12th September, 2018
Russian authorities have identified the two people suspected by London of poisoning Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.
“We know who they are, we have found them,” Putin told the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok.
The Russian president noted that the “suspects” were civilians.
“I hope that they will show up and tell everything themselves. There is nothing particularly criminal there, I assure you,” he said.
Putin also urged the two individuals to talk to media.
On Sept. 6, the UK charged two Russian men for the Novichok nerve agent attack on the former spy and his daughter in the English city of Salsibury, accusing them of being Russian military intelligence officers.British prosecutors issued arrest warrants for Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, charging them with conspiracy to murder and attempted murder of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia.
Both were poisoned with the military-grade nerve agent – developed by the former Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s – in March but survived after spending weeks in hospital.
The failed attack sparked an international diplomactic crisis with Russia being accused by several countries – allegations Moscow has repeatedly denied.
Britain said it will present its evidence at a UN Security Council meeting on Thursday.
British officials demanded at a meeting with Russia’s charge d’affaires that those responsible for the poisoning of the Skripals were brought to justice.