They have a history of using poisons. Things are usually as simple as they seem. Russians announce on TV that traitors will be punished; double agent is poisoned with Russian nerve agent. Why do people look for complicated answers? It is possible that an enemy of Russia may have tried to implicate them, but there is no advantage to Britain to be involved and do it so carelessly that the public are at risk.
Yes let's see how many people we can poison in Salisbury and then save. A tad reckless I would suggest.
So looking at it from the other side, why would the Russians choose to poison someone less than 10 miles away from the only place in Britain likely to have an antidote? Are they cooperating in the trial as well?
I'm sure you are joking. If not, don't forget we have no idea what permanent damage, if any, has been done to any of them.
I am going to assume you choose to believe everything Boris Johnson and Theresa May say, despite there not actually being any supporting evidence.
Suits them to gang up against Putin. Look, I dislike the guy as much as anyone, and in many ways I’d love to see him taken down a peg or 3 on the international stage. It’s just that there really isn’t any evidence that (a) it was Novichok used in Salisbury, or (b) it was delivered by Russian against. Where are these agents, by the way? Were they among those expelled? Why weren’t they charged?
Just wanted to add......that they wish to share with the public. Please don’t tell me you believe the Russian side of things. They would not have mentioned Russia if they weren’t reasonably sure. Nor are they likely to part with any info that might jeopardise the intelligent network.
The public aren't privy to all the information that the various governments have. There's obviously not a lot I can say that will change your mind so I'll leave it there.
The chances of one of those that were expelled as being one or more of the perpetrators is very unlikely. They would have left the country within hours of any strike.
I accept we will probably never know what happened, I will say that the fingers were pointing at Russia as soon as it was known that it was Skripal and his daughter who were targeted, and I suppose that is natural, given the history of Russian agents and dissidents being bumped off. You and Fran, and Beddy, are making the mistake of thinking I’m defending Russia in this, which is way off the point. I just think the hypocrisy of Theresa May’s positiion is staggering, knowing that she is on to a winner in terms of finding a cause to help the Brexit negotiations go a bit smoother, but at the same time terrified to upset Putin too much in case he cuts off the gas supply.
I’m not 100% convinced it’s the Russians and people were probably too quick to act as though they were definitely responsible but it does seem to be the most likely explanation by far. I wouldn’t completely rule out the possibility that it’s the work of some sort of organised criminal group (I could imagine a former spy getting involved in some shady activities) but I find it difficult to believe the UK government would test a nerve agent in this way. As for why the Russians would do this, the theory I’ve heard that makes most sense is that Putin wanted to test where the UK stands in the world. Has the decision to leave the EU weakened our diplomatic position, how will Trump react etc
Oh come on Chilco your dislike of the polititions is surely clouding your judgement you are making a lot of judgements based on predujices. While I agree things may have been exaggerated but to say that any politician is using this as an excuse to ease Brexit is a little bit over the top surely? That’s like saying they staged this to increase their popularity. I distrust polititions as much as the next man but that surely is bit over the top.
