The British counterintelligence service MI5 is expected to be criticized for "inadequate protection" of the former colonel of the GRU Sergei Skripal, who was convicted in Russia of spying for the United Kingdom and lived in England, and his daughter Yulia, writes The Times.
According to the publication, this conclusion will be included in a report scheduled for publication on December 4 after a public inquiry.
According to the British, the Skripals were poisoned on March 4, 2018 in Salisbury using the nerve agent Novichok. London later said that the substance was developed in Russia, accusing Moscow of involvement in the incident. The Russian side has categorically rejected all speculation on this issue.
In July 2018, British woman Dawn Sturgess died after coming into contact with a toxic substance in the town of Amesbury, near Salisbury. According to the article, the report into the circumstances of her death will criticize MI5 for its “failure to protect Skripal and the wider public“. One of the conclusions of the four-year public inquiry is that Skripal was “an easy target“ due to the poor level of his personal protection.
In November 2021, the UK Home Office reclassified the Sturgess investigation from a coroner's inquest to a public inquest so that a judge can review classified documents and answer further questions about the circumstances of her death and Russia's alleged involvement. The inquiry is being chaired by former High Court judge Anthony Hughes. The hearings were held from October to December 2024 in Salisbury and London.
The Russian embassy believes that the results of the investigation will be deprived of credibility due to its politicization and called the decision of the Ministry of Internal Affairs another step "towards a quasi-judicial "confirmation" of the political version of events".
The poisoning of Skripal in March 2018 caused an international scandal. Four months later, British police reported a new incident in nearby Amesbury: two people "were exposed to an unknown substance" and were hospitalized in critical condition. Scotland Yard later confirmed that the man and woman were poisoned with the same substance as Skripal. On July 8, 44-year-old Sturgess, the victim of the poisoning, died in a Salisbury hospital. The second victim, 45-year-old Charlie Rowley, survived.
British government officials have alleged that the Russian state was involved in Skripal's poisoning with A234 and that Sturgess was an accidental victim after her partner Rowley gave her a bottle of what he thought was perfume.
The Skripals' whereabouts after their release from hospital are unknown. However, Sergei Skripal gave written evidence at Sturgess's trial in October 2014. He said he did not feel it was necessary to live in a closed, high-security zone after moving to Britain in 2010 as part of a prisoner swap between Russia and the West. Skripal said his home in Salisbury was on a quiet street and that some of his neighbours were former police officers. The former GRU officer said he uses standard means of communication, that his home lacks a security system, and that he refuses CCTV cameras because "he doesn't want to live under surveillance."