A counterfeit perfume bottle, a basic east London hotel and two burly Russians likely travelling under aliases: just some of the unprecedented details revealed by British authorities Wednesday of how they believe the Novichok poisonings in Salisbury were carried out.
According to CNN, the revelations came as British prosecutors said they had “sufficient evidence” to charge two Russian nationals in connection with the nerve agent attack in the southern English city on March 4 on former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia Skripal.
The two suspects were named by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, neither of whom is in the United Kingdom.
“Prosecutors from the CPS Counter Terrorism Division have considered the evidence and have concluded there is sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction and it is clearly in the public interest to charge Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov … with conspiracy to murder Sergei Skripal and the attempted murder of Skripal, his daughter Yulia, and police officer Nick Bailey,” a CPS statement said.
The pair are also charged with the use and possession of the nerve agent Novichok contrary to the Chemical Weapons Act and causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Yulia Skripal and Nick Bailey.
The two Russian nationals are believed to have been travelling under aliases, although they had genuine Russian passports with the identities of Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, the CPS said in a briefing. UK Prime Minister Theresa May told lawmakers that Britain believes the two suspects to be officers of the Russian military intelligence service, known as the GRU.
“The GRU is a highly disciplined organization with a well-established chain of command, so this was not a rogue operation, it was almost certainly also approved outside the GRU at a senior level of the Russian state,” she said in a statement to the House of Commons.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova dismissed the latest claims. “A link with Russia is being alleged. The names published in the media, like the photos, do not tell us anything,” she said.
She called on the British authorities “to move from public accusations and information manipulation to practical cooperation through law enforcement agencies” and repeated Russia's demand that they answer Moscow's queries about the case.
“The investigation of such serious crimes, which the UK side has repeatedly alleged, requires the most careful work, scrupulous analysis of data and close cooperation,” she said.
The CPS said it was not applying to Russia for the extradition of the two men as the Russian constitution does not permit extradition of its own nationals. However, prosecutors have obtained a European Arrest Warrant and the police are seeking to circulate Interpol Red Notices.
“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,” May told lawmakers.
She described the Novichok attack as “part of a wider pattern of Russian behaviour that persistently seeks to undermine our security and that of our allies around the world” and said the UK would “deploy the full range of tools from across our national security apparatus” to counter Russian military intelligence activities.
May spoke to US President Donald Trump on Tuesday evening ahead of the announcement of the names of Russian suspects and their links to military intelligence, 10 Downing Street told CNN.
