Two Russians who came to Britain to kill Secretry Skrypal, in documents for obtaining a visa, reported that they are businessmen from St. Petersburg, reports the Daily Telegraph with reference to a source in the security service.
Two men came under the fictitious names of Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov with official Russian passports. Their real names have not yet been made public, but the service of British intelligence and counterterrorism police is reported to know who they are.
The publication notes that men received British visas at the consulate in St. Petersburg. According to the source of the Daily Telegraph, in the documents for the visa they reported that they work in the field of international trade, showing their business cards, as well as accounts from the bank, which featured money amounts of thousands of pounds.
This information will further support the British authorities' assertion that the suspects are employees of the GRU, who provided them with genuine passports with false names. The British authorities claim that it was almost impossible to detect their arrival in Britain two days before poisoning in Salisbury, but the source of the publication said: "They collected a lot of documents that showed their history. However, given that it is extremely difficult for Russians to obtain a British visa, one might assume that the two should have been suspected of being ".
The tabloid Daily Mirror reports that, according to police and MI5 information, the nerve agent "Novice" was brought in a diplomatic mail to the Russian embassy in London. And the suspects, most likely, received a bag with stuff from an embassy employee at a pre-arranged location near the hotel where they settled, after which they set out to carry out their mission.
The source of the newspaper said: "Newcomer" was brought in a diplomatic mail, because she was not being examined. Therefore, GRU officials working in the embassy, ??officially known to the British authorities, can transfer the substance while on the territory of Britain. Substance was brought some time before the arrival of the perpetrators of the attempt. Then they had to take the substance either from the hiding place, or it was handed over from hand to hand ".
According to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, embassies can receive diplomatic mail without the need for customs clearance. The size of the parcel can be any: from a purse to a freight container. The Daily Mirror found out that the GRU staff working in the Russian embassy could also use diplomatic mail. They were all declared persona non grata after the scandal of poisoning in Salisbury broke out.
The tabloid also found out that in the operation to eliminate the Violins directly involved up to 10 people. Now MI-5 and the police are identifying other accomplices. The source of the publication said that Julia Skripal's phone was undoubtedly auditioned for several weeks or months before her arrival in Britain, so the agents had full information about her plans.
It was followed up by one or two GRU officers before boarding the plane, and then others continued to follow up at London's Gatwick Airport. These men and, probably, women work under cover and are not employees of the embassy. The source of the publication said: "Technically, the operation was supposed to involve several people. Some of them returned to Russia or another country, and some could remain in Britain. But the search will continue ".
Scotland Yard declined to comment on the suggestion that the "Novice" was brought in a pouch, as well as information that the police are continuing to search for spies, the publication notes..
The Kremlin has promised to ignore the warrant for the arrest of two suspected of poisoning in Salisbury, as expected, wrote the Daily Telegraph columnist Fraser Nelson. Poisoners now can not go anywhere from the country. But they are hardly among the people who every autumn roll parties on the Cote d'Azur. Most likely, they will be well taken care of in Russia.
When eight years ago the American authorities revealed Anna Chapman as a spy, she was sent back to Moscow, where she was met as a hero, after which she became a TV presenter. Putin seems to like that Russians and the whole world know that he cares about his friends and sends killers to eliminate his enemies, notes the author.
An unnamed source in the British government the day before said that the answer would follow, and that "Putin must remember the price he will have to pay" for his actions. And this is just the basic meaning. He saw this price and is quite ready to pay it. And in the long run, he may look like a man who got away with murder, says Nelson.
The Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins believes that the attack on the Fiddlers had to be viewed initially as a crime of regional scale. "It is clear that the police very quickly suspected in the incident of two Russians and knew that it would be impossible to bring them to court. The case could remain on completion, and Putin could be accused of not being able to control his bandits, "the author writes.
Instead, the situation turned into an international crisis, and Putin became an evil genius. Theresa May immediately rushed to the battle. The attempt at life was called "a chemical attack on British soil," as if Putin personally sent canisters with sarin to hospitals and schools. British diplomacy was distracted from the "brexite" in order to obtain the expulsion of 153 Russian diplomats from some Western capitals, after which more than 20 British intelligence officers were expelled from Russia. There were sanctions, trade slowed down, notes Jenkins.
There is no evidence that this all at least somehow influenced Russian policy. The methods of intimidation like sanctions are too overrated in diplomacy. Putin likes to do meanness, hypocrisy and take a pose, but the West's response is no better. This is a policy of gestures, insults, newspaper headlines and staged outrage. All these manifestations of infantilism, according to the observer.
Now Moscow has become more active in confronting the West. The incompetence of the EU led to the fact that Putin managed to restore the allied ties of the times of the Cold War.
He has admirers in Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Serbia and even Germany. The economy of his country is in chaos, but who cares when the United States and Britain dance around him like puppets. So what if some killer in Salisbury has not coped with the task? In return, we allow Putin to laugh at us and expose his insulted innocence before the world. Everything that we do, absolutely everything, works for him, says the author..
Source: BBC News.