The Russian connectionCritically ill woman is daughter of ex-Russian spy, BBC reports
Sergei Skripal, 66, a former colonel in Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency, was convicted of passing state secrets to Britain in 2006, but was released from prison and — sent to the West — in a spy swap in 2010. He is in a critical condition in hospital after being found unconscious on a bench near a shopping center in Salisbury in southern England on 4 March. A woman found unconscious on a bench next to him has now been identified as his 33-year old daughter. The unexplained incident drew comparisons with the death of Aleksandr Litvinenko, a former Russian security agent who became a Putin critic, who fell ill and died in London in November 2006 after ingesting radioactive polonium-210. A high-level British investigative commission has established that two Russian GRU agents poisoned Litvinenko on orders from Vladimir Putin. Andrei Lugovoi, one of the two Russian killers, has been awarded a medal by Putin, and is now a leading member of United Russia, Putin’s political party, in the Russian parliament.
A woman found unconscious on a bench next to former Russian spy Sergei Skripal is Skripal’s daughter, the BBC reports.
Both Yulia Skripal, 33, and her 66-year-old father, Sergei, are in a critical condition in hospital after being found unconscious on a bench near a shopping center in Salisbury in southern England on 4 March.
British police are trying to establish what harmed the pair.
Several emergency services workers were assessed immediately after the incident — and one remains in hospital, authorities say.
Skripal is is a former colonel in Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency who was convicted of passing state secrets to Britain in 2006 but was released from prison — and sent to the West — in a spy swap in 2010.
The unexplained incident swiftly drew comparisons with the death of Aleksandr Litvinenko, a former Russian security agent who fell ill and died in London in November 2006 after ingesting radioactive polonium-210.
A British inquiry concluded that the Russian government was behind Litvinenko’s death and that Russian President Vladimir Putin “probably approved” the killing [see “The man who knew too much,” HSNW 23 January 2018].
Russia insists it has “no information” on what could have led to the incident.
But Putin’s spokesman called it a “tragic situation” and indicated that Moscow is ready to cooperate with British authorities if asked.
“Moscow is always open to interaction,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on March 6 when asked whether Russia would cooperate. He said that Russia has not received such a request.
While Skripal appeared to be one of several Russians who have suddenly become ill or died in Britain in recent years, British authorities said that nobody should assume his illness was the result of foul play.
The authorities “are conducting some extensive inquiries to determine exactly what led to these two people falling unconscious and clarify whether or not any criminal activity has happened,” said Wiltshire police official Craig Holden.
Mark Rowley, Britain’s top counterterrorism officer said that police investigating the incident are “alive to the fact of state threats.”
“We’re speaking to witnesses. We’re taking forensic samples at the scene. We’re doing toxicology work and that will help us to get to an answer,” Rowley said.
