UK | British counterterror help inquiry after ex-Russian spy collapses

A Police officer secures the area as a police tent covers the spot in Salisbury where former Russian spy double agent Sergei Skripal and his companion were found critically ill

Britain will respond “appropriately and robustly” if Russia’s involvement is established in the case of an ex-Russian spy who fell ill after coming into contact with an “unknown substance” in southern England, the U.K. foreign secretary said yesterday.

Boris Johnson told lawmakers in the House of Commons that he wasn’t “pointing fingers” as to who might be responsible for the collapse of Sergei Skripal, who was found slumped on a bench together with his daughter Yulia on Sunday. But he stressed that if state involvement was proven, Britain would take action.

“I say to governments around the world that no attempt to take innocent life on U.K. soil will go either unsanctioned or unpunished,” he said.

British counterterror specialists offered expertise to police as they sought to unravel the mystery of why the two collapsed in Salisbury, 145 kilometers southwest of London. Though authorities were trying to keep an open mind, the incident drew parallels to the death of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko, who was poisoned with radioactive polonium in 2006 in London.

“I think we have to remember that Russian exiles are not immortal. They do all die and there can be a tendency for some conspiracy theories,” Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner Mark Rowley told the BBC. “But likewise we have to be alive to the fact of state threats as illustrated by the Litvinenko case.”

Skripal, 66, was convicted in Russia on charges of spying for Britain and sentenced in 2006 to 13 years in prison. He was freed in 2010 as part of a spy swap, which followed the exposure of a ring of Russian sleeper agents in the U.S.

The Kremlin said Russia hasn’t been approached by British authorities to help in the investigation. But Dimitry Peskov, President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, said yesterday at a daily conference call with media in Russia that “Moscow is always ready to cooperate.”

Both Skripal and his daughter are in critical condition in intensive care. A small number of emergency services personnel were assessed immediately after the incident, and police said yesterday that all but one remained hospitalized.

The discovery led to a dramatic decontamination effort. Crews in billowing yellow moon suits worked into the night spraying down the street, and the Salisbury hospital’s emergency room was closed. A pub and a restaurant remain “secured,” but police didn’t say how long the cordons would be in place.

A security camera image of a man and woman walking through an alleyway connecting the Zizzi restaurant and the bench where Skripal and the woman were found is believed to be of interest to police.

“Police had a good look at the footage and were interested in these two people. It was the only image they took away,” said Cain Prince, 28, the manager of a nearby gym. “They wanted a list of everyone in the gym between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. as well.”

Public records list Skripal as having an address in Salisbury.

Skripal served with Russia’s military intelligence, often known by its Russian-language acronym GRU, and retired in 1999. He then worked at the Foreign Ministry until 2003 and later became involved in business. AP