Novichok nerve agent planted in Yuliya Skripal’s luggage in Moscow – The Telegraph
The nerve agent that poisoned the Russian spy Sergei Skripal might have been planted in his daughter’s suitcase before she left Moscow.
The Novichok nerve agent was hidden in the luggage of Yuliya Skripal in Russia, The Telegraph reports with reference to senior sources in intelligence agencies.
According to them, the toxin was impregnated in an item of clothing or cosmetics or else in a gift that was opened in his house in Salisbury.
131 persons might have been exposed to the agent; 46 sought medical help over the incident, Wiltshire police say.
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On March 4, Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yuliya, 33, were found unconscious at a shopping mall in the English town of Salisbury. The two were taken to hospital in critical condition. The were reportedly poisoned following exposure to an unknown substance.
On Monday, British Prime Minister Theresa May said that Skripal and his daughter had been poisoned with Novichok, a military-grade nerve agent of a type developed by Russia. She gave Russia time until midnight on Tuesday to explain why a Soviet-era nerve agent was used in the attack. But Moscow said it would not give any explanation until it has access to the evidential materials (nerve agent samples) of the Skripal case. Moreover, Maria Zakharova, Spokeswoman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry, called May’s speech a ‘circus show in the British parliament’ and dropped a threatening hint.
Sergei Skripal was arrested by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) in December 2004. An investigation revealed that back in 1995, he was recruited by the British intelligence to provide information constituting state secrets. In August 2006, the Moscow District Military Court sentenced Skripal to 13 years in a maximum security correctional facility, also stripping him of his military rank and state awards.
On July 9, 2010, when Russia and the United States carried out a spy swap, Skripal was handed over to the US alongside three other convicts, while Moscow received ten Russian citizens in return.
