Freed Russian spy reportedly sickened after exposure to ‘unknown substance’

SALISBURY, England — A former Russian spy was critically ill after exposure to an “unknown substance,” British media reported in a case that immediately drew parallels to the poisoning of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko.

National and local authorities said only that a man and a woman were found unconscious Sunday afternoon on a bench in a shopping mall in Salisbury, about 90 miles west of London.

British media identified him as Sergei Skripal, 66, who was convicted in Russia on charges of spying for Britain and sentenced in 2006 to 13 years in prison. Skripal was freed in 2010 as part of a U.S.-Russian spy swap.

Wiltshire Police, which is responsible for the Salisbury area, said the man and woman appeared to know one another and had no visible injuries. “They are currently being treated for suspected exposure to an unknown substance. Both are currently in a critical condition in intensive care,” the police department said in a statement.

The discovery led to a dramatic decontamination effort.

The BBC, which first identified Skripal as one of the victims, quoted eyewitness Freya Church as saying it looked like the woman and man had taken “something quite strong.”

Public Health England said it had only limited information about the patients, but there “doesn't appear to be any further immediate risk to public health.”

“PHE understands that those exposed to the substances have been decontaminated,” the health agency said.

Public records list Skripal as having an address in Salisbury.

Skripal served with Russia's military intelligence, often known by its Russian-language acronym GRU, and retired in 1999. He then worked at the Foreign Ministry until 2003 and later became involved in business.

After his 2004 arrest in Moscow, he confessed to having been recruited by British intelligence in 1995 and said he provided information about GRU agents in Europe, receiving over $100,000 in return.

At the time of Skripal's trial, the Russian media quoted the FSB domestic security agency as saying that the damage from his activities could be compared to harm inflicted by Oleg Penkovsky, a GRU colonel who spied for the United States and Britain. Penkovsky was executed in 1963.

Skripal was pardoned and released from custody in July 2010 as part of a U.S.-Russian-spy swap, which followed the exposure of a ring of Russian sleeper agents in the United States.