Novichok poisonings: timeline of "assassins’" movements

RUSSIAN spy suspects wanted over the Novichok poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal have today been sensationally named by police.

Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov have been linked to the attempted hit on the former MI6 mole and his daughter - and cops have now issued a European Arrest Warrant for the pair.

RUSSIAN spy suspects wanted over the Novichok poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal have today been sensationally named by police.

Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov have been linked to the attempted hit on the former MI6 mole and his daughter - and cops have now issued a European Arrest Warrant for the pair.

It is understood Petrov and Boshirov stayed in the City Stay Hotel, Bow, East London during their time in the UK.

Cops searching their room on May 4 - almost two months after the attack in Salisbury - are said to have discovered minute traces of Novichok.

Police said Novichok was brought into Britain in a Nina Ricci ‘Premier Jour’ perfume bottle with a specially made poison applicator.

In a joint statement with Scotland Yard, the CPS said: "There is sufficient evidence to charge two Russian nationals named as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov with offences including conspiracy to murder over the Salisbury nerve agent attack."

Police will not be seeking extradition for the pair, but Interpol Red Notices - which alerts all member countries that suspects are wanted - have been issued.

Scotland Yard also confirmed that both suspects had been to the UK before on the same passports and "travelled extensively on them in the past".

The Kremlin has hit back at the announcement today with spokesman Dmitry Peskov denying any Russian role in the poisoning.

Peskov added that Moscow has no new information about the attack because Britain has refused to share case files.

The breakthrough in the Skripal case came after cops collected 4,000 hours of CCTV and 2,300 exhibits since the near-fatal poisoning of ex-KGB spy Skripal, 66, and Yulia, 33, in Salisbury in March.

Among the clips was grainy CCTV of a man and a blonde woman with a red handbag captured on CCTV 20 minutes before the attempted hit.

The CCTV showed the young woman walking beside an older man not far from the bench where the stricken pair were discovered.

Government scientists found that the Novichok used in the attack was manufactured in Russia - leading the PM to boot out 23 Kremlin diplomats in an effort to “dismantle the Russian espionage network in the UK”.

As The Sun revealed, the Met believe the Skripals were victims of a bungled hit ordered by the Kremlin and carried out by two assassins who fled the UK the next day.

They are thought to be safely back in Russia under the protection of Vladimir Putin.

The suspects were identified through CCTV footage captured shortly after the attempted assassination and their flight records.

But certain security sources think it is pointless to identify the suspected hitmen as Putin will never allow them to be sent to Britain…

Continues:

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7180856...

By Alex Matthews

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