Eye Spy - May 2018

10 EYE SPY INTELLIGENCE MAGAZINE 115 2018

concluded that it was highly likely that Russia
was responsible for this reckless act.”

A NETWORK OF SPIES

Speaking in Parliament, Prime Minister
Theresa May, armed with a plethora of
intelligence supplied by MI5, MI6 and the
Skripal police investigative team, spoke of
Russia’s spy network and intelligence
collection endeavours in the UK. She refer-
enced Litvinenko and 23 Russian diplomats
who were identified as undeclared intelligence
officers, before giving Moscow 24 hours to
provide an explanation of how Novichok was
used on the streets of Salisbury. “These [UK]

actions would fundamentally degrade Russian

Intelligence capability in the UK for years to

come,” she said. May also warned Moscow

not to attempt to rebuild its powerful spy

network in London.

The Russian Government refused the demand,

instead calling on Britain to hand over a

sample of the nerve agent and accusing it of

unacceptable “provocations.” This type of

rhetoric continues today.

VERBAL SUPPORT AND RESPONSE

US President Donald Trump, Prime Minister

Theresa May, French President Emmanuel

British specialist chemical experts (some military)

pictured visiting several sites in Salisbury

Macron, and German Chancellor Angela

Merkel issued a joint statement agreeing that

there was “no plausible alternative explana-

tion” than that Russia was to blame for the

attack. The leaders described the poisoning as

“the first offensive use of a nerve agent in

Yulia and her

father Sergei

Sergei Skripal was a

well known figure in

the city. The former

MI6 spy chose to live

in ‘plain sight’. He

believed he was safe

due to a secret ‘code

of conduct’ agent-

exchange agreement The Mill public house

The bench where the Skripals were found ill is

removed for testing