The woman found unconscious on a shopping center bench next to a Russian former double agent is his daughter, a source told CNN on Tuesday.
Sergei Skripal -- a 66-year-old former military official from Russia who was convicted of spying for the UK -- and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia, who was visiting him from Russia, are critically ill in a UK hospital after "suspected exposure to an unknown substance" Sunday.
British counter-terrorism police are investigating how the pair ended up slumped on a bench in the southern English city of Salisbury.
Sergei Skripal in pictured in a Moscow courtroom in 2006.
The incident has not been declared terrorism. But due to the unusual circumstances, the specialized counter-terrorism unit will lead the investigation, London's Metropolitan Police said in a statement Tuesday.
Skripal was previously convicted in Russia of spying for Britain before being granted refuge in the UK after a high-profile spy swap between the US and Russia in 2010.
A forensic tent stands over the bench were the pair were found unconscious on Sunday.
Salisbury, perhaps best known as the stopping-off point for tourists visiting nearby Stonehenge, has since become the unlikely center of an extensive police probe into the mysterious circumstances around how Skripal and his daughter fell ill.
The pair were found on a bench in an unremarkable outdoor shopping complex, surrounded by a handful of British chain eateries, including the Italian restaurant Zizzi, which was closed as part of the inquiry.
They did not have any visible injuries, according to police.
Sergei Skripal's daughter, Yulia.
Images taken outside the restaurant on Monday night showed investigators in anti-contamination suits searching the premises. Authorities have declined to name the substance to which the pair were exposed.
A small number of emergency services personnel were treated immediately after the incident, local police said in a statement Tuesday. One of them remains in the hospital.
Investigators covered with a forensic tent the park bench where Skripal and his daughter were found.
Salisbury resident Freya Church described seeing the pair on the bench appearing "out of it."
"She sort of leant in on him, it looked like she'd passed out maybe. He was doing some strange hand movements, looking up to the sky," Church told Reuters on Monday.
"I felt like I should step in but to be honest they looked so out of it that I thought that even if I did step in I wasn't sure how I would help. So yeah, I just left them, but it looked like they'd been taking something quite strong."
An officer stands outside the closed Zizzi restaurant Tuesday.
By Tuesday morning, the bench had been covered in a white forensic tent, a light drizzle of rain falling on reporters gathered at the scene.
The case has drawn comparisons to the poisoning of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, who died a slow death after drinking tea laced with highly radioactive polonium-210 in a Mayfair hotel in 2006.
A detailed UK inquiry later concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin probably approved the operation by Russian agents to kill Litvinenko. The Russian Foreign Ministry dismissed the UK investigation as politically motivated.
In a conference call with reporters Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the Skripal case, saying "we do not have any information" about the situation, and adding that he did not know whether Skripal still had Russian citizenship.
UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said Tuesday the Skripal case had "echoes" of what happened to Litvinenko.
While he stopped short of "pointing fingers" of responsibility, Johnson said the UK would act robustly if "evidence emerges of state responsibility," during a Parliament session. He then suggested that the UK's participation at the World Cup in Russia could potentially be affected.
"I think it will be very difficult to imagine that UK representation at that event could go ahead in the normal way, and we will certainly have to consider that," Johnson said.
A UK Foreign Office spokesperson later clarified those comments, stating that Johnson was referring specifically to the UK's diplomatic representation at the event, rather than the soccer team.
Speaking on Russian radio, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called Johnson's comments "wild."
Who is Sergei Skripal?
Skripal arrived in the UK as part of an elaborately choreographed spy swap conducted by the United States and Russia in which the two countries exchanged agents on chartered planes on the runway at an airport in Vienna, Austria.
Among the 10 so-called Russian "sleeper agents" deported by the US as part of the deal was Anna Chapman, who had previously lived in London.
Anna Chapman was among the 10 so-called Russian sleeper agents.
Skripal was one of four Russians who traveled in the opposite direction, after being pardoned by then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
According to previous reports by Russia's state news agency RIA Novosti, Skripal was convicted to 13 years imprisonment in 2006 for spying for the UK.
It quoted Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) as saying Skripal, a former Russian military intelligence colonel, was convicted for "treason in the form of espionage" and that he had been recruited by Britain's MI6 intelligence service.
The report said he had spied for Britain while serving as an intelligence officer during the 1990s and that he had continued to communicate with MI6 after his retirement in 1999.
Russian court officials said Skripal had received at least $100,000 for his collaboration with MI6, RIA Novosti reported.
Police officers stand outside Sergei Skripal's home in Salisbury.
According to the FSB, Skripal's "actions caused serious damage to the national defense and security." The intelligence service added that MI6 paid Skripal for the information in foreign currency, which was transferred monthly to his account in a Spanish bank.
Russian newspaper reports at the time of his conviction said that Skripal had shared information about dozens of his former colleagues operating undercover in Europe, in particular their secret meeting venues, addresses and passwords.
The FSB said that Skripal had admitted his guilt and gave truthful testimony about his activities, which the court had taken into consideration in sentencing him.
Skripal is believed to have lived in the UK since his release from Russian custody in 2010.
Skripal's daughter is believed to be one of the few members of his immediate family still alive, after his wife and son reportedly died in recent years.
Comments
Post a Comment