UK police names 2 Russian suspects in Skripal poisoning attacks

Two Russian nationals have been named on Wednesday as suspects in the poisoning of a former spy and his daughter, police said.

Scotland Yard and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said that they had sufficient evidence to charge Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov over the nerve agent attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the southwestern English city of Salisbury, located some 137 kilometers (85 miles) to the west of London, Efe reported.

"We now have sufficient evidence to bring charges in relation to the attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal and domestic and European arrest warrants have been issued for the two suspects," said Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu of the UK's counter-terror police in a media briefing.

"I'm therefore appealing for anyone who has information about the suspects named by the CPS to contact police; both are approximately 40 years old and are Russian nationals traveling on Russian passports," Basu added.

The Skripals, aged 66 and 33, respectively, had been poisoned with Novichok - a Russian-made nerve agent - in March, leading UK authorities to blame the Kremlin for the attempted murders.

--IANS

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