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S<\/span>cotland Yard confirmed that the military-grade nerve agent\u00a0was brought into the UK in a fake bottle of\u00a0Ninna Ricci Premier Jour perfume, which had been\u00a0designed as a specially-made poison applicator.<\/p>\nIt is believed that it\u00a0was later found by Charlie Rowley before he and his girlfriend, Dawn Sturgess,\u00a0became indirect casualties\u00a0of the poisoning. Ms Sturgess died just over a week later.<\/p>\n
![\"Perfum\"](\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/content\/dam\/news\/2018\/09\/05\/Novichok-Box-and-Bottle-BP_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqqVzuuqpFlyLIwiB6NTmJwfSVWeZ_vEN7c6bHu2jJnT8.png?imwidth=480\")
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The fake perfume bottle had been designed as a poison applicator<\/span>\u00a0CREDIT:<\/span>\u00a0METROPOLITAN POLICE<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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N<\/span>eil Basu, Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police,\u00a0said it is likely the suspects were travelling under aliases and that Petrov and Boshirov are not their real names.<\/p>\nHe said the pair, who are believed to be aged around 40,\u00a0had been to the UK before on the same passports and had “travelled extensively on them in the past”.<\/p>\n
Detectives believe the front door of Mr Skripal’s Salisbury home was contaminated with the military-grade substance on Sunday, March 4. Mr\u00a0Basu\u00a0said CCTV shows the two suspects in the vicinity of the property on that date.<\/p>\n
Hours later, the men left the UK on a flight from Heathrow to Moscow – two days after they had arrived at Gatwick.<\/p>\n
Releasing a series of\u00a0CCTV images of the men in London, Mr\u00a0Basu asked witnesses to come forward to establish their real identities.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/content\/dam\/news\/2018\/09\/05\/TELEMMGLPICT000173420517_1_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bqht2UzRSZh1F0Vcj40NC8Pg5o9palMsx4tNXmz3LsTk4.jpeg?imwidth=480\")
<\/strong><\/p>\nThe suspects head back towards Salisbury station; the Skripals were found slumped on a bench in the town centre three hours later<\/span>\u00a0CREDIT:<\/span>\u00a0METROPOLITAN POLICE<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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T<\/span>hey stayed in the\u00a0two-star\u00a0City Stay Hotel, in Bow, east London, during their stay in the UK.\u00a0\u00a0Officers searching their room on May 4\u00a0discovered traces of Novichok, but Scotland Yard said\u00a0there is no risk to other guests.<\/p>\nThe announcement of criminal charges will deepen\u00a0the rift between Britain and Russia, after the\u00a0nerve agent attack sparked a\u00a0wave of diplomatic expulsions\u00a0by the UK and its allies.<\/p>\n
As the news broke, the Russian foreign ministry tweeted a video mocking Mrs May’s dancing in South Africa. It later said that the names released by Britain “do not mean anything to us”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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B<\/span>ritish authorities believe\u00a0that several Russians are thought to have been involved in the attempted murders – which also led to 44-year-old\u00a0Dawn Sturgess\u00a0becoming an indirect casualty\u00a0of the poisoning.<\/p>\nIt is understood that the suspected perpetrators were identified through CCTV footage that was cross-checked with border entry data.<\/p>\n
Ms\u00a0Sturgess\u00a0died in July, with authorities believing she and boyfriend Charlie Rowley picked up a discarded vial containing the substance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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T<\/span>he pair fell ill on June 30 in Amesbury, near Salisbury. Mr Rowley remains seriously ill in hospital.<\/p>\nPolice believe it is linked to the poisoning of the Skripals, who were discovered slumped on a bench on March 4 and have\u00a0since been discharged from hthis was not a rogue operation.ospital.<\/p>\n
Theresa May: ‘This was not a rogue operation’<\/h3>\n
Prime Minister Theresa May told the Commons that CCTV evidence “clearly”\u00a0places the two Russians in the vicinity of the Skripals’ house shortly before\u00a0the attack on them.<\/p>\n
She said: “This hard evidence has enabled the independent\u00a0Crown Prosecution Service to conclude they have a sufficient basis on which to\u00a0 bring charges.”<\/p>\n
Mrs May told MPs that investigations have concluded the two suspects are members of the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence service.<\/p>\n
Mrs May\u00a0said: “The GRU is a highly-disciplined organisation with a well-established chain of command. So this was not a rogue operation. It was almost certainly also approved outside the GRU at a senior level of the Russian state.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The actions of the GRU are a threat to all our allies and all our citizens<\/q>Theresa May<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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M<\/span>rs May said Russia had replied with “obfuscation and lies” when asked to account for what happened, including claiming she had invented Novichok.<\/p>\nShe added: “Their attempts to hide the truth by pushing out a deluge of disinformation simply reinforces their culpability.”<\/p>\n
Mrs May said: “The actions of the GRU are a threat to all our allies and all our citizens.<\/p>\n
“On\u00a0the basis of what we have learnt in the Salisbury investigation and what we know about this organisation more broadly, we must now step up our collective efforts specifically against the GRU.<\/p>\n
“We are increasing our understanding of what the GRU is doing in our countries, shining a light on their activities, exposing their methods and sharing them with our allies, just as we have done with Salisbury.<\/p>\n
“Together with our allies we will deploy the full range of tools from across our national security apparatus in order to counter the threat posed by the GRU.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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M<\/span>rs May told MPs that the CPS did not have a policy of requesting extradition from nations who had constitutions barring the possibility.<\/p>\nShe added: “If these two individuals step outside Russia then we will take every step possible to ensure that they are detained and brought to face justice here.”<\/p>\n
The Prime Minister, in response to calls for a stepping up of sanctions, said: “We will indeed be stepping up our activity across the broad range of our capabilities and what is available to us across our national security apparatus.”<\/p>\n
Mrs May added that around 250 detectives had trawled through 11,000 hours of CCTV footage to identify the attackers and had taken more than 1,400 statements.<\/p>\n
“Working around the clock, they have carried out painstaking and methodical work to ascertain exactly which individuals were responsible and the methods they used to carry out the attack,” she told MPs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Police formally link two poisoning cases<\/h3>\n
T<\/span>he announcement on Wednesday relates to the first Salisbury poisoning, but Mr\u00a0Basu\u00a0confirmed that officers have now linked the attack on the Skripals to events in Amesbury less than four months later.<\/p>\nHe said: “We do not believe Dawn and Charlie were deliberately targeted, but became victims as a result of the recklessness in which such a toxic nerve agent was disposed of.<\/p>\n
“We know that Novichok was applied to the Skripals’ front door in an area that is accessible to the public, which also endangered the lives of members of the public and emergency service responders.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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H<\/span>e said police continue to liaise with the CPS regarding the poisoning of Ms Sturgess and Mr Rowley.<\/p>\nRussia: These names mean nothing to us<\/h3>\n
Russia insisted it did not know the names of the\u00a0Russian suspects named\u00a0by British authorities as suspects in the Salisbury attack.<\/p>\n
“The names published by the media, like their photographs, mean nothing to us,” Maria Zakharova, the\u00a0Russian\u00a0foreign\u00a0ministry’s spokeswoman, told the TASS news agency.<\/p>\n
The Russian foreign ministry later posted a video mocking Theresa May’s dancing on her recent trip to South Africa.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Cressida Dick: We will do all we can to get justice<\/h3>\n
B<\/span>ritain’s most senior police officer, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida\u00a0Dick said: “We remain absolutely determined to identify and bring about a\u00a0 prosecution in the UK courts of those persons responsible for these attacks and\u00a0we will do all we can to get justice for the victims and their families.”<\/p>\nProsecutor’s full statement on Salisbury charges<\/h3>\n
This is the full statement from Sue Hemming, CPS Director of Legal Services:<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring the weekend of 4 March 2018 in Salisbury the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent of a type developed by Russia, part of a group of nerve agents known as \u2018Novichok\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cA police officer, DS Nick Bailey, who was involved in searching the Skripal\u2019s home address after this attack, was also poisoned with the same nerve agent.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Counter Terrorism Policing Network has conducted a thorough investigation into how this attack happened. They have recently submitted a file of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service so we could make a decision whether criminal charges could be brought against anyone who was involved in these events.<\/p>\n
\u201cProsecutors from CPS Counter Terrorism Division have considered the evidence and have concluded there is sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction and it is clearly in the public interest to charge Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, who are Russian nationals, with the following offences:<\/p>\n
\n- Conspiracy to murder Sergei Skripal<\/li>\n
- Attempted murder of Sergei Skripal, Yulia Skripal and Nick Bailey<\/li>\n
- Use and possession of Novichok contrary to the Chemical Weapons Act<\/li>\n
- Causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Yulia Skripal and Nick Bailey<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u201cA realistic prospect of conviction means the CPS is satisfied on an objective assessment that the evidence can be used in court and that an objective, impartial and reasonable jury hearing the case, properly directed and acting in accordance with the law, is more likely than not to convict these two individuals of the charges.<\/p>\n
“It is of course for a jury to decide whether the evidence is enough for them to be sure of the suspects’ guilt.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will not be applying to Russia for the extradition of these men as the Russian constitution does not permit extradition of its own nationals. Russia has made this clear following requests for extradition in other cases.\u00a0Should this position change then an extradition request would be made.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have, however, obtained a European Arrest Warrant which means that if either man travels to a country where an EAW is valid, they will be arrested and face extradition on these charges for which there is no statute of limitations.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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I<\/span>ndependent investigators have confirmed the\u00a0nerve agent used to\u00a0poison Sergei and Yulia Skripal was the same\u00a0toxic chemical that killed Dawn Sturgess in Amesbury\u00a0three months later.<\/p>\nThe Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OCPW) said its team had confirmed the findings of the UK, which concluded in July that the substance used in Amesbury was Novichok.<\/p>\n
Ms Sturgess and her partner Charlie Rowley\u00a0fell ill at his home in Amesbury, near\u00a0Salisbury, on June 30.<\/p>\n
Ms Sturgess, a mother-of-three, died in hospital eight days later having never regained consciousness.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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I<\/span>t is believed they were exposed to a military grade nerve agent\u00a0from a perfume bottle\u00a0discarded by those responsible for the attack on the Skripals.<\/p>\nThe OPCW on Tuesday evening said: “The results of the analysis by the OPCW designated laboratories of environmental and biomedical samples collected by the OPCW team confirm the findings of the United Kingdom relating to the identity of the toxic chemical that intoxicated two individuals in Amesbury and resulted in one fatality.<\/p>\n
“The toxic chemical compound displays the same toxic properties of a nerve agent.<\/p>\n
“It is also the same toxic chemical that was found in the biomedical and environmental samples relating to the poisoning of Mr Sergei Skripal, Ms Yulia Skripal, and Mr Nicholas Bailey on March 4 in\u00a0Salisbury.”<\/p>\n
Russia accuses UK of keeping Skripals in ‘isolation’<\/h3>\n
Six months on from the nerve agent attack in\u00a0Salisbury, Russia\u00a0has reiterated its belief that the UK is flouting international law by apparently keeping the pair from having contact with embassy officials.<\/p>\n
A statement released by the Russian Embassy on Tuesday referred to the circumstances of the March attack as “obscure” and accused British authorities of keeping the Skripals in isolation ever since their release from hospital.<\/p>\n
It said: “They remain out of the public eye at an unknown location, unable to communicate freely with their relatives, friends, journalists or Russian officials, deprived of the freedom of movement.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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T<\/span>he statement claimed that authorities in the UK had refused to allow the embassy to have direct contact with the former spy and his daughter “in order to verify their actual health situation, the conditions in which they are held and, most importantly, to ascertain to which extent their isolation is voluntary”.<\/p>\nThe embassy added that it had sent more than 70 notes and letters to the Foreign Office, Home Office and police since the poisoning but had had nearly all of its queries ignored.<\/p>\n
Following her release from hospital Ms Skripal said she was “grateful for the offers of assistance from the Russian Embassy but at the moment I do not wish to avail myself of their services”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Convulsions, paralysis and respiratory failure:\u00a0How Novichok\u00a0attacks nervous system<\/h3>\n
N<\/span>ovichok is a group of nerve agents which are\u00a0more potent and lethal than VX or sarin. They are made of two separate non-toxic substances that work as a nerve agent when brought together.<\/p>\nThey work by attacking the nervous system and stopping chemical messages from being transmitted around the body.<\/p>\n
This causes the heart to slow down and the airways to become constricted, which can lead to suffocation or brain damage.<\/p>\n
Breathing is disrupted as the muscles struggle to contract normally, while fluid may build up on the lungs. Symptoms can start within seconds or minutes of being exposed and include convulsions, paralysis and respiratory failure.<\/p>\n
Video: What Novichok is – and how it affects the body<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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N<\/span>erve agents including Novichok can be inhaled as a fine powder, absorbed through the skin or ingested.<\/p>\nExperts said medics would probably have relied on three chemicals to treat the Skripals after they were found unconscious on a park bench in Salisbury in March.<\/p>\n
Paramedics are likely to have used diazepam to prevent convulsions, while they worked out what was responsible for the symptoms.<\/p>\n
Doctors may later have administered atropine, which counteracts the effect of the nerve agent, maintaining heart rate and stopping the secretion from entering the lungs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A<\/span>n oxime, which pulls the nerve agent off the enzyme, could also have been used to help the acetylcholinesterase enzyme start functioning again.<\/p>\nThe patient’s body itself will also work to reproduce the blocked enzyme and this process will be accelerated if they have received a strong dose of nerve agent.<\/p>\n
When Mr Skripal and his daughter were discharged, the hospital warned that they may require further treatment in the future.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Skripal ‘briefed\u00a0intelligence officers in Europe’<\/h3>\n
B<\/span>ritish security services allegedly sent Col Skripal to Eastern Europe to share Russian spy secrets,\u00a0reports Victoria Ward.<\/p>\nThe\u00a0former Russian spy\u00a0is said to have travelled widely, offering information on Russian espionage to security officers in both Prague and Estonia.<\/p>\n
Such briefings have been cited as a possible motive for Russia\u2019s attempt to kill both Col Skripal\u00a0and his daughter, Yulia.<\/p>\n
A visit to Prague in 2012, when he reportedly provided information about\u00a0Russian espionage methods\u00a0and the activities of his former colleagues operating in Europe, was described as \u201cbeneficial\u201d and his information, although dated, was deemed valuable.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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H<\/span>e arrived in the city shortly after his wife, Lyudmila, died.\u00a0But although he was grieving, he was in \u201cgood spirits,\u201d drinking with intelligence officers and joking that his doctor had prescribed whiskey for high blood pressure.<\/p>\nOne agent suggested that although he was in poor health, his mind was sharp.<\/p>\n
In fact, Col Skripal was so helpful that Czech intelligence officers continued to meet with him, reportedly making several trips to Britain in subsequent years.<\/p>\n
The former spy is said to have\u00a0visited Estonia\u00a0as recently as June 2016, in which \u201cvery sensitive information\u201d was discussed with a \u201cselect group of intelligence officers\u201d. MI6 helped facilitate the meeting, it is claimed.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Telegraph<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Two Russian men\u00a0charged over\u00a0the Salisbury poisonings are officers of Vladimir Putin’s military spy agency, Theresa May has told the House of Commons. Prosecutors said\u00a0there is enough evidence to charge Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov with offences including conspiracy to murder over the\u00a0Novichok attack on\u00a0ex-Russian double agent\u00a0Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia\u00a0in March. In a statement …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3868,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3867"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3869,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3867\/revisions\/3869"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}