Britain charges 2 Russians for poisoning ex-spy, daughter with nerve gas smuggled in perfume bottle

(Image credit: Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images)

published 5 September 2018

On Wednesday, British prosecutors charged two Russian men in absentia for the March 4 nerve gas attack on former Russia spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia. Sue Hemming, director of legal services at the Crown Prosecution Service, said there was ample evidence "to provide a realistic prospect of conviction" of the two men, Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, and a European arrest warrant has been issued, but "we will not be applying to Russia for the extradition of these men as the Russian constitution does not permit extradition of its own nationals."

Police said they believe Petrov and Boshirov smuggled the military-grade Novichok nerve agent into Britain in a counterfeit Nina Ricci perfume bottle designed to apply the poison to the front door of Skripal's house in Salisbury.

The bottle was found by a local man, Charlie Rowley, on June 27, and he was hospitalized and his girlfriend, Dawn Sturgess, died after being exposed to the nerve gas inside. Police are not ready to charge the two Russians with those later poisonings because they aren't sure yet where the bottle was between the Skripal poisoning and Rowley's discovery. Scotland Yard assistant commissioner Neil Badu called the poisoning "a sophisticated attack across borders" but wouldn't say if he believed the two men, who arrived in Britain on real Russian passports with probably fake names, worked for Russian security services.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.