The scandal surrounding the attempted assassination of former GRU officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Julia had a clearly marked goal. Its initiators were going to disrupt the holding of presidential elections in Russia in March this year. Such a statement was made by Alexander Shulgin, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). He also advocated that those who the British side suspected of direct execution of the crime, talked with reporters. "I think it will be very useful when these people, whom we found, will meet with the press. They will tell everything, put everything in its place. This will be an additional proof of the artificiality of all the charges that the United Kingdom is pushing against us, "the RIA Novosti news agency quotes..