Three children are understood to have been taken to hospital after taking bread from Sergei Skripal to feed ducks in the Salisbury park where the double agent was found poisoned.
The youngsters were rushed to hospital for blood tests amid fears they had come in contact with the deadly nerve agent Novichok.
Mr Skripal, 66, is thought to have given the children – all boys – the bread to throw into the river in Avon Playground, but one of the boys ate the slice handed to him.
Soldiers in chemical hazard suits decontaminate after removing and wrapping the tent covering the Salisbury bench where Russians Sergei and Yulia Skripal were found on March 4. This is where the three children are said to have taken the bread from him
Mr Skripal, 66, is thought to have given the children – all boys – the bread to throw into the river in Avon Playground (pictured), but one of the boys ate the slice handed to him
Soldiers cover themselves in forensic suits as they comb the park for clues nearly three weeks after the attack
The incident, thought to be on the same day the Skripals were poisoned, was confirmed by Public Health England, according to the Sunday Mirror, and a security source told the paper: ‘To try to kill Skripal is one thing, but now it seems children may have been caught up in it.
‘It shows whoever did this didn’t care who they killed or maimed.’
It is understood the children were eventually given the all-clear, but the park is still cordoned off with forensic officers combing for clues.
Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, are still fighting for their lives in hospital after the poisoning on March 4.
They were found slumped on a bench in Avon Playground having dined at the Italian restaurant Zizzi.
It is thought the lethal nerve agent was smeared on the door handle of the former double agent’s BMW.
Theresa May has laid the blame squarely at door of Vladimir Putin, which has paved the way for a political tit-for-tat between Westminster and Moscow.
Soldiers in Chemical Hazard suits decontaminate after removing and wrapping the tent covering the Salisbury bench where Russians Sergei and Yulia Skripal were found
It is understood the children were eventually given the all-clear, but the park is still cordoned off with forensic officers combing for clues
Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, are still fighting for their lives in hospital after the poisoning on March 4. They were found slumped on a bench (pictured) in Avon Playground having dined at the Italian restaurant Zizzi
Britain’s accusations that Moscow was behind the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in England ‘border on banditry’, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by RIA news agency on Sunday.
He said: ‘We are stating that this is quite unprecedented – international affairs bordering, maybe, on banditry.
‘What stands behind this? Is it Britain’s internal problems or the problems of Britain’s cooperation with its allies or something else? Looks like this is not our business.’
Moscow has denied responsibility for the March 4 attack on Skripal and his daughter, the first known offensive use of a nerve toxin in Europe since World War Two.
Britain expelled 23 Russians as a result and Moscow retaliated by ordering out the same number of Britons.