Russian military agents

Theresa May says suspects in Novichok poisonings were Russian military agents

The two men arrived in UK days before the attack in the town of Salisbury.

By TOM MCTAGUE

U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday blamed the Russian military for coordinating and authorizing the “barbaric” chemical weapons attack in Salisbury in March.

The attack left one British citizen dead and a former Russian spy-turned-MI6 double agent and his daughter fighting for their lives.

Addressing the House of Commons, May told MPs there is “hard evidence” that two Russian citizens had travelled to the U.K. on false passports to attempt to murder former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

May revealed that British intelligence services have concluded the two individuals — named as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov — were employed directly by the Russian state.

“Based on a body of intelligence, the two individuals are officers from the Russian military intelligence service, also known as the GRU,” she said. “This was not a rogue operation.”

May said the decision to launch the attack had to be taken “at a high level” inside the Russian government, outside the GRU. It is the closest May has come to directly blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin.

May said 250 British detectives had trawled through 11,000 hours of CCTV footage as part of their investigation. Police now had “sufficient evidence to being charges” if the two Russians are still in the U.K.

Sergei and Yulia Skripal were found unconscious in Salisbury on March 4, after having been poisoned with a nerve agent called Novichok that U.K. authorities said was produced in Russia. The attack sparked an international spat and prompted many Western countries to expel more than 100 Russian diplomats.

Last month, the Trump administration said it would hit Russia with fresh sanctions over the attempted assassination. Russia denies involvement.

Yulia was released from hospital on April 9 and her father left hospital on May 18. In July, police launched a murder inquiry after a woman exposed to the nerve agent — 44-year-old Dawn Sturgess — died.