Former Russian double agent critically ill in Britain after exposure to unknown substance

A former Russian double agent convicted of treason in Moscow was critically ill in a British hospital on Tuesday after exposure to an unknown substance, with police saying it had to be “alive to the fact of state threats”.
In its first response, the Kremlin said it was ready to cooperate if Britain asked for help in its investigation of the “tragic situation”.

Sergei Skripal, once a colonel in Russia’s GRU military intelligence service, was given refuge in Britain after he was exchanged in 2010 for Russian spies caught in the West as part of a Cold War-style spy swap on the tarmac of Vienna airport. But the 66-year-old former spy and a 33-year-old woman who was known to him were found unconscious on a bench in a shopping centre on Sunday in the English city of Salisbury after exposure to what police said was an unknown substance. Both were critically ill in intensive care. While the British authorities said there was no known risk to the public, police sealed off the area where the former spy was found and a pizza restaurant called Zizzi in the centre of Salisbury. Some investigators wore yellow chemical suits.

British police did not release the …read more