Another Russian poisoned in the UK ...

[Drummond]

This is an ongoing story ... however ... it seemingly has echoes of the Litvinenko poisoning, widely attributed to be a result of direction given by Putin at the time.

Reminders of the Litvinenko case ...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics...in-90-seconds/

Nine years after former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned in a plush London hotel in what has been described as Russian"state-sponsored nuclear terrorism", a public inquiry into his death finally begins in London next week.

Kremlin-critic Litvinenko, who had been granted British citizenship, died after drinking tea poisoned with a rare radioactive isotope in November 2006 and from his deathbed he accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering his murder.

Russia has always rejected the claim, but British authorities say there is evidence to charge two ex-KGB agents with murder. The judge who will oversee the inquiry has already cited a "prima facie case" indicating Russian involvement.

Next Tuesday, after almost a decade of battling for answers, Litvinenko's wife Marina believes the truth will finally come out when the inquiry gets under way.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/alexander-l...an-spy-1539094

Now, to this latest incident.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-43295134

A man who is critically ill after being exposed to an unknown substance in Wiltshire is a Russian national convicted of spying for Britain, the BBC understands.

Sergei Skripal, 66, was granted refuge in the UK following a "spy swap" between the US and Russia in 2010.

He and a woman, 33, were found unconscious on a bench at a shopping centre in Salisbury on Sunday.

Zizzi restaurant in Salisbury has been closed by police "as a precaution".

The substance has not been identified, but Public Health England said there was no known risk to the public's health.

Wiltshire Police are investigating whether a crime has been committed. They said the pair had no visible injuries but had been found unconscious at the Maltings shopping centre.

They have declared a "major incident" and multiple agencies are investigating. They said it had not been declared as a counter-terrorism incident, but they were keeping an "open mind".

Col Skripal, who is a retired Russian military intelligence officer, was jailed for 13 years by Russia in 2006 for spying for Britain.

I think this story is worth keeping an eye on. It IS still a developing story. If nothing else, confirmation of what's feared to be true will prove that Russia's predisposition to murdering Russians who act against that country's tyranny has not changed.

[I look forward to seeing @Balu do his utmost to sanitise his country's reputation, in the wake of reports such as these .... maybe he'll even offer a defence .. ?]

[Gunny]

Dang. Sounds like and Alistair MacLean novel

[Drummond]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-43297638

The woman found slumped on a shopping centre bench alongside a former Russian agent convicted of spying for Britain is his daughter, it has emerged.

Yulia Skripal, in her 30s, and father Sergei, 66, are critically ill in hospital after being found unconscious in Salisbury, Wiltshire, on Sunday.

UK police are trying to find out what "unknown substance" harmed the pair.

A number of emergency services workers were assessed immediately after the incident - and one remains in hospital.

Russia insists it has "no information" on what could have led to the incident, but says it is open to co-operate in the police investigation if requested.

Former agent Mr Skripal, whose wife, son and older brother have all died in the past two years, was granted refuge in the UK following a "spy swap" in 2010

No comment, as yet, from @Balu .. ?

[Gunny]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-43297638



No comment, as yet, from @Balu .. ?

Coincidence?

What gets me about these suddenly wannabe powerful and sneaky folk is they are operating right out of the 1950s Cold War espionage manual. You'd tink in 70 years they'd come up with something a little more clever.

What I think is they just don't give a damn. Who's going to do anything to them even when caught? No one will even come right out and accuse them without direct evidence, While a firm believer in the rule of evidence, you can nly rutn so much of a blind eye to something that look, walks, and quacks like a duck.

[Balu]

Moscow demands explanation from UK Foreign Office about ex-colonel’s hospitalization

Russian Politics & Diplomacy
March 06, 15:45 UTC+3
The embassy stressed that the incident involving Skripal and his female companion raises serious concerns



Sergei Skripal

© Moscow District Military Court/TASS

LONDON, March 6. /TASS/. The Russian Embassy has asked the UK Foreign Office to provide explanations about the poisoning of former Russian military intelligence (GRU) Colonel Sergey Skripal and his female companion in Salisbury, the embassy’s spokesman told TASS.
"The British authorities and law enforcement agencies must intervene immediately and inform the embassy and the British public about the real state of affairs in order to put an end to the demonization of Russia. In light of that, the embassy asked for relevant explanations from the UK Foreign Office," the spokesman stated.
Read also

Kremlin: No information about reasons behind incident involving ex-intelligence officer

The embassy stressed that the incident involving Skripal and his female companion raises serious concerns. "To date, the embassy has no official information about the incident from either the police or other British authorities. The UK Foreign Office has not made any statements on the matter as well. However, the situation in the media space is rapidly morphing into a new round of the anti-Russia crusade, which is underway in Britain. Readers are presented with various theories, which boil down to ways of demonizing Russia," the representative said.
"Although the British law enforcement agencies did not make any substantive statements about the circumstances surrounding the incident, one could get an impression from media reports that the issue at hand is apparently a well-planned action by Russia’s intelligence services, which is totally untrue," he added.

The Salisbury incident

On March 5, UK media reported an incident involving former Russian military intelligence (GRU) Colonel Sergei Skripal, 66, and a female companion identified by some media outlets as his 33-year-old daughter, who had reportedly been poisoned by an unknown substance. According to the local police, they were found unconscious on a shopping mall bench in Salisbury on Sunday.
In 2004, Russia’s Federal Security Service (the FSB) arrested Skripal and later on, he was sentenced to 13 years in prison for high treason. Six years later, the former colonel was handed over to the US as part of a swap deal involving espionage suspects.
Earlier on Tuesday, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Kremlin had no information on what the incident could be related to. According to the spokesman, Russia has received no requests for assistance in investigating that incident. However, Moscow is always open to cooperation.

More:
http://tass.com/politics/992977

[Balu]

Gary Powers: The U-2 spy pilot the US did not love

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35064221

...He took a job as a pilot for a television news station, and died in 1977 - his helicopter crashed as he was returning to base after covering brush fires in Santa Barbara County. ... (surely KGB)

[Gunny]

Gary Powers: The U-2 spy pilot the US did not love

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35064221

...He took a job as a pilot for a television news station, and died in 1977 - his helicopter crashed as he was returning to base after covering brush fires in Santa Barbara County. ... (surely KGB)

This has to be THE most obvious and lame attempt at deflection I've seen. Close, anyway. What does Gary Powers have to do with commies running around playing KGB in today's world?

Y'all didn't get the memo? Cold War has been over since the 1980s and that Spy vs Spy shit needs to stay in MAD magazine where it belongs. The USSR and NKVD/KGB are gone with it.

[Drummond]

This has to be THE most obvious and lame attempt at deflection I've seen. Close, anyway. What does Gary Powers have to do with commies running around playing KGB in today's world?

Y'all didn't get the memo? Cold War has been over since the 1980s and that Spy vs Spy shit needs to stay in MAD magazine where it belongs. The USSR and NKVD/KGB are gone with it.

Poor Balu ... there's evident propagandist desperation at work here; having to go all the way back to the Gary Powers issue, to find any sense of self-justification ?

Markov. Litvinenko. Now, this. The Russian Embassy wants the UK to account for Russia's actions ??

How about ... Churchill, accounting for Hitler's ... ?? That's how absurd that argument is.

Anyway .. back to the present ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-43303651

The UK would respond "robustly" to any evidence of Russian involvement in the collapse of former spy Sergei Skripal, Boris Johnson has said.

Mr Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, are critically ill in hospital after being found unconscious in Salisbury, Wiltshire.

The foreign secretary said he was not pointing fingers at this stage, but described Russia as "a malign and disruptive force".

Mr Skripal's relatives have told the BBC Russian Service that the former spy believed the Russian special services might come after him at any time.

His wife, elder brother and his son have died in the past two years, some in mysterious circumstances, the family believe.

[Drummond]

Moscow demands explanation from UK Foreign Office about ex-colonel’s hospitalization

Russian Politics & Diplomacy
March 06, 15:45 UTC+3
The embassy stressed that the incident involving Skripal and his female companion raises serious concerns



Sergei Skripal

© Moscow District Military Court/TASS

LONDON, March 6. /TASS/. The Russian Embassy has asked the UK Foreign Office to provide explanations about the poisoning of former Russian military intelligence (GRU) Colonel Sergey Skripal and his female companion in Salisbury, the embassy’s spokesman told TASS.
"The British authorities and law enforcement agencies must intervene immediately and inform the embassy and the British public about the real state of affairs in order to put an end to the demonization of Russia. In light of that, the embassy asked for relevant explanations from the UK Foreign Office," the spokesman stated.
Read also

Kremlin: No information about reasons behind incident involving ex-intelligence officer

The embassy stressed that the incident involving Skripal and his female companion raises serious concerns. "To date, the embassy has no official information about the incident from either the police or other British authorities. The UK Foreign Office has not made any statements on the matter as well. However, the situation in the media space is rapidly morphing into a new round of the anti-Russia crusade, which is underway in Britain. Readers are presented with various theories, which boil down to ways of demonizing Russia," the representative said.
"Although the British law enforcement agencies did not make any substantive statements about the circumstances surrounding the incident, one could get an impression from media reports that the issue at hand is apparently a well-planned action by Russia’s intelligence services, which is totally untrue," he added.

The Salisbury incident

On March 5, UK media reported an incident involving former Russian military intelligence (GRU) Colonel Sergei Skripal, 66, and a female companion identified by some media outlets as his 33-year-old daughter, who had reportedly been poisoned by an unknown substance. According to the local police, they were found unconscious on a shopping mall bench in Salisbury on Sunday.
In 2004, Russia’s Federal Security Service (the FSB) arrested Skripal and later on, he was sentenced to 13 years in prison for high treason. Six years later, the former colonel was handed over to the US as part of a swap deal involving espionage suspects.
Earlier on Tuesday, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Kremlin had no information on what the incident could be related to. According to the spokesman, Russia has received no requests for assistance in investigating that incident. However, Moscow is always open to cooperation.

More:
http://tass.com/politics/992977

So, your Russian Embassy wants an explanation from us ? Really ?

They want to be told what they probably are very well aware of ??

OK .. @Balu .... here's some news.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-43323847

A nerve agent was used to try to murder a former Russian spy and his daughter, police have said.

Sergei and Yulia Skripal were found unconscious in Salisbury on Sunday afternoon and remain critically ill.

A police officer who was the first to attend the scene is now in a serious condition in hospital, Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said.

Nerve agents are highly toxic chemicals that stop the nervous system working and shut down bodily functions.

They normally enter the body through the mouth or nose, but can also be absorbed through the eyes or skin.

Mr Rowley, head of Counter Terrorism Policing, said government scientists had identified the agent used, but would not make that information public at this stage.

"This is being treated as a major incident involving attempted murder, by administration of a nerve agent," he said.

"Having established that a nerve agent is the cause of the symptoms... I can also confirm that we believe that the two people who became unwell were targeted specifically."

He said there was no evidence of a widespread health risk to the public.

Two other police officers who attended the scene were treated in hospital for minor symptoms, before they were given the all clear. It is understood their symptoms included itchy eyes and wheezing.

The announcement by the police that Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia are the victims of an attack in which a nerve agent was used makes the parallel with the poisoning of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006 even stronger.

Like the radioactive polonium used to kill Litvinenko, a nerve agent is not normally something criminal gangs or terrorist groups can make.

Instead, it is usually manufactured by specialist laboratories under the control of governments - and that inevitably means suspicion will now be very much focused on Russia.

Balu is invited to offer a comment. Hopefully it'll not be an 'this is all propagandist lies from the West' ..... I prefer an honest comment.

[Gunny]

Moscow demands, huh? Let me think on that a minute .....

[Black Diamond]

Moscow demands, huh? Let me think on that a minute .....

Could easily be Moscow Germania.

[mundame]

There is no safe refuge for spies against Russia, is the message. Nowhere.

[Drummond]

There is no safe refuge for spies against Russia, is the message. Nowhere.

... yes. I'm sure that Putin is sending his opponents a message -- oppose me, and be forever in fear for your safety.

It's the mentality of a tyrant. Or, a gangster (if not both). NOT one of a respectable, worthwhile, trustworthy, major player on the world scene !!

I've yet to see @Balu's reaction regarding probable Russian culpability.

We're told that the nerve agent used was a 'rare' one, whatever that precisely means. Doubtless that fact will help us be sure about its origin. One thing's for sure .. ONLY a State power - such as Russia - could've manufactured this agent.

I'm sure we'll know more of a conclusive nature in the next day or 2 ...

[mundame]

... yes. I'm sure that Putin is sending his opponents a message -- oppose me, and be forever in fear for your safety.

It's the mentality of a tyrant. Or, a gangster (if not both). NOT one of a respectable, worthwhile, trustworthy, major player on the world scene !!

I've yet to see @Balu's reaction regarding probable Russian culpability.

We're told that the nerve agent used was a 'rare' one, whatever that precisely means. Doubtless that fact will help us be sure about its origin. One thing's for sure .. ONLY a State power - such as Russia - could've manufactured this agent.

I'm sure we'll know more of a conclusive nature in the next day or 2 ...

I make a point of not reading Russian propaganda trolls. Been there, done that, no more.

I have a weird new point of view about this kind of issue: I think it's effective, a lot more effective than anything the West does these days about crime and enemies. Although as they made a spies trade, killing all the spies against Russia in England would seem to mitigate against making any future trades, you would think. I can't see why Britain would want to bother doing that again, it just pollutes whole restaurants with exotic nerve gases or highly radioactive poisons. And makes Britain look weak.

But killing criminals or otherwise punishing them severely has not only a deterrent effect against crime but also gets rid of the criminals, which I think is actually what is wanted most. The whole West, America and Europe, is now completely unable to stop anyone from doing anything: we just pamper them and give them lots of attention the worse their crimes are. If they come in illegally hundreds on a rubber raft, the EU rushes out to rescue them, patrols to search and find such people to bring in. If it were me running the zoo, all that would come to a screeching halt, so I admire Putin's -------firm-------- approach to enemies.

[Drummond]

I make a point of not reading Russian propaganda trolls. Been there, done that, no more.

I have a weird new point of view about this kind of issue: I think it's effective, a lot more effective than anything the West does these days about crime and enemies. Although as they made a spies trade, killing all the spies against Russia in England would seem to mitigate against making any future trades, you would think. I can't see why Britain would want to bother doing that again, it just pollutes whole restaurants with exotic nerve gases or highly radioactive poisons. And makes Britain look weak.

But killing criminals or otherwise punishing them severely has not only a deterrent effect against crime but also gets rid of the criminals, which I think is actually what is wanted most. The whole West, America and Europe, is now completely unable to stop anyone from doing anything: we just pamper them and give them lots of attention the worse their crimes are. If they come in illegally hundreds on a rubber raft, the EU rushes out to rescue them, patrols to search and find such people to bring in. If it were me running the zoo, all that would come to a screeching halt, so I admire Putin's -------firm-------- approach to enemies.

Certainly in the UK, at least, we are WAY too soft on criminals. Our laws are weak, penalties likewise.

But Putin's approach is the polar opposite, and in being that way, means that actions are taken which fall outside of any legal process. In which case ... why bother with laws, at all ? Where does criminality fail, and decent, civilised values, take over ? Any agency flouting legal process puts itself outside of the law. If that could be COMMENDED, from any standpoint at all, then the rule of law loses meaning. Goodbye civilisation -- hello savagery and a thoroughly regressive existence.

Putin acts like a gangster. That goes too far. He - as a leader, and especially a powerful player on the world stage - either stands for decent, civilised values, OR, what GOOD is he ??

I do not admire Putin's approach. Certainly not ! In fact, it should worry the hell out of us all. Who's to say how far he'd take it ? He's unconstrained by values or conduct I would call civilised ... his is most definitely a 'might is right' approach.

Others, too, have taken that line.

Stalin.

Hitler.

Pol Pot ....

... etc .......

'Admirable' political figures, these ? I really think -- NOT .....