Skripal Case Bombshell: Swiss Lab Reports 'BZ Toxin' Used In Salisbury - Chemical Not Produced In Russia, Only NATO States
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angelburst29
The Living Force
10th May 2018 - Here Are The Official State Censorship Documents Relating To The Skripal Affair
Here Are The Official State Censorship Documents Relating To The Skripal Affair - TruePublica
Last week we reported that a D-notice (Defence and Security Media Advisory Notice) used by the British state to censor the publication of potentially damaging news stories had been formally issued to the mainstream media to withhold publication of the British ex-spy deeply involved in the Skripal/Novichok affair.
We revealed that Channel4 journalists had been issued these D-notices, which were in respect of a former British intelligence officer called Pablo Miller. Miller was an associate of Christopher Steele, first in espionage operations in Russia and more recently in the activities of Steele’s private intelligence firm, Orbis Business Intelligence.
Steele was responsible for compiling the Trump–Russia dossier, comprising 17 memos written in 2016 alleging misconduct and conspiracy between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and the Putin administration. The dossier paid for by the Democratic Party, claimed that Trump was compromised by evidence of his sexual proclivities in Russia’s possession. Steele was the subject of an earlier (unsuccessful) D-notice, which attempted to keep his identity as the author of the dossier a secret.
If Miller and, by extension, Skripal himself were somehow involved in Orbis’ work on the highly-suspect Steele–Trump dossier, alongside representatives of British and possibly US intelligence, then all manner of motivations can be suggested for an attack on the ex-Russian spy and British double agent by forces other than Russia’s intelligence service, the FSB.
In other words, the state attempted to clear up the mess it had already made of the Trump dossier, since proven to have made many false assertions, particularly of collusion with senior Russian officials and links to ex-Russian double agent Sergei Skripal.
Yesterday, spinwatch.org revealed that the Skripal affair has resulted in the issuing of not one but two ‘D-Notices’ to the British mainstream media, which are marked ‘private and confidential’. They also disclose the contents of both notices, which have been obtained from a reliable source.
Here is the first one dated 7th March lifted straight from the powerbase website:
From: DSMA Secretary <secretary@dsma.uk>
Date: 7 March 2018
Subject: URGENT FOR ALL EDITORS – DEFENCE AND SECURITY MEDIA ADVISORY (DSMA) NOTICE
Private and Confidential: Not for Publication, Broadcast or for use on Social Media TO ALL EDITORS The issue surrounding the identity of a former MI6 informer, Sergei Skripal, is already widely available in the public domain. However, the identifies of intelligence agency personnel associated with Sergei Skripal are not yet widely available in the public domain. The provisions of DSMA Notice 05 therefore apply to these identities. DSMA Notice 05 inter alia advises editors against the:
‘inadvertent disclosure of Sensitive Personnel Information (SPI) that reveals the identity, location or contact details of personnel (and their family members) who have security, intelligence and/or counter-terrorist backgrounds, including members of the UK Security and Intelligence Agencies, MOD and Specials Forces.’ The full text of DSMA notice 05 can be found on the DSMA website.
If any editor is currently considering publication of such material, may I ask you to seek my advice before doing so?
Please do call or email me if you have any questions or need further clarification.
I would be grateful were the Press Association and Society of Editors to promulgate this notice through their own networks.
Thank you,
Yours sincerely,
John Alexander
Group Captain John Alexander | Second Deputy Secretary | Defence and Security Media Advisory
7th March D-notice can be viewed HERE refers to “the identities of intelligence agency personnel associated with Sergei Skripal not yet widely available in the public domain.”
The 14th March D-notice can be viewed HERE and specifically focuses on “reactions from the Russian authorities” and the publication of Sensitive Personal Information (such as naming the ex-spook in question) or identify personnel who work in sensitive positions.
The use of the word ‘advisory’ is cleverly inserted to give a false impression that this notice is not state censorship. It is indeed nothing less than state censorship.
The mainstream media are ‘advised’ not to publish and if they do there will be consequences. Those consequences include being left out of government and agency press releases, attendance at meetings, official announcements and the like. In other words, complete exclusion alongside other measures to ensure compliance.
As Spinwatch says: “However, the DSMA-Notices (as they are now officially called) are one of the miracles of British state censorship. They are a mechanism whereby the British state simply ‘advises’ the mainstream media what not to publish, in ‘notices’ with no legal force. The media then voluntarily comply.”
16th July 2018 - Skripal, Sturgess and Novichok – The mystery of the boy, the ducks and the wrong park
Skripal, Sturgess and Novichok - The mystery of the boy, the ducks and the wrong park - TruePublica
TruePublica Editor: Back in March this year when the Skripal story broke, a cursory glance at the evidence showed that the government line in this incident was clearly suspicious. At the time we wrote: The pieces of this entire story are slowly coming together. The picture that is emerging is erroneous and spurious at best, at worst, it shows a desperate government at work to save itself from a chaotic implosion. Over the next four months we picked apart this story and wrote about the involvement of MI6, what the civil servants involved were saying and we posted the D-notices and censorship documents to the press.
The government has since continued with its implosion. Nine resignations in just twelve months, infighting, backstabbing and talk of leadership skirmishes, with the big beasts warming up for the big battle – hardly the stuff of “strong and stable.”
Then Skripal 2.0 arose with the poisonings of two more individuals, one of whom has sadly since died. This incident adds another dimension to the original story and if anything adds weight to the argument that highly trained professional Russian state-sponsored assassins were not at work as suggested by both the British and American authorities.
Here is an excellent piece by Rob Slane who happens to live close to the Salisbury incidents. What Slane’s piece does is bring more information to the foreground highlighting many inaccuracies and unreliable evidence. This article is entitled:
July 10, 2018 - It’s the Wrong Park! How the Ducks Raise Some Serious Questions in the Salisbury Poisonings
It’s the Wrong Park! How the Ducks Raise Some Serious Questions in the Salisbury Poisonings
According to the Metropolitan Police investigation into the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, here is a timeline of events on 4th March:
13:40: Sergei and Yulia arrived at the Sainsbury’s upper level car park in The Maltings. The pair go to The Mill pub.
Approximately 14.20: They eat at Zizzi restaurant on Castle Street
15:35: They leave the restaurant
16:15: Emergency services are called by a member of the public to the bench where Sergei and Yulia are slumped on a bench
So: car park, pub, restaurant, bench. Simples? Not so, as we shall see.
On 28th March, an article appeared in the Sun, which talked about a 12-year-old boy from Salisbury, Aiden Cooper, who was apparently in a park with his parents, when he saw the Skripals and went over to them to feed the ducks:
“A schoolboy told yesterday how he was caught up in the poison spy drama after assassination target Sergei Skripal gave him bread to feed ducks. Aiden Cooper, 12, was playing in a park with pals when they saw Skripal and daughter Yulia beside a stream. They were handed bread and are among the last people to have had contact with the retired Russian military intelligence colonel, now fighting for his life.“
Of course, I would always want to have a large bucket of salt on standby when reading anything in The Sun, but in this case I see no reason why they, or the people quoted in the article, would make this up. In any case, the story was repeated in a number of other outlets (The Mirror, The Mail and Metro for instance), and it mentions that the parents only found out about the identity of the breadman when they were contacted by police.Now, the interesting thing about The Mirror, The Mail and Metro pieces is that they are all either very wrong or very vague about a quite crucial detail. The Mirror and The Mail both tell us that the incident took place “near the Avon Playground”. And Metro tells us that the incident took place at “Riverside Park”.
For those of you not familiar with Salisbury, let me shed some light. The Avon Playground mentioned by The Mirror and The Mail is next to the Avon River, and it is also about 50 yards or so from the bench where the Skripals were found (as an aside, this is not the same Avon as in Stratford-upon-Avon. Avon is a Celtic word meaning river). As for Riverside Park mentioned by Metro, this may be a figment of their imagination, as no such named park exists in Salisbury. But the important point is that from the details given in these articles, nobody would think anything other than that the duck-feeding incident took place in the same park as the bench on which the Skripals were found.
Yet all three of these media outlets are wrong, and in a way that may well be very significant. Turning back to the report in The Sun, we find that it is by far the most detailed of all the reports on the duck incident. In fact, it appeared three days after the others appeared, with The Sun sending a reporter to interview the boy and his parents. Here is a snippet:
“Aiden and his pals are thought to be the youngest of 130 exposed to the nerve agent Novichok, said to have been unleashed in Salisbury by President Vladimir Putin…
Aiden’s family were alerted after cops traced him from CCTV pics.
Aiden’s civil engineer dad Luke, 33, said: ‘Obviously we had seen the incident on the news but didn’t think we were involved at all. Aiden was playing in the park with his friends when they spotted the Russian gentleman and his daughter. Kids being kids they went over and he gave them some bread and they fed the ducks. We didn’t think anything of it until two weeks later when then the police knocked on our door.’
It was terrifying. We took Aiden to hospital for a load of tests and then the police told us they had to burn everything Aiden was wearing that day.'”
So presumably, Aiden and his friends were seen on camera, as was Sergei Skripal and possibly Yulia, and this was on 4th March. We aren’t told when in the day this was, but given that the police traced the family, and Aiden then had to go to hospital, it clearly must have been after the police claim Mr Skripal came into contact with nerve agent on his door handle.
But here’s the significant fact (I am indebted to a lady who contacted me to point it out, and I must say I kicked myself for not having realised it before). Unlike the media outlets mentioned above, The Sun doesn’t mention the name of the park, but the piece is accompanied by four photographs of Aiden with his parents in the park where they saw the Skripals, and indeed one of them has the caption “Aiden with his parents by the pond where he spoke to Skripal”. Here is one of the pictures:
But do you know something? This isn’t the Avon Playground. It isn’t even the non-existent Riverside Park. Do you want to know where it is? It happens to be Queen Elizabeth Gardens.
Why is this important? As you are probably aware, Queen Elizabeth Gardens is now a focal point of Skripal 2.0, as it is alleged to be the place where Dawn Sturgess, who has now sadly passed away, picked up a syringe or a container with the toxic substance in. And whilst I’m not entirely sure whether the location of the duck incident being in Queen Elizabeth Gardens, rather than the Avon Playground, has any bearing in terms of the cases themselves, it does raise three huge questions:
Firstly, according to the Metropolitan Police timeline at the top of this piece, there is no mention of Mr Skripal and Yulia going to Queen Elizabeth Gardens. Why is this, since according to the parents of Aiden Cooper, the police knew that they had been there, having seen footage of them feeding the ducks with their son and his friends?
Secondly, if the police knew that Mr Skripal and Yulia had been in Queen Elizabeth Gardens, and that this was after they were poisoned (as they claim), why was Queen Elizabeth Gardens not closed off immediately and subject to a clean-up operation, as were other places in the City where the Skripals were known to have visited?
Thirdly, assuming the latest official narrative, did the failure to close off and clean up Queen Elizabeth Gardens back in March, when it was known the Skripals had been there, make it more or less likely that someone would come into contact with the alleged nerve agent container at some point?
These are serious questions. I think you’ll agree that they deserve serious answers.
POSTSCRIPT
One or two comments suggest that a map would be helpful. Again, I am indebted to the lady who pointed the Queen Elizabeth Gardens connection out to me, who has helpfully created a map with the main areas of interest (see below).
Can I just caution about one thing though. The point of my post was not to try and work out whether Queen Elizabeth Gardens is important as regards the original case. I think we could go down endless rabbit holes trying to work out where the Skripals went, when they went there, and what this might mean. Unfortunately, we simply do not know this, as there is too much information that we are not party to.
What I am trying to do at the moment is exploit holes in the official story (of which there are more than a few). The police have not included QEG in their timeline, and yet they apparently know that the Skripals were there that day. Why have they not included it? Why did they not close the Gardens down? And had they done so, could this have prevented others from coming into contact with the substance?
I am not saying that I necessarily think there was a substance there. There may or may not have been. However, the point is that the authorities are saying this and yet those same authorities apparently know that the Skripals were there on 4th March, but have hushed this up. Therefore, we need to turn up the volume on it and they need to explain themselves.
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angelburst29
The Living Force
August 21, 2018 - Lavrov slams London’s attempts to dictate policy on Russia to US and EU
Lavrov slams London’s attempts to dictate policy on Russia to US and EU
Lavrov has commented on UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s plans to persuade US President Donald Trump to expand the sanctions.
The UK, which is calling for tougher sanctions against Russia, is trying to dictate foreign policy to the US and the European Union, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday.
"Our British counterparts have pretty high self-esteem," Lavrov said commenting on UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s plans to persuade US President Donald Trump to expand these sanctions.
"The country, which is leaving the EU as part of Brexit, is trying to dictate foreign policy to the EU, and now it turns out that London wants to dictate foreign policy with regard to Russia to Washington as well."
"London is doing the same thing in relations with Europeans, demanding tougher sanctions from them citing the Salisbury incident, which has not been investigated to date." When British reporters asked him [Hunt] whether there was any progress in investigating that incident, he did not know what to answer journalists from his own country," Russia’s top diplomat added.
Speaking at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, DC, Hunt earlier urged the European Union to ensure the implementation of a comprehensive package of sanctions against Russia.
Lavrov slams London’s attempts to dictate policy on Russia to US and EU
Lavrov has commented on UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s plans to persuade US President Donald Trump to expand the sanctions.
The UK, which is calling for tougher sanctions against Russia, is trying to dictate foreign policy to the US and the European Union, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday.
"Our British counterparts have pretty high self-esteem," Lavrov said commenting on UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s plans to persuade US President Donald Trump to expand these sanctions.
"The country, which is leaving the EU as part of Brexit, is trying to dictate foreign policy to the EU, and now it turns out that London wants to dictate foreign policy with regard to Russia to Washington as well."
"London is doing the same thing in relations with Europeans, demanding tougher sanctions from them citing the Salisbury incident, which has not been investigated to date." When British reporters asked him [Hunt] whether there was any progress in investigating that incident, he did not know what to answer journalists from his own country," Russia’s top diplomat added.
Speaking at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, DC, Hunt earlier urged the European Union to ensure the implementation of a comprehensive package of sanctions against Russia.
angelburst29
The Living Force
The reverberations from the Skripal affair, with all its extraordinary twists and turns, show no sign of abating.
23.08.2018 - Ex-Russian Officer Sergei Skripal May Be Dead, His Niece Says
Ex-Russian Officer Sergei Skripal May Be Dead, His Niece Says
The niece of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal fears that her uncle is no longer alive.
In an interview with the newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets, Victoria Skripal revealed the content of her July 24 telephone conversation with Sergei Skripal’s daughter Yulia, who told her that her father was on the mend and that the tracheostomy on his neck would soon be removed.
Yulia also said that she was browsing the Internet and was even jogging in the morning. Victoria thinks, however, that Yulia is not entirely free in her actions.
She also believes that Sergei Skripal’s absence from public view is because the British authorities have nothing to prove their allegation that he was poisoned by some shadowy Russian agents.
“It’s either he is dead, or they have nothing to show. He could have refused, of course, but here I think that, just like in Litvinenko’s case, they would have let us see him if, of course they had anything to show,” Victoria Skripal noted.
23.08.2018 - US Yet to Promulgate 1st Round of New Anti- Russian Sanctions Over Shripal Case
US Yet to Promulgate 1st Round of New Anti-Russian Sanctions Over Skripal Case
The United States has not released yet the previously announced package of sanctions against Russia over the latter's alleged involvement in the poisoning of the country's former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, despite the fact that the introduction of restrictions was tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, August 22.
The first package of sanctions, announced by Washington earlier in August, include, in particular, the ban on supplies of dual-purpose electronic devices and components to Russia.
However, as of 2:00 a.m. Washington time on Thursday (6:00 GMT) the sanctions, which should come into force after being published in the US Federal Register, the daily journal of the US government, have not been released on the official portal.
The US State Department and the Treasury have not responded to Sputnik's request to specify the date for the sanctions' introduction.
On August 8, the US administration announced a new round of sanctions against Russia due to its alleged use of chemical weapons in the poisoning of the Skripals in the UK city of Salisbury in March.
According to media reports, the second round of sanctions, which might be imposed in November, might include scaling back diplomatic relations between the two countries, suspending flights of Russian airline Aeroflot to the United States and almost complete cessation of US exports to the country. According to the US State Department, Russia could avoid the second round of sanctions by assuring it would not use chemical weapons in the future.
Russia has repeatedly denied involvement in the Skripals case, stressing that London has neither provided evidence nor cooperated with Moscow in investigating the incident.
23.08.2018 - Ex-Russian Officer Sergei Skripal May Be Dead, His Niece Says
Ex-Russian Officer Sergei Skripal May Be Dead, His Niece Says
The niece of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal fears that her uncle is no longer alive.
In an interview with the newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets, Victoria Skripal revealed the content of her July 24 telephone conversation with Sergei Skripal’s daughter Yulia, who told her that her father was on the mend and that the tracheostomy on his neck would soon be removed.
Yulia also said that she was browsing the Internet and was even jogging in the morning. Victoria thinks, however, that Yulia is not entirely free in her actions.
She also believes that Sergei Skripal’s absence from public view is because the British authorities have nothing to prove their allegation that he was poisoned by some shadowy Russian agents.
“It’s either he is dead, or they have nothing to show. He could have refused, of course, but here I think that, just like in Litvinenko’s case, they would have let us see him if, of course they had anything to show,” Victoria Skripal noted.
23.08.2018 - US Yet to Promulgate 1st Round of New Anti- Russian Sanctions Over Shripal Case
US Yet to Promulgate 1st Round of New Anti-Russian Sanctions Over Skripal Case
The United States has not released yet the previously announced package of sanctions against Russia over the latter's alleged involvement in the poisoning of the country's former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, despite the fact that the introduction of restrictions was tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, August 22.
The first package of sanctions, announced by Washington earlier in August, include, in particular, the ban on supplies of dual-purpose electronic devices and components to Russia.
However, as of 2:00 a.m. Washington time on Thursday (6:00 GMT) the sanctions, which should come into force after being published in the US Federal Register, the daily journal of the US government, have not been released on the official portal.
The US State Department and the Treasury have not responded to Sputnik's request to specify the date for the sanctions' introduction.
On August 8, the US administration announced a new round of sanctions against Russia due to its alleged use of chemical weapons in the poisoning of the Skripals in the UK city of Salisbury in March.
According to media reports, the second round of sanctions, which might be imposed in November, might include scaling back diplomatic relations between the two countries, suspending flights of Russian airline Aeroflot to the United States and almost complete cessation of US exports to the country. According to the US State Department, Russia could avoid the second round of sanctions by assuring it would not use chemical weapons in the future.
Russia has repeatedly denied involvement in the Skripals case, stressing that London has neither provided evidence nor cooperated with Moscow in investigating the incident.
angelburst29
The Living Force
26.08.2018 - Amesbury Survivor Charlie Rowley Reportedly Battling Deadly Disease
Amesbury Survivor Charlie Rowley Reportedly Battling Deadly Disease
According to Rowley's brother, Charlie hasn't fully recovered from what the UK authorities are calling the "Novichok" nerve agent, which killed his girlfriend last month and poisoned ex-Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury in early March.
Charlie Rowley, a British national who was allegedly poisoned by a nerve agent in Amesbury, is battling meningitis in the intensive care unit, his brother Mathew said in an exclusive interview with The Sunday People tabloid, citing a nurse in charge.
"It looks like he got it from his body being run down by the Novichok. I think he got released too early," he added.
Last Friday, Rowley had vision problems and was rushed by ambulance to the hospital where he and his partner, Dawn Sturgess, were treated for alleged Novichok exposure.
"He was in a bad way and I wasn't sure he was going to make it. All of his systems seemed to be shutting down," Mathew claimed. "I don't know much about meningitis, but it shuts down the organs and you can lose limbs and different things."
Amesbury Survivor Charlie Rowley Reportedly Battling Deadly Disease
According to Rowley's brother, Charlie hasn't fully recovered from what the UK authorities are calling the "Novichok" nerve agent, which killed his girlfriend last month and poisoned ex-Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury in early March.
Charlie Rowley, a British national who was allegedly poisoned by a nerve agent in Amesbury, is battling meningitis in the intensive care unit, his brother Mathew said in an exclusive interview with The Sunday People tabloid, citing a nurse in charge.
"It looks like he got it from his body being run down by the Novichok. I think he got released too early," he added.
Last Friday, Rowley had vision problems and was rushed by ambulance to the hospital where he and his partner, Dawn Sturgess, were treated for alleged Novichok exposure.
"He was in a bad way and I wasn't sure he was going to make it. All of his systems seemed to be shutting down," Mathew claimed. "I don't know much about meningitis, but it shuts down the organs and you can lose limbs and different things."
angelburst29
The Living Force
27.08.2018 - The Strange Silence of Sergei Skripal
The Strange Silence of Sergei Skripal
'Is there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention?' 'To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time' 'The dog did nothing in the night-time'. 'That was the curious incident', remarked Sherlock Holmes.
That famous exchange between Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick Dr Watson in the classic Sir Arthur Conan Doyle short story 'Silver Blaze', springs readily to mind when one considers the strange silence of Sergei Skripal.
This week, the Times newspaper reported that the British authorities had rejected a claim by Sergei Skripal's niece that the former Russian double agent, who was poisoned with nerve agent in Salisbury on 4th March, could already be dead.
But if Skripal is not dead, then why haven't we heard from him, or seen any recent photograph of him? There have in fact, been no pictures of him, since 4th March, the day he was poisoned. He's become the 2018 equivalent of H.G. Wells' Invisible Man.
Let's think this through logically, without fear or favour. Skripal, we were told, was discharged was from Salisbury District hospital on Friday 18th May, over two months on from him being found unconscious-with his daughter Yulia- on a park bench near to the centre of the Wiltshire town. Five days later, on Wednesday 23rd May, Yulia appeared on video, making a short statement that was filmed in a secret location somewhere in England. She said: 'I take one day at a time and want to help care for my Dad till his full recovery. In the longer term I hope to return to my country'. She also said 'I want to re-iterate what I said in my earlier statement that no one speaks for me, or my father, but ourselves'.
The next we hear from Yulia is in a telephone call to her cousin Vicktoria, which took place on or around 4th July. In it, she blames her cousin for making 'this public' and says 'I am just asking that no one interferes in this situation, that's all'. Yulia says that 'no-one' is stopping her returning home to live her life. 'I can do that any day. It's just that I am currently looking after my father and recovering myself'.
The investigative blogger The Blogmire, who has done some really excellent work on the case, surmises that Yulia Skripal did not know that Russia had been blamed when she spoke to her cousin. She had not been told this by the UK authorities. 'Had she been told, she could hardly have blamed her cousin for creating the publicity that is apparently preventing her return', The Blogmire writes.
BBC Monitoring ✔ @BBCMonitoring
· Jul 6, 2018
Replying to @BBCMonitoring
2/ Viktoria Skripal - cousin of Yulia, who was poisoned along with her father Sergei in March - appeared again on Russian state TV programme "Let them talk" last night. pic.twitter.com/MXgVBT4WX8
BBC Monitoring ✔ @BBCMonitoring
3/ The programme played a recording of a conversation between the two in which Yulia appeared to reproach her cousin for going public with family matters. pic.twitter.com/TgbBtGhiJp
4:35 AM - Jul 6, 2018It's clear also that Yulia doesn't blame Russia for trying to kill her, or else she would not have said that she could return home 'any day'. Why would she want to go a place where the government/state security services had tried to kill her and her father, even if it was her home country? Even more interestingly, Viktoria says another call with Yulia took place on 24th July, in which Yulia said 'I finally got the internet, and I read everything. I understood everything. Forgive me'. In that phone call, to her grandmother on her birthday, Yulia says that she is in London with her father. She says: "He can't speak because he's got a tracheotomy, that pipe, which will be taken off in three days.
"Now when he speaks with that pipe, his voice is first of all very weak and secondly he makes quite a lot of wheeze."
That would explain why we hadn't heard from Sergei up to then, but one more month has now passed. Viktoria said that Yulia told her her father would call on his own after the pipe had been removed, but there's been no word from him. Why no updates on his condition?
Another important question we need to ask is: why did the British authorities keep Yulia and presumably Sergei Skripal too, in the dark about them blaming Russia, at least until early July? Could it be because they knew Russia was not responsible and that they knew that Yulia and Sergei knew that too, because they had a very good idea of who had attacked them?
Let's suppose that someone else was behind the 'attack', to use Yulia's own term. The exposure of that would be hugely embarassing for the British government, and indeed for most of the political and media establishment, who decided Russia was guilty even before any kind of criminal investigation could begin. Not only did Britain expel 23 Russian diplomats, it urged other countries to do the same. There were even calls for the football World Cup to be taken away from Russia and for Russian media operating lawfully in the UK to be shut down. Don't forget too that only last week new US sanctions on Russia, imposed because of the Skripal case, came into force. The Russian claim for compensation, if the accusations are revealed as false, could run into billions of dollars.
Which begs the question: if it wasn't Russia, but some other actor- state, or non-state, would we ever be allowed to know?
Surely if Yulia or Sergei agreed with the UK government line that Russia was responsible, the authorities would have done everything to get them in front of a camera, reading a statement to that effect. Think how that would aid the anti-Russian cause, which the British neo-conservative government is so keen to pursue. The fact that neither Skripal has come out with any such statement, is arguably as significant as Sherlock Holmes's dog that didn't bark in the night time.
As to the claims circulating that Sergei is already dead, a simple short video, or, if that's not possible, a dated photograph, could easily disprove that and end the speculation. The public needs to know what's going on. We need to hear from Yulia and Sergei Skripal and their account of what happened on 4th March. We need to see the evidence, as this is a matter of great national and international significance.
Is that really too much to ask for, Mrs May?
(The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of Neil Clark and do not necessarily reflect Sputnik's position.)
The Strange Silence of Sergei Skripal
'Is there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention?' 'To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time' 'The dog did nothing in the night-time'. 'That was the curious incident', remarked Sherlock Holmes.
That famous exchange between Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick Dr Watson in the classic Sir Arthur Conan Doyle short story 'Silver Blaze', springs readily to mind when one considers the strange silence of Sergei Skripal.
This week, the Times newspaper reported that the British authorities had rejected a claim by Sergei Skripal's niece that the former Russian double agent, who was poisoned with nerve agent in Salisbury on 4th March, could already be dead.
But if Skripal is not dead, then why haven't we heard from him, or seen any recent photograph of him? There have in fact, been no pictures of him, since 4th March, the day he was poisoned. He's become the 2018 equivalent of H.G. Wells' Invisible Man.
Let's think this through logically, without fear or favour. Skripal, we were told, was discharged was from Salisbury District hospital on Friday 18th May, over two months on from him being found unconscious-with his daughter Yulia- on a park bench near to the centre of the Wiltshire town. Five days later, on Wednesday 23rd May, Yulia appeared on video, making a short statement that was filmed in a secret location somewhere in England. She said: 'I take one day at a time and want to help care for my Dad till his full recovery. In the longer term I hope to return to my country'. She also said 'I want to re-iterate what I said in my earlier statement that no one speaks for me, or my father, but ourselves'.
The next we hear from Yulia is in a telephone call to her cousin Vicktoria, which took place on or around 4th July. In it, she blames her cousin for making 'this public' and says 'I am just asking that no one interferes in this situation, that's all'. Yulia says that 'no-one' is stopping her returning home to live her life. 'I can do that any day. It's just that I am currently looking after my father and recovering myself'.
The investigative blogger The Blogmire, who has done some really excellent work on the case, surmises that Yulia Skripal did not know that Russia had been blamed when she spoke to her cousin. She had not been told this by the UK authorities. 'Had she been told, she could hardly have blamed her cousin for creating the publicity that is apparently preventing her return', The Blogmire writes.
BBC Monitoring ✔ @BBCMonitoring
· Jul 6, 2018
Replying to @BBCMonitoring
2/ Viktoria Skripal - cousin of Yulia, who was poisoned along with her father Sergei in March - appeared again on Russian state TV programme "Let them talk" last night. pic.twitter.com/MXgVBT4WX8
BBC Monitoring ✔ @BBCMonitoring
3/ The programme played a recording of a conversation between the two in which Yulia appeared to reproach her cousin for going public with family matters. pic.twitter.com/TgbBtGhiJp
4:35 AM - Jul 6, 2018
"Now when he speaks with that pipe, his voice is first of all very weak and secondly he makes quite a lot of wheeze."
That would explain why we hadn't heard from Sergei up to then, but one more month has now passed. Viktoria said that Yulia told her her father would call on his own after the pipe had been removed, but there's been no word from him. Why no updates on his condition?
Another important question we need to ask is: why did the British authorities keep Yulia and presumably Sergei Skripal too, in the dark about them blaming Russia, at least until early July? Could it be because they knew Russia was not responsible and that they knew that Yulia and Sergei knew that too, because they had a very good idea of who had attacked them?
Let's suppose that someone else was behind the 'attack', to use Yulia's own term. The exposure of that would be hugely embarassing for the British government, and indeed for most of the political and media establishment, who decided Russia was guilty even before any kind of criminal investigation could begin. Not only did Britain expel 23 Russian diplomats, it urged other countries to do the same. There were even calls for the football World Cup to be taken away from Russia and for Russian media operating lawfully in the UK to be shut down. Don't forget too that only last week new US sanctions on Russia, imposed because of the Skripal case, came into force. The Russian claim for compensation, if the accusations are revealed as false, could run into billions of dollars.
Which begs the question: if it wasn't Russia, but some other actor- state, or non-state, would we ever be allowed to know?
Surely if Yulia or Sergei agreed with the UK government line that Russia was responsible, the authorities would have done everything to get them in front of a camera, reading a statement to that effect. Think how that would aid the anti-Russian cause, which the British neo-conservative government is so keen to pursue. The fact that neither Skripal has come out with any such statement, is arguably as significant as Sherlock Holmes's dog that didn't bark in the night time.
As to the claims circulating that Sergei is already dead, a simple short video, or, if that's not possible, a dated photograph, could easily disprove that and end the speculation. The public needs to know what's going on. We need to hear from Yulia and Sergei Skripal and their account of what happened on 4th March. We need to see the evidence, as this is a matter of great national and international significance.
Is that really too much to ask for, Mrs May?
(The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of Neil Clark and do not necessarily reflect Sputnik's position.)
angelburst29
The Living Force
Two officers with extraordinary abilities to memorize faces have been working on the investigation into the poisoning attempt on the life of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, UK media reported on Tuesday.
28.08.2018 - Officers With Superb Memory Skills Help Investigate Skripal Case - Reports
Officers With Superb Memory Skills Help Investigate Skripal Case - Reports
The two Scotland Yard detectives have been deployed from the beginning of the investigation, Sky News broadcaster reported, citing former detective chief inspector Mick Neville.
The detectives' talent is reportedly to focus on the less obvious parts of human faces, the parts that are not easy to change, unlike glasses or facial hair.
The special squad was established in 2011 after unrest in London, when it emerged that some officers had better memory for faces than their colleagues.
28.08.2018 - Officers With Superb Memory Skills Help Investigate Skripal Case - Reports
Officers With Superb Memory Skills Help Investigate Skripal Case - Reports
The two Scotland Yard detectives have been deployed from the beginning of the investigation, Sky News broadcaster reported, citing former detective chief inspector Mick Neville.
The detectives' talent is reportedly to focus on the less obvious parts of human faces, the parts that are not easy to change, unlike glasses or facial hair.
The special squad was established in 2011 after unrest in London, when it emerged that some officers had better memory for faces than their colleagues.
angelburst29
The Living Force
September 05, 2018 - UK charges two Russians for attempted murder of Skripals, blames Moscow
Britain charges two Russians for state-backed plot to kill Skripals
September 05, 2018
UK charges two Russians for attempted murder of Skripals, blames Moscow
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain charged two Russians in absentia on Wednesday with the attempted murder of a former Russian spy and his daughter, saying the suspects were military intelligence officers almost certainly acting on orders from high up in the Russian state.
British police revealed images of the two men they said had flown to Britain for a weekend in March to kill former spy Sergei Skripal with Novichok, a military-grade nerve agent.
Skripal's daughter Yulia and a police officer who attended the scene also fell ill in the case, which has caused the biggest East-West diplomatic expulsions since the Cold War. A woman later died from Novichok poisoning after her partner found a counterfeit perfume bottle which police believe had been used to smuggle the nerve agent into Britain.
British authorities identified the suspects as Russian nationals traveling on genuine passports under the aliases Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov. Prime Minister Theresa May said the government had concluded they were officers in Russia's military intelligence service GRU.
"The GRU is a highly disciplined organization with a well-established chain of command, so this was not a rogue operation, May told parliament. "It was almost certainly also approved outside the GRU at a senior level of the Russian state."
Skripal, himself a former GRU officer who betrayed dozens of agents to Britain's MI6 foreign spy service, was found unconscious with Yulia on a public bench in the southern English city of Salisbury on March 4.
Police released security camera images of the two suspects and outlined a three-day mission that took them from Moscow to London to Salisbury, where they sprayed poison on Skripal's door before flying back to Moscow hours later.
Russia's foreign ministry said the names given by Britain did not mean anything to Moscow, which has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attack.
"We have heard or seen two names, these names mean nothing to me personally," Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters in Moscow. "I don't understand why this was done and what sort of signal the British side is sending."
Britain and dozens of other countries have kicked out scores of Russian diplomats over the incident, and Moscow has responded tit-for-tat with an identical number of expulsions. The affair has worsened Russian relations with the West, already under strain over Ukraine, Syria and other issues.
May's spokesman said May had briefed U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday evening. U.S. Ambassador to Britain Woody Johnson said on Twitter the United States stood with Britain in holding Russia accountable for its "act of aggression".
"REMARKABLY SOPHISTICATED ATTACK
The "remarkably sophisticated" attack appeared to be a clear assassination attempt, said Neil Basu, head of UK counter terrorism policing. He described an investigation which involved 250 detectives and analysis of some 11,000 hours of video.
According to police, the suspects, both around 40 years old, flew to London from Moscow on March 2. They spent two nights in an east London hotel, making two day trips to Salisbury, the first for reconnaissance, the second to kill Skripal. They flew out on March 4, hours after the Skripals were found unconscious.
Security cameras filmed the suspects near Skripal's house, and traces of Novichok were found in their London hotel room.
The Russians are charged with conspiracy to murder Sergei Skripal and with the attempted murder of Skripal, his daughter and police officer Nick Bailey. They are also charged with illegal use and possession of a chemical weapon.
A European arrest warrant has been issued for them, but prosecutors said Britain would not ask Moscow to extradite Russian citizens because Russia's constitution forbids it.
Basu said the Skripals were making a good recovery.
A woman from a town near Salisbury, Dawn Sturgess, died in July and her partner Charlie Rowley fell ill after Rowley found a counterfeit bottle of Nina Ricci perfume containing Novichok in a charity collection box and brought it home. Basu said police had no doubt the events were linked, and were discussing charges over the Sturgess and Rowley case with prosecutors.
The Skripal case has been likened by British politicians to the murder of Russian dissident ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko, who was poisoned with a rare radioactive isotope in a London hotel in 2006. Britain charged two Russians with his murder but both remain in Russia, and one later won a seat in parliament.
May said the Litvinenko case showed there was no point to demanding the Skripal suspects' extradition. "But should either of these individuals ever again travel outside Russia, we will take every possible step to detain them, to extradite them and to bring them to face justice here in the United Kingdom."
September 05, 2018 - Police release CCTV images of Novichok poisoning suspects (Video - 1:14 min.)
Police release CCTV images of Novichok poisoning suspects
Britain's Metropolitan Police detailed the movements of the two Russians charged with the attempted murder of a former Russian spy. Rough cut (no reporter narration).
September 05, 2018 - The Latest: Putin adviser: never heard of poisoning suspects
The Latest: Putin adviser: never heard of poisoning suspects
LONDON (AP) — The Latest on the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in Britain (all times local):
2:05 p.m.
A senior adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin says he doesn't know the people whom Britain named as suspects in the poisoning of a former Russia spy.
British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Wednesday that the two suspects behind the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter work for Russia's military intelligence.
Putin's foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, told reporters in Moscow that the names of the two Russian men suspected in the poisoning "do not mean anything to me."
Ushakov pointed to the fact that British authorities mentioned that they think the men's names are aliases and wondered "why this has been done and what kind of a message" Britain is trying to send to the Russian government.
___
1 p.m.
British Prime Minister Theresa May says the two prime suspects in the nerve-agent poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter are agents of Russia's military intelligence agency.
May says U.K. intelligence services have concluded that the men, Alexander Petrov and Rusdan Boshirov, work for the GRU agency.
British prosecutors have charged the two men with the attack on the Skripals, but acknowledge that Russia will not extradite them. They say the names are probably aliases.
Police say they came to Britain two days before the March 4 attack on the Skripals in the city of Salisbury, and that traces of the Novichok nerve agent were found in their London hotel room.
Russia denies involvement, but May said Moscow was spreading "obfuscation and lies"
___
12 noon
Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman says Moscow has no knowledge of the suspects named in the poisoning of a former Russian agent in Britain.
British prosecutors on Wednesday charged two Russian men with the nerve agent poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia earlier this year. Police say the men flew from Moscow to London two days before the Skripals were poisoned on Russian passports but that it believes that the names were aliases.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova says the names of the men and their photos "say nothing to us." Zakharova called on Britain to cooperate with Russian law enforcement agencies on the investigation. She has criticized London for turning down Moscow's request to see the case files.
___
11:40 a.m.
The Kremlin is denying that it played a role in the poisoning of a former Russian spy in a British city, saying that Britain is not sharing any intelligence with it.
British prosecutors on Wednesday charged two Russian men with the nerve agent poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia earlier this year. The prosecutors said that the U.K. is not asking Moscow to extradite the men because Russian law forbids extradition of the country's citizens.
Police say the men, both about 40, flew from Moscow to London two days before the Skripals were poisoned on March 4.
Speaking ahead of the announcement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday denied any Russian role in the poisoning, saying that Russia has no new information about it because Britain has refused to share case files.
___
11:30 a.m.
Police say they believe the nerve agent used to poison former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter was smuggled to Britain in a counterfeit Nina Ricci perfume bottle and applied to the front door of Skripal's house.
More than three months later, the bottle was found by a local man, Charlie Rowley. He was hospitalized and his girlfriend Dawn Sturgess died after being exposed to the contents.
Police are still trying to determine where the bottle was between the Skripal poisoning in March and its discovery by Rowley on June 27.
As a result, he said, police are not yet ready to bring charges in the second poisoning.
Assistant police commissioner Neil Basu would not say whether police believe the suspects worked for Russian security services but, he said, "This was a sophisticated attack across borders."
___
11 a.m.
British prosecutors have charged two Russian men with the nerve agent poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury.
The Crown Prosecution Service says Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov are charged in absentia with conspiracy to murder, attempted murder and use of the nerve agent Novichok.
Prosecutor Sue Hemming said Wednesday that the U.K. is not asking Moscow to extradite the men because Russian law forbids extradition of the country's citizens.
Police say the men, both about 40, flew from Moscow to London on Russian passports two days before the Skripals were poisoned on March 4.
Britain charges two Russians for state-backed plot to kill Skripals
September 05, 2018
UK charges two Russians for attempted murder of Skripals, blames Moscow
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain charged two Russians in absentia on Wednesday with the attempted murder of a former Russian spy and his daughter, saying the suspects were military intelligence officers almost certainly acting on orders from high up in the Russian state.
British police revealed images of the two men they said had flown to Britain for a weekend in March to kill former spy Sergei Skripal with Novichok, a military-grade nerve agent.
Skripal's daughter Yulia and a police officer who attended the scene also fell ill in the case, which has caused the biggest East-West diplomatic expulsions since the Cold War. A woman later died from Novichok poisoning after her partner found a counterfeit perfume bottle which police believe had been used to smuggle the nerve agent into Britain.
British authorities identified the suspects as Russian nationals traveling on genuine passports under the aliases Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov. Prime Minister Theresa May said the government had concluded they were officers in Russia's military intelligence service GRU.
"The GRU is a highly disciplined organization with a well-established chain of command, so this was not a rogue operation, May told parliament. "It was almost certainly also approved outside the GRU at a senior level of the Russian state."
Skripal, himself a former GRU officer who betrayed dozens of agents to Britain's MI6 foreign spy service, was found unconscious with Yulia on a public bench in the southern English city of Salisbury on March 4.
Police released security camera images of the two suspects and outlined a three-day mission that took them from Moscow to London to Salisbury, where they sprayed poison on Skripal's door before flying back to Moscow hours later.
Russia's foreign ministry said the names given by Britain did not mean anything to Moscow, which has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attack.
"We have heard or seen two names, these names mean nothing to me personally," Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters in Moscow. "I don't understand why this was done and what sort of signal the British side is sending."
Britain and dozens of other countries have kicked out scores of Russian diplomats over the incident, and Moscow has responded tit-for-tat with an identical number of expulsions. The affair has worsened Russian relations with the West, already under strain over Ukraine, Syria and other issues.
May's spokesman said May had briefed U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday evening. U.S. Ambassador to Britain Woody Johnson said on Twitter the United States stood with Britain in holding Russia accountable for its "act of aggression".
"REMARKABLY SOPHISTICATED ATTACK
The "remarkably sophisticated" attack appeared to be a clear assassination attempt, said Neil Basu, head of UK counter terrorism policing. He described an investigation which involved 250 detectives and analysis of some 11,000 hours of video.
According to police, the suspects, both around 40 years old, flew to London from Moscow on March 2. They spent two nights in an east London hotel, making two day trips to Salisbury, the first for reconnaissance, the second to kill Skripal. They flew out on March 4, hours after the Skripals were found unconscious.
Security cameras filmed the suspects near Skripal's house, and traces of Novichok were found in their London hotel room.
The Russians are charged with conspiracy to murder Sergei Skripal and with the attempted murder of Skripal, his daughter and police officer Nick Bailey. They are also charged with illegal use and possession of a chemical weapon.
A European arrest warrant has been issued for them, but prosecutors said Britain would not ask Moscow to extradite Russian citizens because Russia's constitution forbids it.
Basu said the Skripals were making a good recovery.
A woman from a town near Salisbury, Dawn Sturgess, died in July and her partner Charlie Rowley fell ill after Rowley found a counterfeit bottle of Nina Ricci perfume containing Novichok in a charity collection box and brought it home. Basu said police had no doubt the events were linked, and were discussing charges over the Sturgess and Rowley case with prosecutors.
The Skripal case has been likened by British politicians to the murder of Russian dissident ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko, who was poisoned with a rare radioactive isotope in a London hotel in 2006. Britain charged two Russians with his murder but both remain in Russia, and one later won a seat in parliament.
May said the Litvinenko case showed there was no point to demanding the Skripal suspects' extradition. "But should either of these individuals ever again travel outside Russia, we will take every possible step to detain them, to extradite them and to bring them to face justice here in the United Kingdom."
September 05, 2018 - Police release CCTV images of Novichok poisoning suspects (Video - 1:14 min.)
Police release CCTV images of Novichok poisoning suspects
Britain's Metropolitan Police detailed the movements of the two Russians charged with the attempted murder of a former Russian spy. Rough cut (no reporter narration).
September 05, 2018 - The Latest: Putin adviser: never heard of poisoning suspects
The Latest: Putin adviser: never heard of poisoning suspects
LONDON (AP) — The Latest on the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in Britain (all times local):
2:05 p.m.
A senior adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin says he doesn't know the people whom Britain named as suspects in the poisoning of a former Russia spy.
British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Wednesday that the two suspects behind the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter work for Russia's military intelligence.
Putin's foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, told reporters in Moscow that the names of the two Russian men suspected in the poisoning "do not mean anything to me."
Ushakov pointed to the fact that British authorities mentioned that they think the men's names are aliases and wondered "why this has been done and what kind of a message" Britain is trying to send to the Russian government.
___
1 p.m.
British Prime Minister Theresa May says the two prime suspects in the nerve-agent poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter are agents of Russia's military intelligence agency.
May says U.K. intelligence services have concluded that the men, Alexander Petrov and Rusdan Boshirov, work for the GRU agency.
British prosecutors have charged the two men with the attack on the Skripals, but acknowledge that Russia will not extradite them. They say the names are probably aliases.
Police say they came to Britain two days before the March 4 attack on the Skripals in the city of Salisbury, and that traces of the Novichok nerve agent were found in their London hotel room.
Russia denies involvement, but May said Moscow was spreading "obfuscation and lies"
___
12 noon
Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman says Moscow has no knowledge of the suspects named in the poisoning of a former Russian agent in Britain.
British prosecutors on Wednesday charged two Russian men with the nerve agent poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia earlier this year. Police say the men flew from Moscow to London two days before the Skripals were poisoned on Russian passports but that it believes that the names were aliases.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova says the names of the men and their photos "say nothing to us." Zakharova called on Britain to cooperate with Russian law enforcement agencies on the investigation. She has criticized London for turning down Moscow's request to see the case files.
___
11:40 a.m.
The Kremlin is denying that it played a role in the poisoning of a former Russian spy in a British city, saying that Britain is not sharing any intelligence with it.
British prosecutors on Wednesday charged two Russian men with the nerve agent poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia earlier this year. The prosecutors said that the U.K. is not asking Moscow to extradite the men because Russian law forbids extradition of the country's citizens.
Police say the men, both about 40, flew from Moscow to London two days before the Skripals were poisoned on March 4.
Speaking ahead of the announcement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday denied any Russian role in the poisoning, saying that Russia has no new information about it because Britain has refused to share case files.
___
11:30 a.m.
Police say they believe the nerve agent used to poison former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter was smuggled to Britain in a counterfeit Nina Ricci perfume bottle and applied to the front door of Skripal's house.
More than three months later, the bottle was found by a local man, Charlie Rowley. He was hospitalized and his girlfriend Dawn Sturgess died after being exposed to the contents.
Police are still trying to determine where the bottle was between the Skripal poisoning in March and its discovery by Rowley on June 27.
As a result, he said, police are not yet ready to bring charges in the second poisoning.
Assistant police commissioner Neil Basu would not say whether police believe the suspects worked for Russian security services but, he said, "This was a sophisticated attack across borders."
___
11 a.m.
British prosecutors have charged two Russian men with the nerve agent poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury.
The Crown Prosecution Service says Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov are charged in absentia with conspiracy to murder, attempted murder and use of the nerve agent Novichok.
Prosecutor Sue Hemming said Wednesday that the U.K. is not asking Moscow to extradite the men because Russian law forbids extradition of the country's citizens.
Police say the men, both about 40, flew from Moscow to London on Russian passports two days before the Skripals were poisoned on March 4.
I watched the daily "60 minutes" show on the Russian TV, and Zakharova was also present. She explained why the whole situation is so ridiculous, and how some of the photos look like apparent fakes. And how this is already way beyond absurd. She said that they have no way of checking these claims, since apparently these names were invented by the British police, and their real names are not known because these "agents" allegedly presented falsified documents. But Zakharova said that they sent a request to Interpol, and the British would have to present something factual, like fingerprints, if they have them.
Added: When I think about, could these be actually Mossad agents that are of Russian origin on purpose, just in case of this very development? If it isn't entirely fake, that is.
Here's the show for those, who know Russian:
Last edited:
angelburst29
The Living Force
Following the publication by the Metropolitan Police of images depicting two suspected perpetrators of the attack on Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that the investigation required scrupulous analysis of data and close cooperation among law enforcement agencies.
05.09.2018 - Skripal Case: UK Police Name 2 Russian Suspects, Moscow Calls for Cooperation
Skripal Case: UK Police Name 2 Russian Suspects, Moscow Calls for Cooperation
"We once again urge the UK side to switch from public accusations and information manipulation to practical cooperation through law enforcement agencies. … London has received numerous relevant inquiries from the Russian side. The investigation of such serious crimes, which have been repeatedly claimed by the United Kingdom, requires the most careful work, scrupulous analysis of data and close cooperation," Zakharova told reporters.
The spokeswoman noted that the names and photos of the two suspects, released by the UK side, "say nothing."
Commenting on the accusations, the Russian Permanent Representative to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said the UK accusations against Russia over the poisoning of Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the city of Salisbury on March 4 were groundless.
The contents of the report were rather vague, but it did not prevent the United Kingdom from immediately claiming that its point has been proven, it was Novichok again, it was Russia again, and other nauseous allegations of Russia's involvement," Shulgin told the Rossiya 1 broadcaster.
The official further noted that if London didn't want to directly deal with Russia on the Skripal case, it could be done through the OPCW.
Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov commenting on the UK's Wednesday statement about Russia's alleged role in the Salisbury nerve agent attack said that the information was controversial.
"We have only heard or seen two names, but these names do not tell me personally anything… Moreover, there was then a commentary by the Scotland Yard that these names were supposedly fictional. I do not understand why this was done and what kind of signal the UK side sends. It's difficult to understand," Ushakov stressed.
Metropolitan Police Accuse Two Russian Nationals of Skripals' Poisoning
Earlier in the day, at a private press briefing, the Metropolitan Police released images of two suspected perpetrators of the attack on Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the city of Salisbury on March 4.
"Today we are releasing further information and a number of images in the hope that the public can assist us further. … I am, therefore, appealing for anyone who has information about the suspects named by the CPS today as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov to contact police. Both suspects are approximately 40 years old, and are Russian nationals who were traveling on Russian passports," Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, who is also a UK national lead for the Counter Terrorism Policing agency, said in a statement.
The official suggested that the two suspects arrived at London Gatwick Airport from Moscow on March 2. They stayed in London's City Stay Hotel that day as well as the following one.
On March 3, the suspects allegedly made a trip to Salisbury for reconnaissance purposes. On March 4, CCTV footage shows them near the Skripals' house, where they purportedly contaminated the front door with the Novichok nerve agent.
Basu said that the two individuals left the country that same day.
Skripal Case: UK Police Name 2 Russian Suspects, Moscow Calls for Cooperation
The police also released details of the perfume bottle used to transport the lethal substance into the UK — Nina Ricci's Premier Jour
Tests have shown that it was fake, specially made to dispense poison. Basu further said it was likely that the suspects were traveling under aliases, and Petrov and Boshirov are not their real names. They are believed to be around 40 years old. The CPS said it would not be applying for the extradition of the two men from Russia, but a European arrest warrant has nonetheless been issued.
In an official statement, Basu said the charges were a "significant moment" in "one of the most complex and intensive investigations we have undertaken in Counter Terrorism policing."
Skripal Case: UK Police Name 2 Russian Suspects, Moscow Calls for Cooperation
Around 250 detectives from across the Counter Terrorism Policing network are said to have worked on the investigation, led by Counter Terrorism Policing South East, and supported by officers from Wiltshire, as well as partners and agencies ranging from Public Health England to the Defence, Science and Technology Laboratory in Porton Down.
UK Prime Minister Says Russian Military Intelligence Behind Salisbury Attack
UK Prime Minister Theresa May, in her turn, said that the Russian military intelligence was behind the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the city of Salisbury on March 4.
"We were right to say in March that the Russian state is responsible… Based on a body of intelligence, the government has concluded that the two individuals named by the police and CPS [Crown Prosecution Service] are officers from the Russian military intelligence service, also known as GRU," May said.
Skripal and his daughter were found unconscious in the UK city of Salisbury in March after being exposed to what UK authorities have claimed was a military-grade nerve agent. Both have since been discharged from hospital. London has accused Moscow of orchestrating the attack. Russian officials have strongly refuted the allegations, stressing that they are groundless, and pointed out that Moscow's request to assist in the investigation has remained unanswered.
05.09.2018 - May Claims 2 Suspects in Skripal Poisoning are Officers of Russian Intelligence
May Claims 2 Suspects in Skripal Poisoning Are Officers of Russian Intelligence
"We were right to say in March the Russian state was responsible," said the UK Prime Minister Theresa May, addressing the Parliament on Wednesday with an update on the Salisbury incident.
Based on the body of intelligence, the government has concluded that the two individuals named by the police and CPS are officers from the Russian military intelligence service, also known as the GRU. GRU is a highly disciplined organization with a well-established chain of command," Mrs. May told the parliament.
She added that "this was not a rogue operation."
It was almost certainly also approved outside the GRU at a senior level of the Russian state."
Mrs. May recalled the outcome of the Salisbury investigation, details of which have been released earlier during the day by the Crown Prosecution Service.
She called Salisbury and Amesbury incidents a "poisoning and sickening act."
UK Prime Minister ✔ @10DowningStreet
WATCH LIVE: PM @Theresa_May updates on Salisbury investigation https://www.pscp.tv/w/bl-6aDIyOTU1OTR8MURYeHlZYU9FTVl4TfqsUo-tricfRLZftfraBaoVGjkEQGOZ9DephD8TPWyn …
7:50 AM - Sep 5, 2018
Mrs. May listed a number of measures Britain took since March 2018, including the introduction of a new power at the UK border to detain people to determine their engagement in "hostile state activity" and expulsion of Russian diplomats from the UK.
The PM then went on to call for a collective effort in tackling Russian intelligence agency.
"The actions of GRU are a threat to all our allies and to all our citizens. And on the basis of what we've learned in the Salisbury investigation and what we know about this organization more broadly, we must now step up our collective efforts specifically against the GRU," she said.
"The Russian state needs to explain what happened in Salisbury," the UK PM also said, addressing the parliament.
The leader of the opposition Jeremy Corbyn said in response to the PM's statement that Britain's "response as a country must be guided by the rule of law, support for international agreements and respect for human rights."
The infamous former Foreign Minister Boris Johnson addressed his fellow MPs, criticizing Mr. Corbyn for failing to condemn the "involvement of the Russian state at the highest level in the Salisbury poisonings."
Answering the questions by MPs, Mrs. May alleged that the nerve agent incidents were probably a message to other Russians living overseas.
"I suspect that they wanted to give a message to those Russians who were living elsewhere who had been involved in matters relating to the Russian state," May told parliament. "But it is up to the Russians to explain what happened in Salisbury."
05.09.2018 - Russia Urges UK to Give Data on Russian Citizens' Involvement in Skripal Case
Russia Urges UK to Give Data on Russian Citizens' Involvement in Skripal Case
The Russian Prosecutor General's Office is determined to cooperate with UK law enforcement agencies on the case of the attempted murder of Russian citizen Yulia Skripal and expects to receive evidence of possible involvement of Russian citizens, Prosecutor General's Office spokesman Alexander Kurennoy told Sputnik on Wednesday.
"We continue to insist on cooperation with UK law enforcement agencies on this case and still expect to receive materials with evidence base, which our foreign colleagues claim to have, including regarding the possible involvement of certain Russian citizens in the attempted murder of Skripals," Kurennoy said.
According to Russia's envoy to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Alexander Shulgin, photos and names provided by the UK police don't prove that Russia involved in the Skripal poisoning case.
05.09.2018 - US, UK Stand Together' to Hold Russia Responsible for Skripal Case - Envoy
'US, UK Stand Together' to Hold Russia Responsible for Skripal Case – Envoy
After London's Metropolitan Police released images of two suspected perpetrators of the March 4 attack on Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the UK city of Salisbury, The British Prime Minister accused Russia of being behind the Skripal case.
US ambassador to the UK Woody Johnson has twitted that Washington and London want to hold Russia responsible "for its act of aggression" on British territory.
His remarks came as he commented on an "important statement" by UK Prime Minister Theresa May during her emergency speech at the country's parliament earlier on Wednesday.
"We were right to say that in March, the Russian state was responsible," May pointed out, in an apparent nod to London accusing Moscow of being behind the alleged chemical weapons attack on former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the UK city of Salisbury in early March.
05.09.2018 - UK Summons Russia's Charge d'Affaires Amid New Information on Skripal Case
UK Summons Russia's Charge d'Affaires Amid New Information on Skripal Case
The UK Foreign Office has summoned Russia's charge d'affaires, to confront him following the publication of data on the Salisbury investigation, according to the Russian Embassy in London.
"The charge d'affaires was summoned to the British Foreign Office, where a representation was made to him in connection with new data on the investigation of the Salisbury incident," the embassy said.
05.09.2018 - May's Statement on Skripal Case Unacceptable - Russian Foreign Ministry
May's Statement on Skripal Case Unacceptable - Russian Foreign Ministry
Moscow believes UK Prime Minister Theresa May's statement on the Skripal affair is unacceptable, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Wednesday.
"British Prime Minister Theresa May's speech in the British Parliament on September 5 on the so-called 'Skripal affair' and the incident of poisoning two British subjects in Amesbury has an absolutely unacceptable tone, and contains a number of categorical accusations against the Russian Federation and our two citizens… We strongly reject these insinuations," the statement published on the ministry's website said.
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, London's attempts to "juggle" chemical weapons convention provisions have no future.
05.09.2018 - UK Police Sends Officers to London Hotel Where Salisbury Attack Suspects Stayed
UK Police Sends Officers to London Hotel Where Salisbury Attack Suspects Stayed
The UK police have sent two officers to the Сity Stay Hotel in the Bow area of East London where the authorities say the two suspects in the Salisbury nerve agent attack case stayed before the incident in early March, a Sputnik correspondent reported on Wednesday.
A police officer told Sputnik that he and his colleague had been deployed to the hotel at around 11:00 a.m. (10:00 GMT) on Wednesday because the place was attracting a lot of media and public attention.
The situation at the site was calm and the hotel continued to operate as normal, the officer added.
A crowd of reporters had gathered in the vicinity of the hotel, but only guests were allowed to enter.
The area where the hotel is located is one of London’s poorer, more unstable neighborhoods, where migrants, predominately from Africa, the Middle East and Asia, live.
UK police said earlier in the day that in May, some samples taken in the hotel room where the suspects stayed before the attack showed contamination at levels below that which would cause concerns for public health.
A hotel spokesman said earlier on Wednesday, citing the police and Public Health England, that the hotel’s quests and staff faced no health risk.
Back-dated 19.07.2018 - UK Security Minister Dismisses Report on Skripal Poisoners as 'Wild Speculation'
UK Security Minister Dismisses Report on Skripal Poisoners as 'Wild Speculation'
Commenting on the reports that police have identified Russians behind the Skripal poisoning, UK Security Minister Ben Wallace dubbed them as "ill-informed, wild speculation."
I think this story belongs in the 'ill-informed and wild speculation folder," Ben Wallace said on Twitter.
(Comment: I have my suspicions that Sergei Skripal may have died shortly after his Daughter Yulia gave an interview on Social Media and have her isolated in protective custody? This latest "story-yarn" is just another cover up? )
05.09.2018 - Skripal Case: UK Police Name 2 Russian Suspects, Moscow Calls for Cooperation
Skripal Case: UK Police Name 2 Russian Suspects, Moscow Calls for Cooperation
"We once again urge the UK side to switch from public accusations and information manipulation to practical cooperation through law enforcement agencies. … London has received numerous relevant inquiries from the Russian side. The investigation of such serious crimes, which have been repeatedly claimed by the United Kingdom, requires the most careful work, scrupulous analysis of data and close cooperation," Zakharova told reporters.
The spokeswoman noted that the names and photos of the two suspects, released by the UK side, "say nothing."
Commenting on the accusations, the Russian Permanent Representative to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said the UK accusations against Russia over the poisoning of Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the city of Salisbury on March 4 were groundless.
The contents of the report were rather vague, but it did not prevent the United Kingdom from immediately claiming that its point has been proven, it was Novichok again, it was Russia again, and other nauseous allegations of Russia's involvement," Shulgin told the Rossiya 1 broadcaster.
The official further noted that if London didn't want to directly deal with Russia on the Skripal case, it could be done through the OPCW.
Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov commenting on the UK's Wednesday statement about Russia's alleged role in the Salisbury nerve agent attack said that the information was controversial.
"We have only heard or seen two names, but these names do not tell me personally anything… Moreover, there was then a commentary by the Scotland Yard that these names were supposedly fictional. I do not understand why this was done and what kind of signal the UK side sends. It's difficult to understand," Ushakov stressed.
Metropolitan Police Accuse Two Russian Nationals of Skripals' Poisoning
Earlier in the day, at a private press briefing, the Metropolitan Police released images of two suspected perpetrators of the attack on Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the city of Salisbury on March 4.
"Today we are releasing further information and a number of images in the hope that the public can assist us further. … I am, therefore, appealing for anyone who has information about the suspects named by the CPS today as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov to contact police. Both suspects are approximately 40 years old, and are Russian nationals who were traveling on Russian passports," Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, who is also a UK national lead for the Counter Terrorism Policing agency, said in a statement.
The official suggested that the two suspects arrived at London Gatwick Airport from Moscow on March 2. They stayed in London's City Stay Hotel that day as well as the following one.
On March 3, the suspects allegedly made a trip to Salisbury for reconnaissance purposes. On March 4, CCTV footage shows them near the Skripals' house, where they purportedly contaminated the front door with the Novichok nerve agent.
Basu said that the two individuals left the country that same day.
Skripal Case: UK Police Name 2 Russian Suspects, Moscow Calls for Cooperation
The police also released details of the perfume bottle used to transport the lethal substance into the UK — Nina Ricci's Premier Jour
Tests have shown that it was fake, specially made to dispense poison. Basu further said it was likely that the suspects were traveling under aliases, and Petrov and Boshirov are not their real names. They are believed to be around 40 years old. The CPS said it would not be applying for the extradition of the two men from Russia, but a European arrest warrant has nonetheless been issued.
In an official statement, Basu said the charges were a "significant moment" in "one of the most complex and intensive investigations we have undertaken in Counter Terrorism policing."
Skripal Case: UK Police Name 2 Russian Suspects, Moscow Calls for Cooperation
Around 250 detectives from across the Counter Terrorism Policing network are said to have worked on the investigation, led by Counter Terrorism Policing South East, and supported by officers from Wiltshire, as well as partners and agencies ranging from Public Health England to the Defence, Science and Technology Laboratory in Porton Down.
UK Prime Minister Says Russian Military Intelligence Behind Salisbury Attack
UK Prime Minister Theresa May, in her turn, said that the Russian military intelligence was behind the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the city of Salisbury on March 4.
"We were right to say in March that the Russian state is responsible… Based on a body of intelligence, the government has concluded that the two individuals named by the police and CPS [Crown Prosecution Service] are officers from the Russian military intelligence service, also known as GRU," May said.
Skripal and his daughter were found unconscious in the UK city of Salisbury in March after being exposed to what UK authorities have claimed was a military-grade nerve agent. Both have since been discharged from hospital. London has accused Moscow of orchestrating the attack. Russian officials have strongly refuted the allegations, stressing that they are groundless, and pointed out that Moscow's request to assist in the investigation has remained unanswered.
05.09.2018 - May Claims 2 Suspects in Skripal Poisoning are Officers of Russian Intelligence
May Claims 2 Suspects in Skripal Poisoning Are Officers of Russian Intelligence
"We were right to say in March the Russian state was responsible," said the UK Prime Minister Theresa May, addressing the Parliament on Wednesday with an update on the Salisbury incident.
Based on the body of intelligence, the government has concluded that the two individuals named by the police and CPS are officers from the Russian military intelligence service, also known as the GRU. GRU is a highly disciplined organization with a well-established chain of command," Mrs. May told the parliament.
She added that "this was not a rogue operation."
It was almost certainly also approved outside the GRU at a senior level of the Russian state."
Mrs. May recalled the outcome of the Salisbury investigation, details of which have been released earlier during the day by the Crown Prosecution Service.
She called Salisbury and Amesbury incidents a "poisoning and sickening act."
UK Prime Minister ✔ @10DowningStreet
WATCH LIVE: PM @Theresa_May updates on Salisbury investigation https://www.pscp.tv/w/bl-6aDIyOTU1OTR8MURYeHlZYU9FTVl4TfqsUo-tricfRLZftfraBaoVGjkEQGOZ9DephD8TPWyn …
7:50 AM - Sep 5, 2018
Mrs. May listed a number of measures Britain took since March 2018, including the introduction of a new power at the UK border to detain people to determine their engagement in "hostile state activity" and expulsion of Russian diplomats from the UK.
The PM then went on to call for a collective effort in tackling Russian intelligence agency.
"The actions of GRU are a threat to all our allies and to all our citizens. And on the basis of what we've learned in the Salisbury investigation and what we know about this organization more broadly, we must now step up our collective efforts specifically against the GRU," she said.
"The Russian state needs to explain what happened in Salisbury," the UK PM also said, addressing the parliament.
The leader of the opposition Jeremy Corbyn said in response to the PM's statement that Britain's "response as a country must be guided by the rule of law, support for international agreements and respect for human rights."
The infamous former Foreign Minister Boris Johnson addressed his fellow MPs, criticizing Mr. Corbyn for failing to condemn the "involvement of the Russian state at the highest level in the Salisbury poisonings."
Answering the questions by MPs, Mrs. May alleged that the nerve agent incidents were probably a message to other Russians living overseas.
"I suspect that they wanted to give a message to those Russians who were living elsewhere who had been involved in matters relating to the Russian state," May told parliament. "But it is up to the Russians to explain what happened in Salisbury."
05.09.2018 - Russia Urges UK to Give Data on Russian Citizens' Involvement in Skripal Case
Russia Urges UK to Give Data on Russian Citizens' Involvement in Skripal Case
The Russian Prosecutor General's Office is determined to cooperate with UK law enforcement agencies on the case of the attempted murder of Russian citizen Yulia Skripal and expects to receive evidence of possible involvement of Russian citizens, Prosecutor General's Office spokesman Alexander Kurennoy told Sputnik on Wednesday.
"We continue to insist on cooperation with UK law enforcement agencies on this case and still expect to receive materials with evidence base, which our foreign colleagues claim to have, including regarding the possible involvement of certain Russian citizens in the attempted murder of Skripals," Kurennoy said.
According to Russia's envoy to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Alexander Shulgin, photos and names provided by the UK police don't prove that Russia involved in the Skripal poisoning case.
05.09.2018 - US, UK Stand Together' to Hold Russia Responsible for Skripal Case - Envoy
'US, UK Stand Together' to Hold Russia Responsible for Skripal Case – Envoy
After London's Metropolitan Police released images of two suspected perpetrators of the March 4 attack on Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the UK city of Salisbury, The British Prime Minister accused Russia of being behind the Skripal case.
US ambassador to the UK Woody Johnson has twitted that Washington and London want to hold Russia responsible "for its act of aggression" on British territory.
His remarks came as he commented on an "important statement" by UK Prime Minister Theresa May during her emergency speech at the country's parliament earlier on Wednesday.
"We were right to say that in March, the Russian state was responsible," May pointed out, in an apparent nod to London accusing Moscow of being behind the alleged chemical weapons attack on former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the UK city of Salisbury in early March.
05.09.2018 - UK Summons Russia's Charge d'Affaires Amid New Information on Skripal Case
UK Summons Russia's Charge d'Affaires Amid New Information on Skripal Case
The UK Foreign Office has summoned Russia's charge d'affaires, to confront him following the publication of data on the Salisbury investigation, according to the Russian Embassy in London.
"The charge d'affaires was summoned to the British Foreign Office, where a representation was made to him in connection with new data on the investigation of the Salisbury incident," the embassy said.
05.09.2018 - May's Statement on Skripal Case Unacceptable - Russian Foreign Ministry
May's Statement on Skripal Case Unacceptable - Russian Foreign Ministry
Moscow believes UK Prime Minister Theresa May's statement on the Skripal affair is unacceptable, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Wednesday.
"British Prime Minister Theresa May's speech in the British Parliament on September 5 on the so-called 'Skripal affair' and the incident of poisoning two British subjects in Amesbury has an absolutely unacceptable tone, and contains a number of categorical accusations against the Russian Federation and our two citizens… We strongly reject these insinuations," the statement published on the ministry's website said.
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, London's attempts to "juggle" chemical weapons convention provisions have no future.
05.09.2018 - UK Police Sends Officers to London Hotel Where Salisbury Attack Suspects Stayed
UK Police Sends Officers to London Hotel Where Salisbury Attack Suspects Stayed
The UK police have sent two officers to the Сity Stay Hotel in the Bow area of East London where the authorities say the two suspects in the Salisbury nerve agent attack case stayed before the incident in early March, a Sputnik correspondent reported on Wednesday.
A police officer told Sputnik that he and his colleague had been deployed to the hotel at around 11:00 a.m. (10:00 GMT) on Wednesday because the place was attracting a lot of media and public attention.
The situation at the site was calm and the hotel continued to operate as normal, the officer added.
A crowd of reporters had gathered in the vicinity of the hotel, but only guests were allowed to enter.
The area where the hotel is located is one of London’s poorer, more unstable neighborhoods, where migrants, predominately from Africa, the Middle East and Asia, live.
UK police said earlier in the day that in May, some samples taken in the hotel room where the suspects stayed before the attack showed contamination at levels below that which would cause concerns for public health.
A hotel spokesman said earlier on Wednesday, citing the police and Public Health England, that the hotel’s quests and staff faced no health risk.
Back-dated 19.07.2018 - UK Security Minister Dismisses Report on Skripal Poisoners as 'Wild Speculation'
UK Security Minister Dismisses Report on Skripal Poisoners as 'Wild Speculation'
Commenting on the reports that police have identified Russians behind the Skripal poisoning, UK Security Minister Ben Wallace dubbed them as "ill-informed, wild speculation."
I think this story belongs in the 'ill-informed and wild speculation folder," Ben Wallace said on Twitter.
(Comment: I have my suspicions that Sergei Skripal may have died shortly after his Daughter Yulia gave an interview on Social Media and have her isolated in protective custody? This latest "story-yarn" is just another cover up? )
angelburst29
The Living Force
The Duran
Theresa May FAILURE as Novichok lies come back to haunt UK government
Published on Jul 11, 2018 (28:53 min.)
The Duran – News in Review – Episode 50.
UK police have announced that they are "unable to say if Novichok from latest incident same as used on Skripals."
This is the latest twist in a nerve agent poisoning hoax that is leaving the Theresa May government looking embarrassed and incompetent.
The UK’s top counter-terrorism officer said that police are unable to confirm whether the Novichok nerve agent which has apparently found its way to infect an Amesbury couple, was from the same batch used to poison Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury, UK last March.
Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism chief Neil Basu said on Monday, “We are police officers and we need to work on evidence so I would need a clear forensic link.”
The Duran’s Alex Christoforou and Editor-in-Chief Alexander Mercouris try to make some sense of this latest novichok incident (or at least what UK authorities claim is a novichok incident) in the UK town of Amesbury...situated a few miles away from Salisbury, and down the road from the Porton Down chemical laboratory that manufactures novichok, among other chemical weapons.
Putin's Novichok assassins identified. Pictured smiling, walking UK streets
Published on Sep 5, 2018 (20:17 min.)
The Duran – News in Review – Episode 99.
RT CrossTalk host Peter Lavelle and The Duran’s Alex Christoforou examine the Novichok poisoning hoax that started as a gel on a door handle, moved on to be a liquid in a perfume bottle picked up by a couple of drug addicts on the street weeks later (that police somehow failed to see during their investigation), that is supposedly so lethal that one tiny drop kills you instantly, but nonetheless the Skripals, one drug addict, and a policeman survive their exposure to the deadly, military grade agent...and two Russian assassins, pictured walking the streets of Salisbury with smiles on their face and Novichok in their hotel room, are now the prime suspects.
And let's not forget that Sergey Skripal was curiously connected to the Hillary Clinton paid British spy Christopher Steele, the same man that created the fake Trump dossier used by the FBI, as an insurance plan to destroy POTUS Trump.
Theresa May FAILURE as Novichok lies come back to haunt UK government
The Duran – News in Review – Episode 50.
UK police have announced that they are "unable to say if Novichok from latest incident same as used on Skripals."
This is the latest twist in a nerve agent poisoning hoax that is leaving the Theresa May government looking embarrassed and incompetent.
The UK’s top counter-terrorism officer said that police are unable to confirm whether the Novichok nerve agent which has apparently found its way to infect an Amesbury couple, was from the same batch used to poison Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury, UK last March.
Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism chief Neil Basu said on Monday, “We are police officers and we need to work on evidence so I would need a clear forensic link.”
The Duran’s Alex Christoforou and Editor-in-Chief Alexander Mercouris try to make some sense of this latest novichok incident (or at least what UK authorities claim is a novichok incident) in the UK town of Amesbury...situated a few miles away from Salisbury, and down the road from the Porton Down chemical laboratory that manufactures novichok, among other chemical weapons.
Putin's Novichok assassins identified. Pictured smiling, walking UK streets
The Duran – News in Review – Episode 99.
RT CrossTalk host Peter Lavelle and The Duran’s Alex Christoforou examine the Novichok poisoning hoax that started as a gel on a door handle, moved on to be a liquid in a perfume bottle picked up by a couple of drug addicts on the street weeks later (that police somehow failed to see during their investigation), that is supposedly so lethal that one tiny drop kills you instantly, but nonetheless the Skripals, one drug addict, and a policeman survive their exposure to the deadly, military grade agent...and two Russian assassins, pictured walking the streets of Salisbury with smiles on their face and Novichok in their hotel room, are now the prime suspects.
And let's not forget that Sergey Skripal was curiously connected to the Hillary Clinton paid British spy Christopher Steele, the same man that created the fake Trump dossier used by the FBI, as an insurance plan to destroy POTUS Trump.
angelburst29
The Living Force
06.09.2018 - Sergei Skripal's Niece Viktoria Holds Press Conference
Sergei Skripal's Niece Viktoria Holds Press Conference
Yulia Skripal, the daughter of Russian ex-intelligence officer Sergei Skripal, both of whom were attacked with a nerve agent in the UK city of Salisbury earlier this year, met a friend from Russia in London after recovering from the poisoning, Sergei’s niece Viktoria said on Thursday.
"I know that before the [FIFA] World Cup was held in Russia, Yulia met with her friend from Russia, who brought buckwheat [for Yulia]. She met her in London, not where she lives," Viktoria told reporters.
Viktoria, who has repeatedly applied for a UK visa to visit her poisoned relatives but been denied entry, went on saying that neither she nor other members the Skripal family knew where Sergei and Yulia were currently residing.
"I know that they are in England because they call from an English telephone number, but I do not know the specific place [where they live]. We have not discussed this issue," Viktoria argued.
In an interview with Russia's Izvestia newspaper, Viktoria said that she remains "skeptical and partly ironic" about London's latest allegations about the two Russian nationals being involved in the alleged chemical weapons attack on Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Britain earlier this year.
Streamed live 6 hours ago 9.06.2018 (43:11 min.)
06.09.2018 - Victoria Skripal 'Skeptical' About London's Latest Claims on Salisbury Case
Victoria Skripal 'Skeptical' About London's Latest Claims on Salisbury Case
In an interview with Russia's Izvestia newspaper, the niece of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal said that she remains "skeptical and partly ironic" about London's latest allegations about the two Russian nationals being involved in the alleged chemical weapons attack on Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Britain earlier this year.
They [UK police] certainly need to allege more on the matter, while [British Prime Minister] Theresa May needs somehow to rehabilitate herself before the parliament. After all, six months had passed since the poisoning [of the Skripals]," Victoria Skripal pointed out.
She wondered why "Britons did not announce it earlier, given that they allegedly knew about all this so well."
Victoria also rejected investigators' version of the two Russians using fake passports to arrive in London, adding that the photos of the suspects "could be processed in Photoshop."
She said that "a man with a mustache is very similar to every third such person in Russia" and that "now everyone is walking with a beard and a mustache."
After the photos were published, they [police] immediately said that the names were fictional. One cannot trust the photos. We are invited to take their word for it, but we cannot believe the word, because we have been deceived more than once as far as the Skripal case is concerned," Victoria emphasized.
She confirmed her desire to arrive in the UK, expressing surprise about the fact that British authorities are still reluctant to allow her to do so.
Today, [UK Prime Minister] Teresa May said that she has no claims against the citizens of Russia. Dear Mrs. May, if you have no such claims, why do not you let me, a simple Russian citizen, go to the territory of your country to meet people who have fallen into a difficult life situation? Especially given that these people are my family," Victoria noted.
She added that she last contacted Yulia on July 24 and that "we have not seen Sergei Viktorovich [Skripal] for six months or so."
The interview came after the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that May's recent speech in the UK parliament on the Skripal case "has an absolutely unacceptable tone".
During the speech, May, in particular, said that the British government had concluded that the two individuals named by the police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) were officers from the Russian military intelligence service, also known as the GRU.
06.09.2018 - Kremlin Regrets London's Noncooperation With Russia on Skripal Case
Kremlin Regrets London's Noncooperation With Russia on Skripal Case
Moscow has once again rejected London's newest claims over the Skripal case. On September 5, the UK police press service revealed photos of alleged suspects in the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter. The two men were said to be Russian nationals.
Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov has expressed regret that London has refused to cooperate with Russia on an investigation concerning the attempted murder of ex-Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal, and reiterated that Russia is ready to work with British authorities on the case if they make a formal request to do so.
"In order to check the identity [of the two men suspected by UK prosecutors], in order for us to have legal grounds to check their identities, we must receive a request to do so by the British side. … There is such a thing as customary practice. And from the very beginning, the Russian side offered cooperation on investigating the circumstances" of the poisoning, Peskov said, answering a question about whether Russia was checking the identities of the two men UK Metropolitan police accused on Wednesday.
Unfortunately, the spokesman noted, the British side rejected the proposal to cooperate. Furthermore, he said, "publications by the media and statements in parliament" do not constitute a substitute for legal requests made through formal channels. Peskov said that Moscow "can only regret" that London does not find any sense in cooperating on the case.
At the same time, Peskov rejected Prime Minister Theresa May's claim, made in parliament yesterday after the Met's presentation, that the poisoning was "almost certainly approved "at a senior level of the Russian state."
"Russia had nothing to do with the events in Salisbury. Russia is not involved in these events in any way. We view any accusations against the Russian leadership to be unacceptable. Yesterday, Mrs. May spoke about the possible involvement of the top Russian leadership. We reiterate that neither the top leadership, nor the leadership of the ranks below, nor any official authorities had or have anything to do with the events in Salisbury. There can be no question about this, and any assumptions or accusations on this subject are inadmissible," Peskov stressed.
On Wednesday, UK officials said they would not formally request the suspected Russian nationals' extradition, saying that a European arrest warrant had been issued instead. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova noted that the UK's ambassador to Russia formally turned down a Russian request to provide information on the suspects, including their fingerprints, which she pointed out were a requirement for Russian citizens seeking UK visas. (YEAH - Maria!
)
06.09.2018 - Putin Bears 'Strong Responsibility' for Skripal Attack - UK Security Minister
Putin Bears 'Strong Responsibility' for Skripal Attack - UK Security Minister
UK Minister of State for Security Ben Wallace said on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin 'bears very strong responsibility' for the poisoning of Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the city of Salisbury.
"The GRU [Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate] answers to the Ministry of Defense, it answers to the president of Russia. So I think the key is, of course, that the Russian senior levels of government were involved or linked to this decision. I will let other people speculate whether that means actually Putin or not, but the government as a whole is obviously led by the president of Russia. And, directly or indirectly, he bears very strong responsibility," Wallace told the Sky News broadcaster.
Sergei Skripal's Niece Viktoria Holds Press Conference
Yulia Skripal, the daughter of Russian ex-intelligence officer Sergei Skripal, both of whom were attacked with a nerve agent in the UK city of Salisbury earlier this year, met a friend from Russia in London after recovering from the poisoning, Sergei’s niece Viktoria said on Thursday.
"I know that before the [FIFA] World Cup was held in Russia, Yulia met with her friend from Russia, who brought buckwheat [for Yulia]. She met her in London, not where she lives," Viktoria told reporters.
Viktoria, who has repeatedly applied for a UK visa to visit her poisoned relatives but been denied entry, went on saying that neither she nor other members the Skripal family knew where Sergei and Yulia were currently residing.
"I know that they are in England because they call from an English telephone number, but I do not know the specific place [where they live]. We have not discussed this issue," Viktoria argued.
In an interview with Russia's Izvestia newspaper, Viktoria said that she remains "skeptical and partly ironic" about London's latest allegations about the two Russian nationals being involved in the alleged chemical weapons attack on Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Britain earlier this year.
06.09.2018 - Victoria Skripal 'Skeptical' About London's Latest Claims on Salisbury Case
Victoria Skripal 'Skeptical' About London's Latest Claims on Salisbury Case
In an interview with Russia's Izvestia newspaper, the niece of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal said that she remains "skeptical and partly ironic" about London's latest allegations about the two Russian nationals being involved in the alleged chemical weapons attack on Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Britain earlier this year.
They [UK police] certainly need to allege more on the matter, while [British Prime Minister] Theresa May needs somehow to rehabilitate herself before the parliament. After all, six months had passed since the poisoning [of the Skripals]," Victoria Skripal pointed out.
She wondered why "Britons did not announce it earlier, given that they allegedly knew about all this so well."
Victoria also rejected investigators' version of the two Russians using fake passports to arrive in London, adding that the photos of the suspects "could be processed in Photoshop."
She said that "a man with a mustache is very similar to every third such person in Russia" and that "now everyone is walking with a beard and a mustache."
After the photos were published, they [police] immediately said that the names were fictional. One cannot trust the photos. We are invited to take their word for it, but we cannot believe the word, because we have been deceived more than once as far as the Skripal case is concerned," Victoria emphasized.
She confirmed her desire to arrive in the UK, expressing surprise about the fact that British authorities are still reluctant to allow her to do so.
Today, [UK Prime Minister] Teresa May said that she has no claims against the citizens of Russia. Dear Mrs. May, if you have no such claims, why do not you let me, a simple Russian citizen, go to the territory of your country to meet people who have fallen into a difficult life situation? Especially given that these people are my family," Victoria noted.
She added that she last contacted Yulia on July 24 and that "we have not seen Sergei Viktorovich [Skripal] for six months or so."
The interview came after the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that May's recent speech in the UK parliament on the Skripal case "has an absolutely unacceptable tone".
During the speech, May, in particular, said that the British government had concluded that the two individuals named by the police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) were officers from the Russian military intelligence service, also known as the GRU.
06.09.2018 - Kremlin Regrets London's Noncooperation With Russia on Skripal Case
Kremlin Regrets London's Noncooperation With Russia on Skripal Case
Moscow has once again rejected London's newest claims over the Skripal case. On September 5, the UK police press service revealed photos of alleged suspects in the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter. The two men were said to be Russian nationals.
Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov has expressed regret that London has refused to cooperate with Russia on an investigation concerning the attempted murder of ex-Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal, and reiterated that Russia is ready to work with British authorities on the case if they make a formal request to do so.
"In order to check the identity [of the two men suspected by UK prosecutors], in order for us to have legal grounds to check their identities, we must receive a request to do so by the British side. … There is such a thing as customary practice. And from the very beginning, the Russian side offered cooperation on investigating the circumstances" of the poisoning, Peskov said, answering a question about whether Russia was checking the identities of the two men UK Metropolitan police accused on Wednesday.
Unfortunately, the spokesman noted, the British side rejected the proposal to cooperate. Furthermore, he said, "publications by the media and statements in parliament" do not constitute a substitute for legal requests made through formal channels. Peskov said that Moscow "can only regret" that London does not find any sense in cooperating on the case.
At the same time, Peskov rejected Prime Minister Theresa May's claim, made in parliament yesterday after the Met's presentation, that the poisoning was "almost certainly approved "at a senior level of the Russian state."
"Russia had nothing to do with the events in Salisbury. Russia is not involved in these events in any way. We view any accusations against the Russian leadership to be unacceptable. Yesterday, Mrs. May spoke about the possible involvement of the top Russian leadership. We reiterate that neither the top leadership, nor the leadership of the ranks below, nor any official authorities had or have anything to do with the events in Salisbury. There can be no question about this, and any assumptions or accusations on this subject are inadmissible," Peskov stressed.
On Wednesday, UK officials said they would not formally request the suspected Russian nationals' extradition, saying that a European arrest warrant had been issued instead. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova noted that the UK's ambassador to Russia formally turned down a Russian request to provide information on the suspects, including their fingerprints, which she pointed out were a requirement for Russian citizens seeking UK visas. (YEAH - Maria!
)06.09.2018 - Putin Bears 'Strong Responsibility' for Skripal Attack - UK Security Minister
Putin Bears 'Strong Responsibility' for Skripal Attack - UK Security Minister
UK Minister of State for Security Ben Wallace said on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin 'bears very strong responsibility' for the poisoning of Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the city of Salisbury.
"The GRU [Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate] answers to the Ministry of Defense, it answers to the president of Russia. So I think the key is, of course, that the Russian senior levels of government were involved or linked to this decision. I will let other people speculate whether that means actually Putin or not, but the government as a whole is obviously led by the president of Russia. And, directly or indirectly, he bears very strong responsibility," Wallace told the Sky News broadcaster.
angelburst29
The Living Force
09.09.2018 - Russia's Envoy Calls UK Claims in Skripal Case 'Political Culture Degradation'
Russia's Envoy Calls UK Claims in Skripal Case 'Political Culture Degradation'
Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzya has stated that UK Prime Minister Theresa May's claims about Russian military intelligence's alleged role in the Salisbury poisoning incident were a sign of "political culture degradation."
I've already said that we, unfortunately, live in the epoch of the political culture degradation. And when I said this, I meant our UK colleagues first of all. I was saying this with a feeling of regret, as this is certainly a country with centuries-old traditions of aristocraticism, parliamentarism and knighthood. The things that happen now are a gross violation of all the traditions that used to make us respect the UK people so much," Nebenzya said in an interview for the "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin" program, broadcast by the Russia 1 TV channel.
The Russian diplomat added that although there were no direct accusations targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin, "there were certainly some hints that the Russian authorities were highly likely" behind the poisoning.
"It's difficult to imagine a serious court, even a UK court, for example, that would agree to examine the arguments of the UK side… No one needs the truth, as a new, absolutely unique and absolutely efficient political technology has been introduced ― lodging charges and pointing at the guilty without any proof. No one needs [to know who is] guilty, or, rather, the guilty persons have been announced, but no one needs the justice," Nebenzya explained.
He went on to say that the United Kingdom's claims that it would not seek the extradition of the suspects as Russia would not give them away, in any case, meant that the UK side did not actually need them, as it considered the problem as settled just because they had "appointed" the Russian nationals as being responsible for the crime.
Nebenzya noted that the "directors of this quite a cheap play" were not interested in obtaining Russia's answers.
08.09.2018 - Alleged Suspects in Skripal Case Traveled to Geneva Before Poisoning - Reports
Alleged Suspects in Skripal Case Traveled to Geneva Before Poisoning - Reports
Reverberations from the Skripal affair, with all its extraordinary twists and turns, show no sign of abating.
British intelligence agencies, investigating a series of trips made by two Russian suspects in the March nerve agent attack on former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, have determined that Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov traveled to Geneva at least six times ahead of their alleged attempt to assassinate Sergei Skripal, The Telegraph wrote.
Flight ticket details obtained by the newspaper show that the two booked nine separate flights to and from the Swiss city between November of 2017 and February this year, and British investigators believe that establishing the person or persons they met in Geneva is “absolutely key to the ongoing investigation."
According to The Telegraph story, Boshirov and Petrov are believed to have also visited Paris, Amsterdam and Bergamo on Aeroflot flights, also traveling with Air France and KLM.
It is noted that London could have disclosed this information earlier, but did not do so because of "fears of exposing a large number of British subjects to a probable threat" during the World Cup, which was held this summer in Russia.
The newspaper earlier wrote that when applying for British visas in St. Petersburg, Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov posed as businessmen engaged in international trade and provided business cards and extracts from their bank accounts to the tune of thousands of pounds sterling.
When speaking in parliament on September 5, British Prime Minister Theresa May, said that British prosecutors were ready to bring formal charges against Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov in the attempt to assassinate Sergei and Yulia Skripal.
According to her, they are Russian military intelligence officers. London does not intend to seek their extradition, arguing that it is useless.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Moscow was not involved in the Skripals’ poisoning, knows nothing about the two men and said that it was ready to cooperate with the British on the case.
September 06, 2018 - Skripals – The Mystery Deepens
https://www.globalresearch.ca/skripals-the-mystery-deepens/5653170
The time that “Boshirov and Petrov” were allegedly in Salisbury carrying out the attack is all entirely within the period the Skripals were universally reported to have left their home with their mobile phones switched off.
A key hole in the British government’s account of the Salisbury poisonings has been plugged – the lack of any actual suspects.
And it has been plugged in a way that appears broadly convincing – these two men do appear to have traveled to Salisbury at the right time to have been involved.
But what has not been established is the men’s identity and that they are agents of the Russian state, or just what they did in Salisbury. If they are Russian agents, they are remarkably amateur assassins. Meanwhile the new evidence throws the previously reported timelines into confusion – and demolishes the theories put out by “experts” as to why the Novichok dose was not fatal.
This BBC report gives a very useful timeline summary of events.
At 09.15 on Sunday 4 March the Skripals’ car was seen on CCTV driving through three different locations in Salisbury. Both Skripals had switched off their mobile phones and they remained off for over four hours, which has baffled geo-location.
There is no CCTV footage that indicates the Skripals returning to their home. It has therefore always been assumed that they last touched the door handle around 9am.
But the Metropolitan Police state that Boshirov and Petrov did not arrive in Salisbury until 11.48 on the day of the poisoning. That means that they could not have applied a nerve agent to the Skripals’ doorknob before noon at the earliest. But there has never been any indication that the Skripals returned to their home after noon on Sunday 4 March. If they did so, they and/or their car somehow avoided all CCTV cameras. Remember they were caught by three CCTV cameras on leaving, and Borishov and Petrov were caught frequently on CCTV on arriving.
The Skripals were next seen on CCTV at 13.30, driving down Devizes road. After that their movements were clearly witnessed or recorded until their admission to hospital.
So even if the Skripals made an “invisible” trip home before being seen on Devizes Road, that means the very latest they could have touched the doorknob is 13.15. The longest possible gap between the novichok being placed on the doorknob and the Skripals touching it would have been one hour and 15 minutes. Do you recall all those “experts” leaping in to tell us that the “ten times deadlier than VX” nerve agent was not fatal because it had degraded overnight on the doorknob? Well that cannot be true. The time between application and contact was between a minute and (at most) just over an hour on this new timeline.
In general it is worth observing that the Skripals, and poor Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley, all managed to achieve almost complete CCTV invisibility in their widespread movements around Salisbury at the key times, while in contrast “Petrov and Boshirov” managed to be frequently caught in high quality all the time during their brief visit.
This is especially remarkable in the case of the Skripals’ location around noon on 4 March. The government can only maintain that they returned home at this time, as they insist they got the nerve agent from the doorknob. But why was their car so frequently caught on CCTV leaving, but not at all returning? It appears very much more probable that they came into contact with the nerve agent somewhere else, while they were out.
“Boshirov and Petrov” plainly are of interest in this case. But only Theresa May stated they were Russian agents: the police did not, and stated that they expected those were not their real identities.
We do not know who Boshirov and Petrov were. It appears very likely their appearance was to do with the Skripals on that day. But they may have been meeting them, outside the home. The evidence points to that, rather than doorknobs. Such a meeting might explain why the Skripals had turned off their mobile phones to attempt to avoid surveillance.
It is also telling the police have pressed no charges against them in the case of Dawn Sturgess, which would be manslaughter at least if the government version is true.
If “Boshirov and Petrov” are secret agents, their incompetence is astounding. They used public transport rather than a vehicle and left the clearest possible CCTV footprint. They failed in their assassination attempt. They left traces of novichok everywhere and could well have poisoned themselves, and left the “murder weapon” lying around to be found. Their timings in Salisbury were extremely tight – and British Sunday rail service dependent.
There are other possibilities of who “Boshirov and Petrov” really are, of which Ukrainian is the obvious one. One thing I discovered when British Ambassador to Uzbekistan was that there had been a large Ukrainian ethnic group of scientists working at the Soviet chemical weapon testing facility there at Nukus. There are many other possibilities.
Yesterday’s revelations certainly add to the amount we know about the Skripal event. But they raise as many new questions as they give answers.
7 September 2018 - Britain Should be in the Dock Over Skripal Saga, Not Russia
https://www.globalresearch.ca/britain-should-be-in-the-dock-over-skripal-saga-not-russia/5653532
The latest announcement by British authorities of two named Russian suspects in connection with the alleged poison assassination of a former Russian spy and his daughter is more absurd drama in a long-running tawdry saga.
No verifiable evidence is ever presented, just more lurid innuendo and more refusal by the British authorities to abide by any due process and international norms of diplomacy. It is all scurrilous sound and fury aimed at smearing Russia.
This week, Britain’s Metropolitan Police released video shots of two alleged Russian men purporting to show them arriving at London’s Gatwick airport on March 2. Other video shots purport to show the same men walking the streets of Salisbury on March 3, the day before former Russian Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were apparently stricken with a powerful nerve agent. The two would-be assassins then allegedly flew back to Moscow from London late on March 4.
One preposterous claim, among several by the British authorities, is that traces of the putative nerve poison Novichok were found in the London hotel room where the alleged Kremlin agents stayed. The incompetence of the two supposed super assassins beggars belief. More realistically clumsy, however, is the attempt by the British to lay an incriminating trail.
The day after the Met police announcement implicating the two Russian culprits, Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May stood up in front of her parliament and claimed that the two individuals were members of Russian military intelligence, the GRU. Another British minister, Ben Wallace, accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of having personal responsibility for ordering the alleged assassination plot.
Then on Thursday Britain summoned the United Nations Security Council to hash over the lurid claims against Russia without providing any further substantiating details to back up the sensational accusations.
This is nothing other than more trial-by-media, a process of railroading allegations against Russia, not on any basis of legal due process, but simply by bluster and prejudice. The credulous British news media play a dutiful secondary role in giving the claims a semblance of credibility, instead of asking the gaping questions that are warranted.
As Vasily Nebenzia, Russia’s envoy to the UN, remarked, the whole aim of the British claims is to whip up more international anti-Russia frenzy and hysteria. No sooner had Britain unleashed its latest allegations, a joint statement was released by the United States, Canada, Germany and France supporting the British claims.
Britain is now calling for more punitive sanctions against Moscow just as it had triggered earlier this year when the Skripals apparently fell ill on a park bench in the southern English town of Salisbury. Some 28 countries have expelled Russian diplomats over those earlier and as-yet unfounded claims. More expulsions can thus be expected, with the intended effect of framing Russia as a pariah state.
The timing of this week’s twist in the Skripal saga seems pertinent. The US, Britain and France are threatening to launch military strikes on Syria just as the Syrian army and its Russian ally move to defeat the last-remaining stronghold of NATO-backed terror groups in that country, potentially bringing an end to the Western-backed criminal war for regime change against the Assad government in Damascus.
Last month, too, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel held a productive, cordial summit with President Putin near Berlin, where the two leaders appeared to solidify a rapprochement over a crucial energy project between Russia the European Union.
The British government is also teetering on political implosion from the Brexit debacle and growing public contempt.
As Russia’s UN envoy Nebenzia further pointed out, how is it possible that the British prime minister can make the categorical claim that the two alleged Russian men in the video shots released this week are members of the GRU? Typically, she made the claim without providing any substantiating information.
This was the same kind of plucking from thin air that Theresa May performed only days after the Skripals were apparently poisoned in Salisbury on March 4. Again, back then, May stood in front of parliament and dramatically accused Russia of a state-sponsored assassination attempt. The British authorities have cast, and continue to cast, a verdict without any legal case. That verdict relies entirely on Russophobia and prejudice of Russian malfeasance.
Former British ambassador Craig Murray and other astute observers have noted that the latest video shots released by Britain’s counter-terrorism police are highly questionable. The images could have been easily fabricated with modern digital methods. They are not evidence of anything. Yet, suspiciously, the British authorities are in unseemly haste to make their sensational charges of Russian state culpability.
Moscow has condemned the reprehensible rhetoric used by the British prime minister and senior members of her cabinet in throwing grave allegations against the Russian leadership. Britain’s trashing of diplomatic norms is deplorable, befitting a rogue state that is itching for conflict.
The fact is that the British have spurned any normal legal attempt by Russia to access the supposed investigation in order to ascertain the nature of the alleged information incriminating Moscow. If Britain had a case, then why doesn’t it permit an independent assessment? Russia is being denigrated with foul accusations, and yet Moscow is denied the right to defend itself by being able to ascertain the information. The British technique is that of an inquisition making a mockery of legal standards.
Another salient fact is that the whereabouts of the Skripals is not known – six months after the alleged poisoning incident. Russia has been repeatedly denied consular contact with one of its citizens, Yulia Skripal, whose bizarre one-off appearance in a video, released by the British authorities three months ago, conveyed her wish to return to her homeland of Russia. Britain is violating the legal principle of habeas corpus.
Far from any evidence implicating Russia in a crime, the evidence so far points to the British authorities illegally detaining the Skripals for propaganda purpose. That nefarious purpose is clear: to demonize and delegitimize Russia as a sovereign state.
The Skripal saga and official British clowning around would be laughable if the consequences for international relations were not so dire.
The British authorities should be the ones in the dock, not Russia, to answer a case of forced abduction and incitement of international conflict.
Russia's Envoy Calls UK Claims in Skripal Case 'Political Culture Degradation'
Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzya has stated that UK Prime Minister Theresa May's claims about Russian military intelligence's alleged role in the Salisbury poisoning incident were a sign of "political culture degradation."
I've already said that we, unfortunately, live in the epoch of the political culture degradation. And when I said this, I meant our UK colleagues first of all. I was saying this with a feeling of regret, as this is certainly a country with centuries-old traditions of aristocraticism, parliamentarism and knighthood. The things that happen now are a gross violation of all the traditions that used to make us respect the UK people so much," Nebenzya said in an interview for the "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin" program, broadcast by the Russia 1 TV channel.
The Russian diplomat added that although there were no direct accusations targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin, "there were certainly some hints that the Russian authorities were highly likely" behind the poisoning.
"It's difficult to imagine a serious court, even a UK court, for example, that would agree to examine the arguments of the UK side… No one needs the truth, as a new, absolutely unique and absolutely efficient political technology has been introduced ― lodging charges and pointing at the guilty without any proof. No one needs [to know who is] guilty, or, rather, the guilty persons have been announced, but no one needs the justice," Nebenzya explained.
He went on to say that the United Kingdom's claims that it would not seek the extradition of the suspects as Russia would not give them away, in any case, meant that the UK side did not actually need them, as it considered the problem as settled just because they had "appointed" the Russian nationals as being responsible for the crime.
Nebenzya noted that the "directors of this quite a cheap play" were not interested in obtaining Russia's answers.
08.09.2018 - Alleged Suspects in Skripal Case Traveled to Geneva Before Poisoning - Reports
Alleged Suspects in Skripal Case Traveled to Geneva Before Poisoning - Reports
Reverberations from the Skripal affair, with all its extraordinary twists and turns, show no sign of abating.
British intelligence agencies, investigating a series of trips made by two Russian suspects in the March nerve agent attack on former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, have determined that Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov traveled to Geneva at least six times ahead of their alleged attempt to assassinate Sergei Skripal, The Telegraph wrote.
Flight ticket details obtained by the newspaper show that the two booked nine separate flights to and from the Swiss city between November of 2017 and February this year, and British investigators believe that establishing the person or persons they met in Geneva is “absolutely key to the ongoing investigation."
According to The Telegraph story, Boshirov and Petrov are believed to have also visited Paris, Amsterdam and Bergamo on Aeroflot flights, also traveling with Air France and KLM.
It is noted that London could have disclosed this information earlier, but did not do so because of "fears of exposing a large number of British subjects to a probable threat" during the World Cup, which was held this summer in Russia.
The newspaper earlier wrote that when applying for British visas in St. Petersburg, Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov posed as businessmen engaged in international trade and provided business cards and extracts from their bank accounts to the tune of thousands of pounds sterling.
When speaking in parliament on September 5, British Prime Minister Theresa May, said that British prosecutors were ready to bring formal charges against Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov in the attempt to assassinate Sergei and Yulia Skripal.
According to her, they are Russian military intelligence officers. London does not intend to seek their extradition, arguing that it is useless.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Moscow was not involved in the Skripals’ poisoning, knows nothing about the two men and said that it was ready to cooperate with the British on the case.
September 06, 2018 - Skripals – The Mystery Deepens
https://www.globalresearch.ca/skripals-the-mystery-deepens/5653170
The time that “Boshirov and Petrov” were allegedly in Salisbury carrying out the attack is all entirely within the period the Skripals were universally reported to have left their home with their mobile phones switched off.
A key hole in the British government’s account of the Salisbury poisonings has been plugged – the lack of any actual suspects.
And it has been plugged in a way that appears broadly convincing – these two men do appear to have traveled to Salisbury at the right time to have been involved.
But what has not been established is the men’s identity and that they are agents of the Russian state, or just what they did in Salisbury. If they are Russian agents, they are remarkably amateur assassins. Meanwhile the new evidence throws the previously reported timelines into confusion – and demolishes the theories put out by “experts” as to why the Novichok dose was not fatal.
This BBC report gives a very useful timeline summary of events.
At 09.15 on Sunday 4 March the Skripals’ car was seen on CCTV driving through three different locations in Salisbury. Both Skripals had switched off their mobile phones and they remained off for over four hours, which has baffled geo-location.
There is no CCTV footage that indicates the Skripals returning to their home. It has therefore always been assumed that they last touched the door handle around 9am.
But the Metropolitan Police state that Boshirov and Petrov did not arrive in Salisbury until 11.48 on the day of the poisoning. That means that they could not have applied a nerve agent to the Skripals’ doorknob before noon at the earliest. But there has never been any indication that the Skripals returned to their home after noon on Sunday 4 March. If they did so, they and/or their car somehow avoided all CCTV cameras. Remember they were caught by three CCTV cameras on leaving, and Borishov and Petrov were caught frequently on CCTV on arriving.
The Skripals were next seen on CCTV at 13.30, driving down Devizes road. After that their movements were clearly witnessed or recorded until their admission to hospital.
So even if the Skripals made an “invisible” trip home before being seen on Devizes Road, that means the very latest they could have touched the doorknob is 13.15. The longest possible gap between the novichok being placed on the doorknob and the Skripals touching it would have been one hour and 15 minutes. Do you recall all those “experts” leaping in to tell us that the “ten times deadlier than VX” nerve agent was not fatal because it had degraded overnight on the doorknob? Well that cannot be true. The time between application and contact was between a minute and (at most) just over an hour on this new timeline.
In general it is worth observing that the Skripals, and poor Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley, all managed to achieve almost complete CCTV invisibility in their widespread movements around Salisbury at the key times, while in contrast “Petrov and Boshirov” managed to be frequently caught in high quality all the time during their brief visit.
This is especially remarkable in the case of the Skripals’ location around noon on 4 March. The government can only maintain that they returned home at this time, as they insist they got the nerve agent from the doorknob. But why was their car so frequently caught on CCTV leaving, but not at all returning? It appears very much more probable that they came into contact with the nerve agent somewhere else, while they were out.
“Boshirov and Petrov” plainly are of interest in this case. But only Theresa May stated they were Russian agents: the police did not, and stated that they expected those were not their real identities.
We do not know who Boshirov and Petrov were. It appears very likely their appearance was to do with the Skripals on that day. But they may have been meeting them, outside the home. The evidence points to that, rather than doorknobs. Such a meeting might explain why the Skripals had turned off their mobile phones to attempt to avoid surveillance.
It is also telling the police have pressed no charges against them in the case of Dawn Sturgess, which would be manslaughter at least if the government version is true.
If “Boshirov and Petrov” are secret agents, their incompetence is astounding. They used public transport rather than a vehicle and left the clearest possible CCTV footprint. They failed in their assassination attempt. They left traces of novichok everywhere and could well have poisoned themselves, and left the “murder weapon” lying around to be found. Their timings in Salisbury were extremely tight – and British Sunday rail service dependent.
There are other possibilities of who “Boshirov and Petrov” really are, of which Ukrainian is the obvious one. One thing I discovered when British Ambassador to Uzbekistan was that there had been a large Ukrainian ethnic group of scientists working at the Soviet chemical weapon testing facility there at Nukus. There are many other possibilities.
Yesterday’s revelations certainly add to the amount we know about the Skripal event. But they raise as many new questions as they give answers.
7 September 2018 - Britain Should be in the Dock Over Skripal Saga, Not Russia
https://www.globalresearch.ca/britain-should-be-in-the-dock-over-skripal-saga-not-russia/5653532
The latest announcement by British authorities of two named Russian suspects in connection with the alleged poison assassination of a former Russian spy and his daughter is more absurd drama in a long-running tawdry saga.
No verifiable evidence is ever presented, just more lurid innuendo and more refusal by the British authorities to abide by any due process and international norms of diplomacy. It is all scurrilous sound and fury aimed at smearing Russia.
This week, Britain’s Metropolitan Police released video shots of two alleged Russian men purporting to show them arriving at London’s Gatwick airport on March 2. Other video shots purport to show the same men walking the streets of Salisbury on March 3, the day before former Russian Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were apparently stricken with a powerful nerve agent. The two would-be assassins then allegedly flew back to Moscow from London late on March 4.
One preposterous claim, among several by the British authorities, is that traces of the putative nerve poison Novichok were found in the London hotel room where the alleged Kremlin agents stayed. The incompetence of the two supposed super assassins beggars belief. More realistically clumsy, however, is the attempt by the British to lay an incriminating trail.
The day after the Met police announcement implicating the two Russian culprits, Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May stood up in front of her parliament and claimed that the two individuals were members of Russian military intelligence, the GRU. Another British minister, Ben Wallace, accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of having personal responsibility for ordering the alleged assassination plot.
Then on Thursday Britain summoned the United Nations Security Council to hash over the lurid claims against Russia without providing any further substantiating details to back up the sensational accusations.
This is nothing other than more trial-by-media, a process of railroading allegations against Russia, not on any basis of legal due process, but simply by bluster and prejudice. The credulous British news media play a dutiful secondary role in giving the claims a semblance of credibility, instead of asking the gaping questions that are warranted.
As Vasily Nebenzia, Russia’s envoy to the UN, remarked, the whole aim of the British claims is to whip up more international anti-Russia frenzy and hysteria. No sooner had Britain unleashed its latest allegations, a joint statement was released by the United States, Canada, Germany and France supporting the British claims.
Britain is now calling for more punitive sanctions against Moscow just as it had triggered earlier this year when the Skripals apparently fell ill on a park bench in the southern English town of Salisbury. Some 28 countries have expelled Russian diplomats over those earlier and as-yet unfounded claims. More expulsions can thus be expected, with the intended effect of framing Russia as a pariah state.
The timing of this week’s twist in the Skripal saga seems pertinent. The US, Britain and France are threatening to launch military strikes on Syria just as the Syrian army and its Russian ally move to defeat the last-remaining stronghold of NATO-backed terror groups in that country, potentially bringing an end to the Western-backed criminal war for regime change against the Assad government in Damascus.
Last month, too, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel held a productive, cordial summit with President Putin near Berlin, where the two leaders appeared to solidify a rapprochement over a crucial energy project between Russia the European Union.
The British government is also teetering on political implosion from the Brexit debacle and growing public contempt.
As Russia’s UN envoy Nebenzia further pointed out, how is it possible that the British prime minister can make the categorical claim that the two alleged Russian men in the video shots released this week are members of the GRU? Typically, she made the claim without providing any substantiating information.
This was the same kind of plucking from thin air that Theresa May performed only days after the Skripals were apparently poisoned in Salisbury on March 4. Again, back then, May stood in front of parliament and dramatically accused Russia of a state-sponsored assassination attempt. The British authorities have cast, and continue to cast, a verdict without any legal case. That verdict relies entirely on Russophobia and prejudice of Russian malfeasance.
Former British ambassador Craig Murray and other astute observers have noted that the latest video shots released by Britain’s counter-terrorism police are highly questionable. The images could have been easily fabricated with modern digital methods. They are not evidence of anything. Yet, suspiciously, the British authorities are in unseemly haste to make their sensational charges of Russian state culpability.
Moscow has condemned the reprehensible rhetoric used by the British prime minister and senior members of her cabinet in throwing grave allegations against the Russian leadership. Britain’s trashing of diplomatic norms is deplorable, befitting a rogue state that is itching for conflict.
The fact is that the British have spurned any normal legal attempt by Russia to access the supposed investigation in order to ascertain the nature of the alleged information incriminating Moscow. If Britain had a case, then why doesn’t it permit an independent assessment? Russia is being denigrated with foul accusations, and yet Moscow is denied the right to defend itself by being able to ascertain the information. The British technique is that of an inquisition making a mockery of legal standards.
Another salient fact is that the whereabouts of the Skripals is not known – six months after the alleged poisoning incident. Russia has been repeatedly denied consular contact with one of its citizens, Yulia Skripal, whose bizarre one-off appearance in a video, released by the British authorities three months ago, conveyed her wish to return to her homeland of Russia. Britain is violating the legal principle of habeas corpus.
Far from any evidence implicating Russia in a crime, the evidence so far points to the British authorities illegally detaining the Skripals for propaganda purpose. That nefarious purpose is clear: to demonize and delegitimize Russia as a sovereign state.
The Skripal saga and official British clowning around would be laughable if the consequences for international relations were not so dire.
The British authorities should be the ones in the dock, not Russia, to answer a case of forced abduction and incitement of international conflict.
angelburst29
The Living Force
Russian President Vladimir Putin has urged two persons suspected by London of being involved in the Skripal case to appear and talk with media.
12.09.2018 - 'We Found Them': Putin Says Russia Knows Who Salisbury Incident Suspects Are
'We Found Them': Putin Says Russia Knows Who Salisbury Incident Suspects Are
Russian authorities have identified the two people suspected by London of poisoning Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.
"We know who they are, we have found them," Putin told the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok.
The Russian president noted that the "suspects" were civilians. "I hope that they will show up and tell everything themselves. There is nothing particularly criminal there, I assure you," he said. Putin also urged the two individuals to talk to media.
Meanwhile, one of the men suspected by the UK told the TV channel Russia 24 in a phone conversation that he would comment on the case next week.
Commenting on Putin's statement, Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman accused Moscow of "obfuscation and lies".
We have repeatedly asked Russia to account for what happened in Salisbury in March, and they have replied with obfuscation and lies," the spokesman told reporters.
12.09.2018 - Skripal Case: What We Know So Far About the Two Russians Accused by the UK
Skripal Case: What We Know So Far About the Two Russians Accused by the UK
Russian President Vladimir Putin has dropped a bombshell on the Skripal inquiry by confirming that Russian authorities had "found" the two men British authorities suspect attempted to murder Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. In light of the revelation, Sputnik has rounded up the key details about the accused.
'We Know Who They Are'
Speaking at a plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on Wednesday, President Putin confirmed that authorities "had of course checked out who these people are," and now "know who they are."
We've found them, and hope they will come forward and tell us about themselves. This would be best for everyone," Putin added. "There is nothing special here, nothing criminal, I assure you."
Stressing that the "suspects" were civilians, and not members of Russian military intelligence, as claimed by the British government, Putin issued a personal appeal to the men to "come forward" to the media. Later in the day, Russian state television said that one of the two men suspected by the UK would comment on the case next week.
Photos and Names (Presumed Aliases)
Last week, London Police released the names and photos of two suspects they said were behind the Skripal poisoning attack. It was said that the two men, believed to be about 40 years old, traveled to the UK from Moscow with Russian passports under the names Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov. The police said they couldn't exclude that the names may have been aliases. In Wednesday's remarks, President Putin made no reference to the men's real names.
In addition to the names and photos, the police showed a series of still CCTV images of the men walking around London and Salisbury between March 2 and March 4, including, allegedly, near the Skripals' Salisbury home. There, the police said, the suspects contaminated the house's front door with "Novichok," a nerve agent produced in the Soviet Union whose chemical formula the US and its allies have known about since the USSR's demise.
No footage of the crime itself has been shown, but the police did say that samples taken from the hotel where the suspects stayed, which were taken on May 4, showed traces of "Novichok" at levels below that which would be a health hazard to the public. Later attempts to find more samples of the chemical turned up empty-handed, with police attributing this to the low trace levels of the agent initially found.
Serious Charges
In addition with the assassination attempt itself, Petrov and Boshirov face at least three other charges, including conspiracy to commit murder, the use of chemical weapons, and causing serious bodily harm to DS Nick Bailey. Prosecutors from the counterterrorism unit of the Royal Public Prosecutor's Office said they already have "sufficient grounds for conviction." If convicted, the suspects would face life in prison. The UK does not have the death penalty.
No Cooperation With Russia
On Monday, the UK formally asked Interpol to issue arrest warrants for Petrov and Boshirov. Earlier, the police issued a European arrest warrant. The UK did not make a request for the suspects' extradition from Russia, however, and formally refused Russia's requests for more information, including the suspects' fingerprints, a requirement for Russian citizens seeking UK visas.
Mysterious Switzerland Detour?
After the release of the alleged suspects' names, UK media published flight ticket details appearing to show Petrov and Boshirov booking nine separate flights to and from Geneva between November and February. During this time, the suspects were also believed to have traveled to Paris, Amsterdam and Bergamo, Italy, according to The Telegraph.
May's Conclusions
Although the Metropolitan Police were careful not to implicate anyone other than Petrov and Boshirov directly, Prime Minister Theresa May did not shy away from concluding last week that the men were "officers from the Russian military intelligence service, also known as the GRU."
Stressing that the Russian intelligence agency was "a highly disciplined organization with a well-established chain of command" May claimed that the Skripal attack was "not a rogue operation," and that it was "almost certainly also approved outside the GRU at a senior level of the Russian state."
Moscow, which has rejected London's claims of involvement in the Skripal crime since the beginning, again rejected the prime minister's claims of state involvement, with presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov reiterating that "neither the top leadership, nor the leadership of the ranks below, nor any official authorities had anything to do with the events in Salisbury."
Former GRU officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia fell victim to a suspected poisoning attack by what UK authorities have said was the "Novichok" nerve agent in the southern English city of Salisbury on March 4, 2018. The British government almost immediately blamed Russia for the crime, leading to a diplomatic spat between the two countries. Moscow, which destroyed the last of its chemical weapons in 2017 under the supervision of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, denied the charges and called for a joint investigation. Sergei and Yulia were released from hospital in April and May and taken to an undisclosed location by UK authorities.
12.09.2018 - 'We Found Them': Putin Says Russia Knows Who Salisbury Incident Suspects Are
'We Found Them': Putin Says Russia Knows Who Salisbury Incident Suspects Are
Russian authorities have identified the two people suspected by London of poisoning Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.
"We know who they are, we have found them," Putin told the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok.
The Russian president noted that the "suspects" were civilians. "I hope that they will show up and tell everything themselves. There is nothing particularly criminal there, I assure you," he said. Putin also urged the two individuals to talk to media.
Meanwhile, one of the men suspected by the UK told the TV channel Russia 24 in a phone conversation that he would comment on the case next week.
Commenting on Putin's statement, Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman accused Moscow of "obfuscation and lies".
We have repeatedly asked Russia to account for what happened in Salisbury in March, and they have replied with obfuscation and lies," the spokesman told reporters.
12.09.2018 - Skripal Case: What We Know So Far About the Two Russians Accused by the UK
Skripal Case: What We Know So Far About the Two Russians Accused by the UK
Russian President Vladimir Putin has dropped a bombshell on the Skripal inquiry by confirming that Russian authorities had "found" the two men British authorities suspect attempted to murder Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. In light of the revelation, Sputnik has rounded up the key details about the accused.
'We Know Who They Are'
Speaking at a plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on Wednesday, President Putin confirmed that authorities "had of course checked out who these people are," and now "know who they are."
We've found them, and hope they will come forward and tell us about themselves. This would be best for everyone," Putin added. "There is nothing special here, nothing criminal, I assure you."
Stressing that the "suspects" were civilians, and not members of Russian military intelligence, as claimed by the British government, Putin issued a personal appeal to the men to "come forward" to the media. Later in the day, Russian state television said that one of the two men suspected by the UK would comment on the case next week.
Photos and Names (Presumed Aliases)
Last week, London Police released the names and photos of two suspects they said were behind the Skripal poisoning attack. It was said that the two men, believed to be about 40 years old, traveled to the UK from Moscow with Russian passports under the names Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov. The police said they couldn't exclude that the names may have been aliases. In Wednesday's remarks, President Putin made no reference to the men's real names.
In addition to the names and photos, the police showed a series of still CCTV images of the men walking around London and Salisbury between March 2 and March 4, including, allegedly, near the Skripals' Salisbury home. There, the police said, the suspects contaminated the house's front door with "Novichok," a nerve agent produced in the Soviet Union whose chemical formula the US and its allies have known about since the USSR's demise.
No footage of the crime itself has been shown, but the police did say that samples taken from the hotel where the suspects stayed, which were taken on May 4, showed traces of "Novichok" at levels below that which would be a health hazard to the public. Later attempts to find more samples of the chemical turned up empty-handed, with police attributing this to the low trace levels of the agent initially found.
Serious Charges
In addition with the assassination attempt itself, Petrov and Boshirov face at least three other charges, including conspiracy to commit murder, the use of chemical weapons, and causing serious bodily harm to DS Nick Bailey. Prosecutors from the counterterrorism unit of the Royal Public Prosecutor's Office said they already have "sufficient grounds for conviction." If convicted, the suspects would face life in prison. The UK does not have the death penalty.
No Cooperation With Russia
On Monday, the UK formally asked Interpol to issue arrest warrants for Petrov and Boshirov. Earlier, the police issued a European arrest warrant. The UK did not make a request for the suspects' extradition from Russia, however, and formally refused Russia's requests for more information, including the suspects' fingerprints, a requirement for Russian citizens seeking UK visas.
Mysterious Switzerland Detour?
After the release of the alleged suspects' names, UK media published flight ticket details appearing to show Petrov and Boshirov booking nine separate flights to and from Geneva between November and February. During this time, the suspects were also believed to have traveled to Paris, Amsterdam and Bergamo, Italy, according to The Telegraph.
May's Conclusions
Although the Metropolitan Police were careful not to implicate anyone other than Petrov and Boshirov directly, Prime Minister Theresa May did not shy away from concluding last week that the men were "officers from the Russian military intelligence service, also known as the GRU."
Stressing that the Russian intelligence agency was "a highly disciplined organization with a well-established chain of command" May claimed that the Skripal attack was "not a rogue operation," and that it was "almost certainly also approved outside the GRU at a senior level of the Russian state."
Moscow, which has rejected London's claims of involvement in the Skripal crime since the beginning, again rejected the prime minister's claims of state involvement, with presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov reiterating that "neither the top leadership, nor the leadership of the ranks below, nor any official authorities had anything to do with the events in Salisbury."
Former GRU officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia fell victim to a suspected poisoning attack by what UK authorities have said was the "Novichok" nerve agent in the southern English city of Salisbury on March 4, 2018. The British government almost immediately blamed Russia for the crime, leading to a diplomatic spat between the two countries. Moscow, which destroyed the last of its chemical weapons in 2017 under the supervision of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, denied the charges and called for a joint investigation. Sergei and Yulia were released from hospital in April and May and taken to an undisclosed location by UK authorities.
angelburst29
The Living Force
Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, who are suspected by London of being involved in the nerve gas attack in Salisbury, have nothing to do with the Kremlin and President Vladimir Putin.
Mon Sep 17, 2018 - Spokesperson: Skripal Case Suspects Have Nothing to Do with Kremlin or Putin
Farsnews
"Neither Petrov nor Boshirov have anything to do with Putin," Peskov said in an interview with the Rossiya-1 television channel on Sunday, adding that they have nothing to do with the Kremlin either.
According to Peskov, Putin’s statement at the Eastern Economic Forum on Wednesday that Russia’s authorities knew about Petrov and Boshirov came as a surprise. "No, it was not a prepared speech," he stated, noting that "what the president said was his own decision. It came as a surprise for us, we did not know about that".
On Friday, Peskov stressed that the president was aware about the two men’s interview with the RT television channel, where they denied London’s allegations about their involvement in the incident.
17.09.2018 - TripAdvisor Mulling When to Unblock Page with Reviews of Salisbury Cathedral
TripAdvisor Mulling When to Unblock Page With Reviews of Salisbury Cathedral
TripAdvisor is mulling when to lift the suspension off the page of the Salisbury Cathedral overrun with spoof reviews referring to two Russian citizens that UK authorities suspect of an attack on former Russian intelligence agent Sergei Skripal, the UK press office of the company said on Monday.
"The duration of the suspension is determined on a case-by-case basis. As such, we will continue to monitor incoming review submissions in order to determine the most appropriate time to end the temporary suspension," the press office told Sputnik.
The page was blocked on Saturday, a few days after Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, suspected by London of the poisoning of Russian former GRU agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, said in an interview to RT that they had come to Salisbury to see the sights, the cathedral, in particular
The interview took place after on September 5 the UK Crown Prosecution Service said that it had sufficient evidence to indict Petrov and Boshirov on the charges related to the attack. UK Prime Minister Theresa May said that the Russian military intelligence had been behind the poisoning and claimed that the suspects were its employees.
Reacting to these accusations, Petrov and Boshirov told RT that they had gone to Salisbury as tourists to see the famous cathedral and Old Sarum hillfort.
Mon Sep 17, 2018 - Spokesperson: Skripal Case Suspects Have Nothing to Do with Kremlin or Putin
Farsnews
"Neither Petrov nor Boshirov have anything to do with Putin," Peskov said in an interview with the Rossiya-1 television channel on Sunday, adding that they have nothing to do with the Kremlin either.
According to Peskov, Putin’s statement at the Eastern Economic Forum on Wednesday that Russia’s authorities knew about Petrov and Boshirov came as a surprise. "No, it was not a prepared speech," he stated, noting that "what the president said was his own decision. It came as a surprise for us, we did not know about that".
On Friday, Peskov stressed that the president was aware about the two men’s interview with the RT television channel, where they denied London’s allegations about their involvement in the incident.
17.09.2018 - TripAdvisor Mulling When to Unblock Page with Reviews of Salisbury Cathedral
TripAdvisor Mulling When to Unblock Page With Reviews of Salisbury Cathedral
TripAdvisor is mulling when to lift the suspension off the page of the Salisbury Cathedral overrun with spoof reviews referring to two Russian citizens that UK authorities suspect of an attack on former Russian intelligence agent Sergei Skripal, the UK press office of the company said on Monday.
"The duration of the suspension is determined on a case-by-case basis. As such, we will continue to monitor incoming review submissions in order to determine the most appropriate time to end the temporary suspension," the press office told Sputnik.
The page was blocked on Saturday, a few days after Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, suspected by London of the poisoning of Russian former GRU agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, said in an interview to RT that they had come to Salisbury to see the sights, the cathedral, in particular
The interview took place after on September 5 the UK Crown Prosecution Service said that it had sufficient evidence to indict Petrov and Boshirov on the charges related to the attack. UK Prime Minister Theresa May said that the Russian military intelligence had been behind the poisoning and claimed that the suspects were its employees.
Reacting to these accusations, Petrov and Boshirov told RT that they had gone to Salisbury as tourists to see the famous cathedral and Old Sarum hillfort.
