Two Russian Nationals Named As Suspects In Salisbury Novichok Poisoning

(COMBO) This combination of undated handout pictures released by the British Metropolitan Police Service created in London on on September 05, 2018 shows Ruslan Boshirov (L) and Alexander Petrov, who are wanted by British police in connection with the nerve agent attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. - British prosecutors said Wednesday they have obtained a European arrest warrant for two Russians blamed for a nerve agent attack on a former spy in the city of Salisbury. Police identified Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov as the men who tried to kill Russian former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with Novichok in March 2018.  Photo Credit: AFP 

Two Russian nationals have been named as suspects in the attempted murder of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

The men, using the names Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, are thought to be officers from Russia’s military intelligence service, the PM said.

Scotland Yard and the CPS say there is enough evidence to charge the men.

Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok in March.

Det Sgt Nick Bailey also fell ill after responding to the incident in Salisbury.

Speaking in the Commons, Prime Minister Theresa May said the government had concluded, from intelligence provided by UK agencies, that the men were part of the GRU intelligence service.

The poisoning was “not a rogue operation” and was “almost certainly” approved at a senior level of the Russian state, she said.

“On the basis of what we have learned in the Salisbury investigation and what we know about this organisation more broadly, we must now step up our collective efforts specifically against the GRU,” she said.

May promised, “the full range of tools from across our national security apparatus” would be used to “counter the threat” caused by them.

She described it as a “sickening and despicable attack” which “left four people fighting for their lives and one innocent woman dead”

The two suspects, believed to have been using aliases, travelled on Russian passports and are thought to be about 40.

In response, the Russian foreign ministry has said the names and photographs of the men “do not mean anything to Moscow”.





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