UK names two Russians for attempted murder of Skripals with nerve agent
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British prosecutors on Wednesday identified two Russians who they accused of trying to murder former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with a military-grade nerve agent in England.
Skripal, a former colonel in Russian military intelligence who betrayed dozens of agents to Britain's MI6 foreign spy service, and his daughter Yulia, were found unconscious on a public bench in the southern city of Salisbury on March 4.
Britain has blamed Russia for the poisonings and identified the poison as Novichok, a deadly group of nerve agents developed by the Soviet military in the 1970s and 1980s. Russia has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attack.
British prosecutors named the two suspects as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, who police said arrived in Britain from Moscow on March 2 at London's Gatwick airport on an Aeroflot flight and left on March 4. Police released images of the two men.
Neil Basu, Head of UK Counter Terrorism policing, said the two suspects were travelling under aliases but were around 40 years old and had genuine Russian passports.
"We would like to hear from anyone who knows them," Basu said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said in response that the names of two men British prosecutors have accused of trying to murder Skripal and his daughter Yulia "do not mean anything to us," RIA cited the Foreign Ministry as saying.
