Unanswered Questions About The Poisoning of Sergei Skripal

As asked by David Bond in that noted nest of, oh, whatever the hell the Establishment's enemy is supposed to be, the Financial Times: 

Two weeks after the Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned by a military-grade nerve agent in Salisbury, fundamental questions about the attack remain unanswered. 

Who carried out the attack on the Skripals? 

Within three days of the attack on March 4, the Ministry of Defence’s Porton Down laboratory said a nerve agent had been used. On March 12, Prime Minister Theresa May said it was novichok, a poison developed in the former Soviet Union in the late 1970s and ’80s. But while investigators say it is “highly likely” that the weapon originated in Russia, nothing has been revealed about how the poison was administered and who might have done it. 

A team of 250 counter-terrorism officers has so far recovered 762 pieces of evidence, spoken to 400 witnesses and trawled through 4,000 hours of CCTV footage. Clips of Mr Skripal’s car driving through Salisbury have been released, but no pictures of any individuals that are being sought. A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said nothing should be read into this and that no information would be released unless it helps the “highly complex” inquiry. 

Ken Macdonald, the UK director of public prosecutions at the time of Alexander Litvinenko’s poisoning in 2006, said: “It would be harsh to be overly critical — we don’t know what’s going on. There may be good reasons for the police to keep their cards close to their chest.” Lord Macdonald added: “But in an investigation like this, two weeks is a long time. You would really hope to know quite a lot.” 

Where were the Skripals poisoned? 

In the early days of the inquiry, the focus was on the Bishop’s Mill pub where the Skripals had a drink shortly after 1.40pm before moving to the Zizzi restaurant at around 2.20pm. As counter-terror police took charge of the investigation, greater attention was paid to Mr Skripal’s house. There was speculation that Yulia Skripal, who arrived at Heathrow airport on a flight from Moscow at around 2.40pm on Saturday, March 3, may have carried the poison with her. 

On March 9, as the UK’s armed forces were called in to help gather evidence and decontaminate areas that the Skripals visited in Salisbury, investigators wearing luminous hazmat suits cordoned off the grave of Mr Skripal’s wife Ludmilla and a memorial to their son Alexander at a nearby cemetery. That prompted speculation that the novichok could have been secreted on an object or bunch of flowers left by the Skripals at the cemetery. 

Why are investigators focused on Mr Skripal’s car? 

Since the middle of last week, Mr Skripal’s burgundy BMW has become another focus of the investigation. Members of the military were photographed loading the car into a metal cargo container and taking it away from a recovery firm called Ashley Wood on the Churchfields industrial estate in Salisbury. Theories have since emerged to suggest that the door handle could have been smeared with the poison, or it could have been distributed through the car’s air vents. 

Police are refusing to comment but on March 13, investigators appealed to speak to anyone who had seen the car between 1pm and 1.45pm, when it is believed to have been parked in the upper level of a Sainsbury’s car park at the Maltings shopping centre.

Then last Friday the Met made a new appeal for help, saying they believed Mr Skripal had been driving in the London Road, Churchill Way North and Wilton Road areas at around 9.15am before driving back towards the city centre at 1.30pm. This suggests the Skripals may have headed out of Salisbury on Sunday morning and that police are keen to know what happened in those hours before they fell ill. 

What are the security services focused on? 

At the same time as the police investigation, MI5 has been looking at people known to the security services, particularly known Russian spies, seeking out any irregularities in movement or behaviour in recent weeks. Before last week’s expulsion of undeclared intelligence agents by Prime Minister Theresa May, the number of Russian intelligence agents in the UK was at the same levels as during the cold war. 

The security services are also be trawling bulk communications data provided by the digital-spying agency GCHQ and other records such as passenger lists to see if there are any pointers as to who might have carried out the attack. One former security chief said the intelligence services would be looking to see if there was any digital footprint that might provide leads on why Mr Skripal became a target. 

Was the public put at risk?

Health officials said on March 8 that 21 people had initially been treated for possible exposure to the nerve agent. By the end of last week, the officials said they had contacted 131 people who might have come into contact with the substance.

But only three people remain in a serious or critical condition; the Skripals and Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, who was one of the first to attend to the Russian and his daughter. DS Bailey is also known to have gone to Mr Skripal’s house, suggesting he may have been exposed to the poison there.

Two other officers, PC Alex Way and PC Alex Collins, also attended to the Skripals on the bench at the Maltings but do not appear to have had any health issues. Public Health England insisted the “immediate risk to those affected is extremely low”.