Britain claims Russia spied on Skripals before poisoning with nerve agent as Moscow challenges watchdog findings
National Security Adviser Mark Sedwill said Russia has tested means of delivering chemical agents by application to door handles
Russia was spying on former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia for at least five years before they were poisoned with a nerve agent, Britain’s National Security Adviser Mark Sedwill said in a letter to Nato released on Friday.
Sedwill also said that Russia has tested means of delivering chemical agents “including by application to door handles”, pointing out that the highest concentration of the chemical found after the attack was on Skripal’s front door handle.
“We have information indicating Russian intelligence service interest in the Skripals, dating back at least as far as 2013, when email accounts belonging to Yulia Skripal were targeted by GRU cyber specialists,” Sedwill wrote in the letter, referring to Russia’s foreign military intelligence agency.
The Skripals were found slumped on a bench in the English city of Salisbury on March 4. Britain has blamed Russia for the attempted murder – a charge that Moscow has strongly denied.
