Eye Spy - May 2018

38 EYE SPY INTELLIGENCE MAGAZINE 115 2018

12 MARCH

Public Health England (PHE) advise anyone in
the area at the time of the attack that clothing
should be washed and personal items such as
cell phones wiped as a precaution. In London,
May tells the House of Commons the poison
used in the attack was a military-grade nerve
agent developed by Russia. She said it was
par t of a group of nerve agents known as
Novichoks.

13 MARCH

Police focus on the Skripals movement,
appealing for any witnesses who had seen the
Russians in their car between 1.00pm and
1.45pm on 4 March to come forward.

New Scotland Yard Counter Terrorism
Command (CTC) announce probe into the

“YOU CAN’T STOP US SPYING”

SVR DIRECTOR

MOSCOW: SVR Director Sergei

Naryshkin, 63, was asked if the expulsion

of so many of his officers working under-

cover at various Russian embassies, will

impact on his agency’s intelligence

collection capabilities in future months

and years. Mr Naryshkin responded:

“The SVR of Russia has a whole set of very

effective means for conducting intelli-

gence gathering in various conditions and

under any circumstances. This guarantees

the possibility of solving tasks assigned

to us by the President to protect the

national interests of Russia, our citizens

abroad, counter-terrorism work and other

areas within the competence of the

intelligence services.”

death of exiled anti-Putin opponent Nikolai

Glushkov in London.

At 6.00pm, the Russian Embassy issued a

number of scathing tweets which directly

threaten the ‘crooked’ UK with retaliation.

Moscow said it will take action if the British

Government continues to suggest it was

Russia involved in the poisoning of the former

spy. Seven more embassy tweets follow, one

states: ‘Russia will not co-operate with the UK

inquiry into how Mr Skripal and his daughter,

Yulia, were poisoned in Salisbury, until it has

been given a sample of the substance used’.

Another read: ‘Any threat to take ‘punitive’

measures against Russia will meet with a

response. The British side should be aware of

that’.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says

that Moscow is “not guilty of the poisoning”

and is “ready to cooperate with London.”

14 MARCH

London says “Moscow is culpable” and

announces it will expel 23 of the 59 Russian

diplomats present in the United Kingdom. It

also suspends high-level diplomatic contact

with Moscow. Russia’s Foreign Ministry

criticises London’s “choice for confrontation,”

adding that “retaliation will follow shortly.”

SVR Director Sergei Naryshkin. Most

of the spies asked to leave Britain

and elsewhere were from his agency

15 MARCH

As Prime Minister May visits Salisbury, the

UK, France, Germany and US release a joint

statement blaming Russia for the nerve agent

attack.

Lavrov’s deputy Sergei Ryabkov says

Moscow never had any programmes to

develop the Novichok nerve agent. This

caused UK Defence Secretary Gavin

Williamson to comment, perhaps inappropri-

ately: “Russia should

go away and shut

up.” Russian

Ministry of Defence

spokesman, Major

General Igor

Konashenko, said

that the “extreme

level of intellectual

importance” shown

by Williamson, “confirms only London’s

accusations amounted to nothing.”

The 29-member NATO alliance expresses

solidarity with Britain over what it calls the first

offensive use of a nerve agent on the military

alliance’s territory since World War II.

16 MARCH

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson

continues to insist it is “overwhelmingly likely

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey

Lavrov - “Moscow not guilty”

Igor Konashenko

Embassy of Russia, London