LONDON (AP) – Britain offers wealthy Russians many attractions – but for some former spies and foes of President Vladimir Putin, it has become lethal.
The latest victims are 66-year-old Sergei Skripal – a former colonel in Russia’s military intelligence service, then a turncoat helping British agents – and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia. Both were found comatose on a bench Sunday in the medieval city of Salisbury.
British officials say they were exposed to a rare nerve agent. They are in critical condition.
Forensic officers work at the cemetery in Salisbury, England, Saturday March 10, 2018, as investigations continue at the cemetery where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal’s wife Liudmila and son Alexander are laid to rest. Emergency service personnel and troops trained in chemical warfare were deployed on the streets of Salisbury as investigations continue into the nerve-agent poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter. (PA via AP)
Some in Britain say the nerve agent attack fits a pattern of suspicious Russian-related deaths in the U.K. and in the United States, and are calling for a high level police investigation into whether Britain has become a killing ground for the state-sanctioned elimination of foes of the Russian government.
A member of the emergency services puts on a full hazardous material suit at the cemetery in Salisbury, England, Saturday March 10, 2018, as investigations continue at the cemetery where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal’s wife and son are laid to rest. Emergency service personnel and troops trained in chemical warfare were deployed on the streets of the usually sleepy English city of Salisbury on Friday as part of the investigation into the nerve-agent poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter.(PA via AP)
Members of the Falcon Squadron, Royal Tank Regiment, at Winterbourne Gunner, southern England, conducting final preparation and training before deploying in support of the civil authorities in Salisbury city centre, Friday March 9, 2018. British police asked the military on Friday to help investigate the nerve-agent poisoning of a former spy, as investigators’ attention increasingly focused on the victim’s house in a quiet suburban street. (Cpl Pete Brown/Ministry of Defence via AP) .
A tent erected at the London Road cemetery in Salisbury, southern England, Friday March 9, 2018 over the memorial stone of Alexandr Skripal, the son of former Russian double agent, Sergei Skripal who along with his daughter Yulia, was found slumped on a bench Sunday in Salisbury, critically ill by exposure to a nerve agent. (Andrew Matthews/PA via AP)
A member of the emergency services puts on a full hazardous material suit at the cemetery in Salisbury, England, as investigations continue at the cemetery where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal’s wife and son are laid to rest, Saturday March 10, 2018. Emergency service personnel and troops trained in chemical warfare were deployed on the streets of the usually sleepy English city of Salisbury on Friday as part of the investigation into the nerve-agent poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter.(PA via AP)
A forensic tent covers the grave of Liudmila Skripal, the wife of Sergei Skripal, at the cemetery in Salisbury, England, Saturday March 10, 2018, as investigations continue at the cemetery where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal’s wife and son are laid to rest. Emergency service personnel and troops trained in chemical warfare were deployed on the streets of Salisbury as investigations continue into the nerve-agent poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter. (PA via AP)
Personnel in hazmat suits walk away after securing the covering on a bench in the Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury, England on Thursday March 8, 2018, where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found critically ill by exposure to a nerve agent on Sunday. (Andrew Matthews/PA via AP)
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