British police say they have sufficient evidence to charge two Russians named as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov with conspiracy to murder Sergei and Yulia Skripal and a British police officer in the English city of Salisbury in March.
UK prosecutors say a European arrest warrant has been issued but Britain will not seek extradition for the two men as Russia does not extradite its own citizens.
In a statement, Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, the national lead for Counter-Terrorism Policing, warned that the two men were travelling under aliases.
“It is likely that they were travelling under aliases and that these are not their real names. We would like to hear from anyone who knows them. We are releasing these photographs of them, from the travel documents they used to enter the country,” he said.
‘The two incidents are connected’
“Over the last six months we have meticulously followed the evidence, working closely with specialist forensic teams and scientists, as we have investigated both the attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury, and the poisoning of Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley,” said Basu.
“Let me be clear, we have no doubt these two incidents are connected and now form one investigation.”
Sturgess and Rowley, both British nationals, were hospitalised in critical condition on June 30 after exposure to the Novichok nerve agent in Amesbury, which is less than 13 kilometres from Salisbury. Sturgess, 44, died eight days later
