UK's Claims About Third Russian Involved in Skripal Case 'Another Lie', Foreign Intel Chief Says

Earlier this week, Scotland Yard announced that prosecutors had identified and indicted a third suspect in the case of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, who allegedly arrived in the United Kingdom under the alias Sergey Fedotov.

Russian Foreign Intelligence Service chief Sergei Naryshkin said on 23 September that Scotland Yard's statement about a third Russian citizen involved in the Skripal case is "another lie", adding that the new accusations are being used to divert attention away from NATO's "shameful" withdrawal from Afghanistan.

"In my opinion, this is an attempt to cover up or support previous lies with yet another lie. In addition, in light of the recent events in Afghanistan, this is probably an attempt to divert the public's attention from the shameful escape from Afghanistan, primarily by the troops of the US and its allies, including the United Kingdom, an attempt to distract attention from the fact that NATO is no longer able to maintain security", Naryshkin told reporters.

On 21 September, the UK Counter Terrorism Policing network announced that prosecutors had identified and indicted a third suspect in the Skripal poisoning case.

According to UK investigators, this is "GRU officer Denis Sergeev" who allegedly arrived in the UK as "Sergey Fedotov". Minister Counselor of the Russian Embassy in the UK Ivan Volodin was summoned to the Foreign Office in connection with the indictment of the third person involved in the case. Following the meeting, the Russian Embassy in the UK issued a statement, saying it expressed its categorical rejection of the methods used by British police in establishing the facts in the Skripal poisoning case.

The embassy called attempts to use data on the entry and exit of a certain person into the UK as evidence of involvement in the poisoning of the Skripals ridiculous.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova noted earlier this week that London refuses to investigate the Skripal case jointly with Russia, despite Moscow's calls to do so. She also accused the UK of using the case to put pressure on Moscow, further stirring up Russophobia.

In March 2018, former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia fell seriously ill in Salisbury, UK. According to a subsequent investigation, they were reportedly poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok, and London claimed the attack had been carried out by two Russian intelligence officers at the behest of the Kremlin. Moscow categorically denied the accusations and called the evidence presented by the UK authorities "lies".

FILE - In this Feb. 27, 2018 file grab taken from CCTV video provided by ITN, former spy Sergei Skripal shops at a store in Salisbury, England

© AP Photo

The Kremlin accused Britain of anti-Russian hysteria and said London had refused to provide Moscow with samples of the nerve agent that was allegedly used as well as access to Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. The Russian Foreign Ministry accused the UK of fabricating evidence and emphasised that neither Soviet nor Russian scientists had ever worked on the nerve agent Novichok.