Poisoning of Sergei Skripal

Who is Sergei Skripal?

 * Wikipedia: Sergei Skripal (After arrest in 2006, after spy exchange in 2010)
 * Salisbury, scratchcards and sausage: the quiet life of Sergei Skripal - The Guardian, March 6, 2018
 * ''Quite why the Skripals arrived in Salisbury is not clear. It may be that he liked the idea of the quiet country life. But Salisbury and the surrounding areas are very much army territory and that may have helped him feel more secure.
 * SPY GAMES Russian spy Sergei Skripal was MI6 double agent codenamed ‘Forthwith’ who sold Moscow’s secrets for years - The Sun, March 10, 2018

Connection to Pablo Miller and Christopher Steele

 * A hundred grand and hundreds of betrayed agents What was former GRU Colonel Sergey Skripal's treason against Russia? - Meduza, March 6, 2018
 * Police officer in hospital after Russian spy poison plot is named - Daily Mail, March 8, 2018
 * ''Was poisoning in retaliation to Trump 'dirty dossier'? Kremlin double agent 'was close to consultant employed by former MI6 spy Christopher Steele'
 * Poisoned Russian spy Sergei Skripal was close to consultant who was linked to the Trump dossier - The Telegraph, March 7, 2018 (mirror)
 * ''The Telegraph understands that Col Skripal moved to Salisbury in 2010 in a spy swap and became close to a security consultant employed by Christopher Steele, who compiled the Trump dossier. The British security consultant, according to a LinkedIn social network account that was removed from the internet in the past few days, is also based in Salisbury. On the same LinkedIn account, the man listed consultancy work with Orbis Business Intelligence, according to reports. Orbis is run by Mr Steele, a former MI6 agent, who compiled the notorious dossier on President Trump that detailed his allegedly corrupt dealings with Vladimir Putin.
 * Poisoned Russian Spy Linked To Christopher Steele - ZeroHedge, March 9, 2018
 * ''If, as The Telegraph posits, Skripal assisted Steele in compiling the dossier - which notably relies on senior Russian officials, despite Steele never having traveled to Moscow - according to testimony by Glenn Simpson of Fusion GPS, it could explain the motive behind the assassination attempt in Salisbury town centre.
 * A LinkedIn bio reportedly connects Sergei Skripal, Donald Trump and Christopher Steele - Tim Fernholz, Quartz, March 8, 2018
 * What You Are NOT being Told About Russian Spy Sergei Skripal - TruePublica, March 8, 2018
 * Hospitalized Russian spy linked to Russia-UK spy wars - CNN, March 9, 2018
 * ''What connects Salisbury to the spy wars of the mid-2000s? A man named Pablo Miller also has an address in Salisbury, according to his LinkedIn account.

'Regularly meeting officers at the Russian Embassy'?

 * Vitaly Morozov, who knows Skripal', tells that Skripal' regularly met with officers at the Russian Embassy, finds it very strange; video -MSN, March 8, 2018; text-Mirror, March 7, 2018
 * “If you have a military intelligence officer working in the Russian diplomatic service, living after retirement in the UK, working in cyber-security and every month going to the embassy to meet military intelligence officers - for me being political refugee, it is either a certain danger or frankly speaking, I thought that this contact might not be very good for me because it can bring some questions from British officials.” (Noted: detail on meeting officers is unusual and outside a normal conversation; Morozov does not explain how this detail came about; if Skripal' volunteered to provide this detail, it would be quite natural to wish to stay away from such person).
 * Fellow Russian exile claims poisoned spy Sergei Skripal was NOT retired and was still working with military intelligence - Mirror, March 7, 2018
 * The Russian Embassy told the programme: “We are not aware of any contacts between Sergei Skripal and any of the Embassy staff. "As we have previously said, Mr Skripal was not on the consular register.” (Noted: whether or not he was on register is irrelevant).
 * Spook Soup - Ronald Thomas West, March 10, 2018

The attack

 * Sergei Skripal & daughter were exposed to nerve agent, police confirm - RT, March 7, 2018 (+ video)
 * Russian spy may have been poisoned at home, police believe, as military deployed to Salisbury - The Telegraph, March 9, 2018
 * Mystery of blonde woman with red handbag seen on CCTV 20 minutes before Russian double agent and daughter poisoned - Mirror, March 12, 2018

Witnesses

 * A man describes condition of the victims when he found them -video -Guardian News, March 8, 2018
 * Sergei Skripal’s doctor tells of fight to keep poisoned Russian spy’s daughter Yulia alive as nerve agent took hold - The Sun, March 9, 2018
 * Includes BBC video of witness.
 * George Galloway Delivers Unforgettable Opener On Sergei Skripal Poisoning - talkRADIO, March 9, 2018
 * ''“Only someone with access to Colonel Skripal's home could have poisoned the people in the house"

Fentanyl
Early reports that made it to CNN spoke of the opioid Fentanyl as a cause of poisoning. These reports go back to the Salisbury Journal which has reported at least four times that they were told by "emergency services" that this drug could have been involved. A month earlier, the Journal reported about a prominent case of someone selling the substance on the "darkweb" and was send to prison for eight years over it.

Sarin?

 * Ultra-rare nerve agent used to poison spy ‘points finger at Putin’, say spooks - The Sun, March 7, 2018
 * ''Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, ex- commander of the Army’s chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear regiment, said: “All the circumstances point in the direction of sarin.
 * ''It comes as a policeman who raced to help stricken ex-spy Sergei Skripal and daughter Yulia is in a coma. It is feared he either breathed in the toxic nerve agent used to poison the pair or brushed against it on their skin or clothing. The officer was the first to respond to calls for help after passers-by spotted Skripal, 66, and Yulia, 33, slumped on a bench in Salisbury, Wilts.
 * ''The UK’s senior anti-terror police chief yesterday said tests revealed a nerve agent had been used to poison the pair, who are also in comas.
 * Coma, unclear, may stand for medically induced coma, e.g. when somebody is sedated and placed on a ventilator machine in intensive care unit (and The Sun is a tabloid...)--Resup (talk) 14:11, 8 March 2018 (UTC)
 * Russian spy: Attack was 'brazen and reckless', says Amber Rudd - BBC, March 8, 2018
 * ''The source familiar with the investigation told the BBC it was likely to be rarer than the Sarin gas thought to have been used in Syria and in an attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995. And it was said not to be VX - the nerve agent used to kill the half brother of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Malaysia last year.
 * Russia's Lab X: poison factory that helped silence Soviets' critics - Luke Harding, The Guardian, March 9, 2018
 * Poisoned Russian spy Sergei Skripal’s daughter Yulia could have unwittingly released nerve agent after opening gift ‘from friends’ - The Sun, March 8, 2018
 * WAS SPY GIVEN RAT POISON? Russian spy cops probe Thallium - incredibly rare rat poison - The Sun, March 9, 2018

'Novichok'

 * Нервно-паралитические отравляющие вещества - Russian Wikipedia
 * According to unconfirmed officially sources (Lev Fyodorov, Vil Mirzayanov) in the 1970s the work on the creation of a series of third generation nerve agents under the general designation "Novice" began in the USSR. According to Mirzayanov, this work  continued, at least until the 90-s inclusive. There is no reliable information on the structure and properties of these substances.
 * Novichok agent - Wikipedia
 * ''One of the key manufacturing sites was the Soviet State Scientific Research Institute for Organic Chemistry and Technology (GosNIIOKhT) in Nukus, Uzbekistan. Small, experimental batches of the weapons may have been tested on the nearby Ustyurt plateau. It may also have been tested in a research centre in Krasnoarmeysk near Moscow. Since its independence in 1991, Uzbekistan has been working with the government of the United States to dismantle and decontaminate the sites where the Novichok agents and other chemical weapons were tested and developed.

Investigation

 * Marina Litvinenko: 'Lessons haven't been learned'(video)-BBC, March 11, 2018
 * + calls for a proper investigation, not political Russia-bashing

Porton Down

 * ''See also British involvement in Syria


 * Charles Shoebridge @ShoebridgeC on Twitter, March 8, 2018
 * ''Interestingly, just 10km from the Salisbury site of the now confirmed nerve agent attack on mi6 agent #Skripal is #PortonDown, long the home of the UK’s chemical weapons program, and where the BBC recently confirmed that nerve agents are still being made
 * Inside Britain's secret weapons research facility - Michael Mosley, BBC, June 28, 2016
 * The Elephant In The Room - Craig Murray, March 7, 2018

Putin did it!

 * Sergei Skripal: does revenge for treason lie behind harm to ex-spy? - Luke Harding, The Guardian, March 6, 2018
 * Putin will have broken a huge rule of the spy game if he was behind the poisoning of ex-agent Sergei Skripal - Business Insider, March 8, 2018
 * Theresa May set to blame Russia for Salisbury chemical attack on former spy as spooks confirm nerve agent poisoning - The Sun, March 11, 2018

... not

 * Луговой прокомментировал сообщения об отравлении Скрипаля в Великобритании (Lugovoy commented on reports about the poisoning of Scripal in the UK)-Interfax, March 6, 2018. Not the most favorite source in the world but similar to Business Insider, above
 * ''There are certain unwritten rules between the special services, mostly observed. Skripal was convicted of state treason, but in 2010 he was pardoned by the Russian president and extradited to Britain in exchange for our allegedly exposed agents. So, there were corresponding agreements between the special services. Pursue the already pardoned - absurdity
 * A Russian expat Valery Morozov (on a video embedded in this BBC  report, 9 March, 2018) believes that those were 'criminals' targeting both Skripal' and Putin; '...there is a rule in modern Russia, the Putin's Russia, you can have any conflict, (but) children are not involved...'(another unwritten rule broken here);... 'they know that whatever happens to any Russian dissident or migrant everybody will blame Putin, and this provides a cover to those criminals'. More from Morozov 1, 2.
 * 'Special opinion' with Leonid Radzikhvsky -Echo Moskvy, March 9, 2018.
 * Radzhikovsky argues that neither Russian state, nor Russian opponents of it or roque elements are behind the poisoning. For the Russian state, low threat level (not done earlier e.g. when he was in prison, allowing to leave, pardon issued by Putin); wrong timing (prior to elections, football championship, when projecting positive image is much more important than say revenge); involving/endangering daughter, which goes against unwritten rules, although she was just about to leave. As for opposition or rogue elements, nobody of right calibre, with enough motivation and accomplishment and resources to do it; the last suitable person like that was Boris Berezovky. Radzhkovsky is a liberal journalist, and a PhD in psychology.
 * Sergei Skripal: Former double agent may have been poisoned with nerve agent over 'freelance' spying, sources say - The Independent, March 9, 2018
 * ''The Russian double agent poisoned in Salisbury may have become a target after using his contacts in the intelligence community to work for private security firms, investigators believe. Sergei Skripal could have come to the attention of certain people in Russia by attempting to “freelance” for companies run by former MI5, MI6 and GCHQ spies, security sources say.

Attack Russia now!

 * UK 'could send more troops and jets to Russia's border' after ex-spy poisoned - Mirror, March 9, 2018
 * Theresa May 'to announce on Monday' what sanctions she will take against Russia - The Telegraph, March 9, 2018
 * ''The Prime Minister is expecting to receive confirmation from the Ministry of Defence’s Porton Down laboratory over the weekend that Russia was, beyond reasonable doubt, the source of the nerve agent used in the attempted murder of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.
 * ''...last Sunday’s attack, which also left Det Serg Nick Bailey in hospital after he visited Mr Skripal’s house.
 * Noted: (1) for the 'beyond doubt', they need to have a matching sample's 'signature' from a Russian stockpile, and that's not likely; (2) for 'expecting to receive', it needs to be received (draft form/summary/etc.) (3)the article is written by political editors, and placed in politics section--Resup (talk)19:46, 10 March 2018 (UTC)
 * Theresa May threatens military and economic retaliation against Russia if Vladimir Putin is proven to be behind poisoned spy attack - The Sun, March 10, 2018
 * ''Military scientists at Porton Down expect to be able to soon say beyond any doubt that the rare poison was devised in the SVR Russian foreign spy service’s notorious Yasenevo labs in Moscow.
 * ''One senior minister told The Sun: “We are in a new Cold War with Russia that is beginning to get hot. “This is all about debilitating the West, so we have to reverse the psychology and make Putin look weak.”
 * Noted: all info on Yasenevo is from Soviet era, with information leaked to the West following USSR collapse. Nobody has a real clue what's going on there now. How and why one can predict what a truly scientific investigation unbiased by politics will show, before it is completed? How can they determine it is Russian chemicals, and not say Ukrainian, Western, or Middle Eastern, without (most likely) having Russian and others' samples? Even if the report does show what's predicted, it should be open to scientific scrutiny (as opposed to politically driven propaganda in media, forcing hand of the government)--Resup (talk) 06:21, 11 March 2018 (UTC)
 * Australia, Poland and Japan could join England in World Cup boycott - Daily Mail, March 10, 2018
 * ''Mr Tugendhat said ministers should urge allies to join a coordinated boycott of the World Cup, as part of a wider package of reprisals against the Putin regime.
 * Мэй обвинила Россию в причастности к отравлению экс-полковника ГРУ Скрипаля и его дочери - TASS, March 12, 2018
 * "Today the Foreign Minister [of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson] called the Russian ambassador and demanded from him that Russia provide a full report and a full disclosure of the program of nerve agents "Novice"  (=???) to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, "said May," He also asked for an answer until the end of tomorrow. " 
 * Russian spy: Highly likely Moscow behind attack, says Theresa May - BBC, March 12, 2018
 * '' "Should there be no credible response, we will conclude that this action amounts to an unlawful use of force by the Russian state against the United Kingdom."
 * ''Mrs May told MPs the positive identification of this chemical agent (Novichok/Novice) was made by experts at the UK's Porton Down laboratory. She said Russia has previously produced the agent and would still be capable of doing so.
 * MPs call for Kremlin-funded Russia Today to be taken off air - Daily Mail, March 12, 2018
 * Tillerson: Ex-spy's poisoning 'clearly came from Russia - The Hill, March 12, 2018
 * ''“From Ukraine to Syria — and now the United Kingdom — Russia continues to be an irresponsible force of instability in the world, acting with open disregard for the sovereignty of other states and the life of their citizens,” Tillerson said.
 * Rex Tillerson says Russia is 'clearly' behind spy poisoning and 'must face serious consequences' - Evening Standard, March 12, 2018
 * Ex-spy Skripal poisoning 'clearly came from Russia' & 'will trigger response' – Tillerson - RT, March 12, 2018

Analysis

 * Who Are The Sloppy Assassins? - Ronald Thomas West, March 7, 2018
 * The Skripal Incident-Another Anti-Russian Provocation - Christopher Black, New Eastern Outlook, March 9, 2018
 * Poisioned British-Russian Double-Agent Has Links To Clinton Campaign - Moon of Alabama, March 8, 2018
 * ''If there is a connection between the dossier and Skripal, which seems very likely to me, then there are a number of people and organizations with potential motives to kill him. Lots of shady folks and officials on both sides of the Atlantic were involved in creating and running the anti-Trump/anti-Russia campaign. There are several investigations and some very dirty laundry might one day come to light. Removing Skripal while putting the blame on Russia looks like a convenient way to get rid of a potential witness.
 * “We hates Putin…we hates him forever…”: the Guardian’s fresh ravings on Russia reflects West’s tipping point into new levels of dangerous insanity - Catte, OffGuardian, March 10, 2018
 * ''Terrifying because it shows that zealotry and pure xenophobia are driving out every other consideration. These articles are barely coherent any more. They are clearly written by people who have lost even the ambition toward perspective. They are little more than distilled Hate. Hate for an individual, hate for a culture, hate for an entire nation, hate that doesn’t even try to pretend it has higher motives than hate itself any more.
 * MI5 Poisons Another Russian Asset to Smear Putin in Ongoing Propaganda War - Joe Quinn, Sott.net, March 6, 2018
 * Skripal's Poisoning - The West's Simple & Effective Way of Tainting Putin - Yulia Vityazeva, News Front via StalkerZone, March 9, 2018
 * Russian Spy Poison Attack: Is Nord Stream 2 the Bigger Target? - Finian Cunningham, Strategic Culture, March 10, 2018
 * ''If that stands up as a motive for the latest attempt to cleave EU-Russian relations, then our focus on the likely perpetrators shifts to the following: American state agents, possibly working with British and Eastern European accomplices, in trying to kill Sergei Skripal and his daughter, with the purpose of blackballing Moscow.
 * The Skripal Case: an open thread, Off Guardian, March 11, 2018
 * We are opening this thread as a place for posting links to aspects of the merging story. This is going to be particularly useful as the narrative develops and changes. Today’s headlines might slip down the Memory Hole tomorrow. So documenting them as they arise may be useful.
 * Theresa May Makes A "45 Minutes" Claim - Moon of Alabama, March 12, 2018
 * Skripal case: Theresa May now demands Russia prove itself innocent - Alexander Mercouris, The Duran, March 12, 2018
 * ''British government lacking evidence of Russian guilt reverses the burden of proof