Russian spy probe involving Sergei Skripal, his daughter Yulia and her suitcase

POLICE investigating the attack on former Russian spy and his daughter who are fighting for their lives, have reportedly come up with a new theory about how they became infected with a military-grade nerve toxin.

Investigators believe poisoned former Russian agent Sergei Skripal was planted in his daughter’s suitcase before she left Moscow, The Telegraph newspaper reported, citing unidentified sources.

Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were found slumped unconscious on a bench outside a shopping centre in the genteel southern English city of Salisbury on March 4.

They have been in a critical condition in hospital ever since.

Yulia Skripal flew to London from Russia on March 3, according to counter-terrorism police.

British investigators are working on the theory that the toxin was impregnated in an item of clothing or cosmetics or in a gift that was opened in Skripal’s house in Salisbury, the Telegraph said, citing the unidentified sources.

“They are working on the theory that the toxin was impregnated in an item of clothing or cosmetics or else in a gift that was opened in his house in Salisbury, meaning Miss Skripal was deliberately targeted to get at her father,” the newspaper said.

The theory comes after a relative said yesterday that they believed Yulia was the ‘real’ target of the shocking attack.

Britain has said the toxin, which also poisoned a British police officer who attended the scene, was Novichok, a lethal nerve agent first developed by the Soviet military.

After the first known offensive use of such a weapon on European soil since World War II, Britain has pinned the blame on Moscow and given 23 Russians who it said were spies working under diplomatic cover at the London embassy a week to leave.

Britain, the United States, Germany and France jointly called on Russia on Thursday to explain how the toxin came to be used on British soil. Russia has denied any involvement and has accused London of whipping up anti-Russian hysteria.

In a joint statement, they demanded Moscow “address all questions” related to the attack against former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, which they said amounted to a “breach of international law”.

In her first visit to Salisbury, where she also met a police officer injured in the incident, British Prime Minister Theresa May said it was important to send a “united” response.

“This happened in the UK but it could have happened anywhere and we take a united stance against it,” she said.

US President Donald Trump said: “It certainly looks like the Russians were behind it. Something that should never, ever happen, and we’re taking it very seriously.”

RUSSIA’S AMBASSADOR TO AUSTRALIA WEIGHS IN
Russia’s ambassador to Canberra has insisted the Kremlin had no motivation to kill a former spy in the UK and suggested Britain might be involved. Grigory Logvinov believes a full investigation into the attempted assassination is needed before blame can be attributed.

“I’m afraid Russia would be the last country to have any motive,” Mr Logvinov told the ABC on Friday.

“But the other countries, they have much stronger motives, including Great Britain.”

Britain and its western allies are blaming Russia, but Mr Logvinov questioned what possible motive Moscow could have.

“This guy, he was arrested, he was sentenced, he served his term, he was pardoned and expelled from the country,” Mr Loginov said.

“What’s the use for Russia to assassinate him in this way, just on the eve of the presidential elections, and when the world soccer championship is approaching?” Earlier, Foreign Minister Julia Bishop argued Russia had “no plausible excuse” for the attempted assassination.

Ms Bishop said Russia was either behind a nerve-gas attack on a former spy in the UK, or the country had lost control of its chemical weapons supply. The foreign minister believes there are global security ramifications for the assassination attempt on Mr Skripal and his daughter. Australia has sent people to Moscow to follow up on the UK’s accusations that Russia is behind the attack.

“There seems to be no plausible excuse — either the Russian State was behind it or Russia has lost control of its chemical weapons stockpile,” Ms Bishop told the ABC.

“Either way Russia must answer these accusations.” Ms Bishop said Australia would work closely with the UK in the short-term, backing Britain’s decision to expel 23 Russian diplomats and cut off high-level contacts with Moscow.

Australia will continue ongoing sanctions, including targeted financial sanctions introduced after threats to the Ukraine in 2014 and trade sanctions and travel bans introduced in 2015.

“We keep our sanctions against Russia under constant review and will continue to work very closely with the United Kingdom and other like-minded partners as the UK’s investigation into this horrendous act continues,” Ms Bishop said. But Australia has no plans to introduce a Magnitsky Act, like those in the UK, United States and Canada, which allow sanctions against Russians connected to human rights violations.

Longer term, Ms Bishop believes Australia can play a role in a co-ordinated international campaign against chemical weapons.

RUSSIAN ELECTION WITH COLD WAR FEARS
May on Wednesday announced the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats and suspended high-level contacts, including announcing that British royals and ministers would boycott this summer’s football World Cup in Russia.

She warned more measures could follow, noting that the US-led NATO alliance and the UN Security Council had discussed the attack, while it was also expected to be on the agenda of the European Union summit next week.

The crisis comes as Russia prepares for a presidential election on Sunday in which Vladimir Putin is expected to easily win a fourth term.

Russia has denied any involvement in the attack, the first offensive use of a nerve agent in Europe since World War II.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia would respond by expelling British diplomats “soon”.

He said his country had no motive to target Skripal, but suggested other players could use the poisoning to “complicate” the World Cup.

He also accused Britain of trying to “deflect attention” from its decision to leave the European Union, which has cast uncertainty over its place in the world.

SPY SANCTIONS HIT RUSSIA
NATO allies on Wednesday put out a joint statement condemning the attack, and Secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said it must have “consequences”.

He said Britain had not invoked the alliance’s Article 5 mutual defence clause. But he noted the attack came against the “backdrop of a pattern of reckless behaviour” by Russia — a point also made in the US, British, German and French statement.

Opening the Paris Book Fair on Thursday, French president Emmanuel Macron on pointedly avoided the Russian pavilion.

“I decided not to go to the official Russia stall ... in solidarity with our British friends,” he told reporters, adding Paris was in contact with London to decide on “appropriate answers to this aggression on the soil of our British allies”.

Separately, Washington on Thursday levied sanctions against Russia’s top spy agencies and more than a dozen individuals for trying to influence the 2016 US presidential election and two separate cyberattacks.

The measures target five entities and 19 individuals — including the FSB, Russia’s top spy service; the military intelligence agency, or GRU; and 13 people recently indicted by Robert Mueller, the US special counsel handling a sprawling Russia probe.

Sanctions were also levied against individuals behind the separate Petya cyberattack and an “ongoing” attempt to hack the US energy grid.