the trend is to consult not about growing your biceps but about keeping your figure, healthy lifestyle.
Boshirov: Eating right, a healthy lifestyle – we don’t want to bring attention to this, to get deeper into these questions, I wouldn’t want people among our clients to suffer.
Do they work for the GRU?
Boshirov: I don’t.
Petrov: And I don’t … Yes this is probably the scariest part (UK allegations).
Did they travel to Europe?
Petrov: Of course, but just for our business. (To Switzerland mainly?) Not to Switzerland mainly, if I recall correctly we were only in Switzerland a few times.
Boshirov: The number of times has been exaggerated.
Petrov: We were in Switzerland for New Year’s… We weren’t always flying for business. We went to Switzerland to relax. We were also there for business, if I can recall when that was. Boshirov: Flying into Geneva doesn’t mean anything, it’s normal, flying to Geneva is the quickest way to get to Mont Blanc, you can go to France, a few kilometres away, to visit France, it’s comfortable.
Petrov: It was both. The trips were mainly for business. For sport nutrition. Preparations are sold in Europe. We don’t just buy them, put them in a suitcase and bring them here. We study the market, see what innovations there are, with special BADS, immuno-acids, vitamins, micro-elements, we pick out the best stuff and come here to deal with the issue of how to supply these innovations on the market here. That’s one of the things we do.
If not them, who poisoned the Skripals?
Petrov: It’s hard to say, we think about it, we’re living this. The only thing I’d like, is if they ever find the real poisoners, they could at least apologise to us.
Boshirov: The English.
Petrov: Just for the fact that the past, how long, week, five days, I’ve lost track of the date.
Boshirov: You can’t imagine what’s happened to us.
Petrov: You can’t even go fill up your car in peace. We think people will recognise us. How can we conduct ourselves differently if they show us on television?
Boshirov: Every day those two photographs are all over the screen, you turn on the radio and it’s Boshirov, Petrov.
Petrov: It’s just scary.
Boshirov: You turn on the television, Boshirov, Petrov, how would you live? For me it’s scary. I’m worried and scared, I don’t know what will happen tomorrow, that’s why we came to you. Petrov: We’re already trying not to watch the news, I just ask sometimes if
there’s something new, and I wait for the answer that no, it’s all like it used to be, but again, yes there is, yes there is, they keep whipping it up, whipping it up, whipping it up. How long can it go on? We have no idea (what is next). We’d just like to be left alone.
Are they afraid of being arrested abroad?
Petrov: We really hope this situation gets cleared up.
Boshirov: That it gets cleared up and the other side, the English side, will apologise for what they’ve brought about, and that they find those people who are involved in this story with the Skripals, and that our lives will somehow change.
Petrov: This whole situation is just a fantastic fatal coincidence, that’s it. What are we guilty of?
Boshirov: We’d just like to be left in peace now, just a little peace, so everyone would calm down.
Petrov: At least our media, your colleagues. We know what will happen after this interview, we’ll have to...
Boshirov: I don’t know what will happen tomorrow.
Petrov: We…want to hide and sit out this time, we definitely don’t need this popularity.
Boshirov: We want them to leave us alone.
Petrov: We have no strength left.
Boshirov: We’re tired.
Petrov: If possible, leave us in peace please. We want to appeal to everyone through you, to your colleagues. If someone sees us, because we can’t just sit at home, don’t take out your mobile phones, friends, I don’t know how else to ask, we just want peace. I understand we probably won’t return to normal life as soon as we’d like.
Boshirov: We’re sick of it now.
‘The only thing I’d like, is if they ever find the real poisoners, they could at least apologise to us’