By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal
LONDON (AA) – British prosecutors on Wednesday named two Russian nationals as the suspects of the Salisbury nerve-agent attack that targeted former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia Skripal earlier this year.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov are wanted for conspiracy to murder Sergei Skripal and the attempted murder of Yulia Skripal and police officer Nick Bailey.
The CPS Counter Terrorism Division “have considered the evidence and have concluded there is sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction and it is clearly in the public interest to charge Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, who are Russian nationals,” said Sue Hemming, CPS director of legal services, in a statement.
The offences by Petrov and Ruslan included “use and possession of Novichok contrary to Chemical Weapons Act” and “causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Yulia Skripal and Nick Bailey.”
Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter were admitted to a hospital after being found unconscious on March 4 in Salisbury.
“Mr. Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent of a type developed by Russia,” specifically from the Novichok group, British Prime Minister Theresa May had said following the attack.
The incident has drawn comparisons to the 2006 death of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko after drinking radioactive tea. Former KGB bodyguards identified as suspects in the murder denied any involvement.
Sergei Skripal was granted refuge in the U.K. following a 2010 spy exchange between the U.S. and Russia. Before the exchange, he had been serving a 13-year prison term for leaking information to the British intelligence.
Russia missed a deadline set by London to explain how a certain type of military-grade nerve agent was used in the attack.
A world-wide expulsion of 121 Russian diplomats followed the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats from the U.K.
NATO and the EU have supported the U.K. and condemned the attack.
