British police have published a series of surveillance images tracking the movements of two alleged Russian agents authorities believe traveled to England to execute a nerve-agent attack on a former Russian spy and his daughter.
Sergei Skripal, a former colonel in Russian military intelligence who exposed dozens of agents to Britain’s MI6 foreign spy service, and his daughter, Yulia, were found unconscious on a public bench in Salisbury on March 4.
The Skripals were hospitalized for weeks in critical condition but ultimately survived.
While the motive for the attack on Skripal, who was exchanged in a Kremlin-approved spy swap in 2010, remains unclear, some analysts point to its function as a deterrent for Russian operatives who might be thinking about colluding with foreign intelligence against Putin.
Russia’s top security officials routinely speak of active attempts by the CIA and other western agencies to recruit Russians.
British Prime Minister Theresa May said in parliament on Wednesday, Sept. 5, that the attack on Skripal was “not a rogue operation” and must have been approved “at a senior level of the Russian state,” the Associated Press reported.
Allies of Britain issued a joint statement pledging to join May’s campaign against the Russian GRU spy agency.
“We have full confidence in the British assessment that the two suspects were officers from the Russian military intelligence service, also known as the GRU, and that this operation was almost certainly approved at a senior government level,” reads the statement issued by Canada, France, Germany, and the United States.
Moscow denies any involvement in the attack, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov calling May’s allegations that Russian senior leadership signed off on the hit on Skripal as “out of the question” and “unacceptable.”
A deadly Soviet-era nerve agent called Novichok was allegedly smeared or sprayed onto the door handle of Skripal’s home in Salisbury.
In the nearby town of Amesbury, local mother-of-three Dawn Sturgess died and her boyfriend, Charlie Rowley, was sickened after they came across remnants of the poison in what appeared to be a perfume bottle.
Inconspicuously labelled Nina Ricci Premier Jour and bearing the words “Made in France,” the bottle had been specially designed to be leakproof and had a custom applicator, UK Metropolitan police said.
Supposed spy duo Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov are suspected of having brought the poison with them on a flight from Moscow, arriving at Gatwick airport on March 2.
The would-be assassins were caught on CCTV going through passport control, Boshirov with dark hair and a goatee, Petrov dressed in blue and sporting stubble.
The following day the two suspects undertook what police said was a reconnaissance mission, traveling by train from London to Salisbury.
Cameras at the station again captured the two men, this time as they peered intently in the direction of a transit schedule, Boshirov clutching a pair of black gloves.
On March 4, the day of the hit, the two alleged operatives again travelled to Salisbury, with CCTV capturing them walking side by side along a road not far from Skripal’s house.
Police say the two Russians then approached Skripal’s house and applied the Novichok nerve agent to the door handle.
Soon after, the two were again recorded on surveillance cameras heading back to the station.
Detectives say that it was en route to catch the train back to London that the two Russians disposed of the toxin-carrying perfume bottle, which ended up in the hands of Sturgess, who fell ill on June 30 and died in hospital about a week later.
“The recklessness of the Russian state in bringing a nerve agent into the UK, and total disregard for the safety of the public, is appalling and irresponsible,” said British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt after the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons confirmed on Tuesday, Sept. 4, that the Novichok nerve agent was used in all poisonings.
Several hours after the attack on the Skripals, the alleged Russian spies were once again caught on camera, this time at Heathrow airport, readying to depart.
In a telltale sign of state-level support, police say, their passports were authentic, their identities not.
After that point, the surveillance trail went cold, with the whereabouts of the duo unknown.
Boshirov and Petrov have been charged in absentia with conspiracy to murder, attempted murder and use of a nerve agent.
