Sergei Skripal: FIFA World Cup boycott looms amid Russia’s spy scandal
YULIA and her father were found hunched over on a park bench. Now the crime is threatening to make global tensions boil over.
AUSTRALIA could be among the nations asked to boycott the World Cup in Russia as fury grows over the poisoning of a former double agent in the UK.
Several nations are said to be considering a “co-ordinated retaliation” against the Kremlin if it’s proven to be behind last week’s attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.
According to The Times, officials are already talking about potentially preventing senior British politicians and officials from attending the event.
A senior Whitehall source said a wide range of options were currently being discussed with allies in Europe and the US as to what action could be taken against Moscow.
It comes after UK foreign minister Boris Johnson last week threatened to pull England out of the World Cup if the Kremlin was found to be responsible for the poisoning.
Australia, Japan and Poland could be among countries asked to boycott the World Cup as part of this.
WHAT HAPPENED?
Mr Skripal, 66, and his daughter, 33, were attacked in Salisbury, southwest England, on March 4 in what British authorities believe was a deliberately targeted incident.
The nerve agent that poisoned them, Novichok, is a military-grade substance developed by Russia.
The pair had lunch at Zizzi restaurant and made their way to a park bench where they were found hunched over.
CCTV footage from Salisbury shows a man and woman walking through an alley between where critically-ill former spy Sergei Skripal had dinner and the bench where he was later found unconscious pic.twitter.com/rOdAXgplMO
— Press Association (@PA) March 6, 2018
Both remain in a critical condition in hospital after being poisoned.
The bench where Mr Skripal was found, his home and a pub and restaurant the pair visited have all been sealed off, as has the grave of his wife, Liudmila, who died in 2012.
Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, who came into contact with the nerve agent, remains in a serious condition in hospital.
The poison is potent and potentially very deadly.
England’s Chief Medical Officer Sally Davies yesterday warned that up to 500 people who may have come into minimal contact with the nerve agent should wash their clothes and belongings as a precaution.
WHO IS SKRIPAL?
Sergei Skripal was sentenced to 13 years’ jail by Russian authorities in 2006 when he was convicted for “high treason in the form of espionage”.
He moved to the UK as part of spy swap in 2010, settling in the sleepy city of Salisbury.
Russian court officials claimed he received $125,000 for his work with UK spy agency MI6, CNN reported.
Yulia Skripal, who was visiting the UK at the time of the attack, remains one of the only surviving members of the immediate family after her mother and brother both died in recent years.
WHAT IS NOVICHOK?
According to CNN, the Soviet-era poison, also known as Newcomer, is designed to evade various chemical weapons treaties and provide a more stable, two-part agent that’s harder to detect.
Just one chemical — A320 — is up to eight times more deadly than VX, which killed Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un last February.
The poison can only be produced by highly specialised scientists and is one of most deadly weapons around due to its high potency according to The Independent.
Professor Gary Stephens, a pharmacology expert at the University of Reading in the UK, said it was so dangerous because the weapon’s component parts are not on the banned list.
“It means the chemicals that are mixed to create it are much easier to deliver with no risk to the health of the courier,” he said.
Prof Stephens said the poison causes the heart to slow and leads to airways being restricted which means people eventually die by asphyxiation.
The components are typically stored as two less toxic chemicals however when mixed together, produced the more toxic agent, the BBC reported.
AFP map showing events related to the nerve agent attack in Salisbury.
— AFP news agency (@AFP) March 13, 2018
Allies back UK after it says Russia likely poisoned ex-spy https://t.co/k9l4Rqk3dT pic.twitter.com/qrzXWkaiV0
WHY IS BRITAIN ANGRY?
British Prime Minister Theresa May said it was highly likely that Russia was responsible for the “reckless and despicable” attack on the former double agent.
In a stinging accusation issued in the House of Commons, Ms May said Moscow had previously used this group of nerve agents known as Novichok, had a history of state-sponsored assassinations and viewed defectors such as Mr Skripal as legitimate targets.
Mr Johnson has summoned the Russian ambassador to demand a “full and complete disclosure” of the Novichok program to the global chemical weapons watchdog.
Ms May said the envoy was asked to explain whether the attack on Mr Skripal was a “direct act by the Russian state against our country”, or if the government had “lost control” of the agent and someone else had used it.
She warned if there was “no credible response, we will conclude that this action amounts to an unlawful use of force by the Russian state against the UK”.
Ms May promised she would set out a full range of measures in response.
The US also joined the condemnation, calling the use of a highly lethal nerve agent “an outrage”.
However it stopped short of directly saying Russia was responsible.
RUSSIA REACTS
Moscow in turn accused Britain of trying to “undermine trust” ahead of the World Cup and claimed it warned this is exactly what would happen.
“We have repeatedly warned: before the FIFA World Cup starts in Russia (this summer), Western media would launch a full-scale campaign with the aim of discrediting Russia and undermine trust in it as the host of this sporting event,” the ministry said.
“As we assumed, the English have been especially active, unable to forgive Russia that it was our country that was chosen in an honest contest to host the 2018 tournament.”
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the allegations were part of an “information and political campaign based on provocation”.
“This is a circus show in the British parliament,” she said.
“Rather than think up new fairytales, maybe someone in the kingdom could explain how the previous ones ended up — about Litvinenko, Berezovsky, Perepilichny and many others who have mysteriously died on British soil.”
Former spy Alexander Litvinenko, oligarch Boris Berezovsky and whistleblower Alexander Perepilichny all died in the UK in recent years.
The Kremlin has long rejected any involvement in their deaths, despite a British judge concluding Vladimir Putin likely approved Mr Litvinenko’s killing.
When asked about the Salisbury case, the Russian President said London must clarify its position before speaking to Moscow.
“Sort things out from your side and then we will discuss this with you,” Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.
WHAT NOW?
Ms May stopped short of announcing retaliatory measures against Moscow and instead gave the Kremlin until the end of today to explain itself.
Following the 2006 poisoning of Mr Litvinenko, which London blamed on Moscow, Britain expelled Russian diplomats, suspended security co-operation and froze the assets of the suspects, among other measures.
Along with a potential boycott of the World Cup, Britain could also introduce tough sanctions against Russia.
However experts remain sceptical of what Britain could really do.
James Nixey, head of the Russia program at think-tank Chatham House, said Britain has avoided tough decisions about Russia for years.
“We have sent mixed signals to Russia,” he said.
“We have talked tough by calling it names and expressing our dislike of the regime, but at the same time we have been very much open for business with Russia.”
— With AFP and the Associated Press
25yo learns fate in first ever ‘fart selfie’ case
A woman who sent her boyfriend’s ex a series of videos of her “smirking” as she passed wind ended up in court over the “petty” act.
‘Lazy’ daughter wins $250k boob job payout
A beautician body-shamed by her millionaire dad for years has won a $250,000 payout to spend on a boob job after being cut from his will.
Increasingly common sight in Aussie cities
One particular sight is becoming more common around the country, but some have claimed Australians are taking it a step too far.