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                                                                                         WORLD NEWS Friday 14 September 2018


















            Russian suspects in poisoning: We were in UK as tourists




            By JIM HEINTZ                                                                                                       an  investigating  police  of-
            JILL LAWLESS                                                                                                        ficer  also  was  hospitalized
            MOSCOW  (AP)  —  The  two                                                                                           for  about  three  weeks.  In
            Russian  men  spun  an  un-                                                                                         June,  two  area  residents
            likely  tale  of  hapless  tour-                                                                                    who    apparently   came
            ists  defeated  by  grim  Brit-                                                                                     across a discarded vial that
            ish  weather:  They  traveled                                                                                       contained  the  poison  fell
            more  than  1,000  miles  to                                                                                        ill,  and  one  of  them  died.
            see  England's  famed  Salis-                                                                                       Britain  identified  the  Rus-
            bury  Cathedral  but  were                                                                                          sian suspects last week and
            turned  back  by  slush  and                                                                                        released  security-camera
            snow,  then  returned  the                                                                                          photos of them in Salisbury
            next  day  and  spent  two                                                                                          on March 3 and 4. The sur-
            hours exploring the "beauti-                                                                                        prise  TV  appearance  by
            ful" city.                                                                                                          Petrov  and  Boshirov  came
            British  officials  had  a  more                                                                                    a day after President Vladi-
            sinister   explanation:   Al-                                                                                       mir  Putin  said  Russian  au-
            exander  Petrov  and  Rus-                                                                                          thorities know the identities
            lan  Boshirov  were  highly                                                                                         of the two men but insisted
            trained military intelligence                                                                                       that they were civilians and
            agents  sent  by  the  Krem-                                                                                        there  is  "nothing  criminal"
            lin  to  Salisbury  to  smear  a   In this video grab provided by the RT channel , Ruslan Boshirov, left, and Alexander Petrov attend   about  them.  He  urged  to
                                         their first public appearance in an interview with the Kremlin-funded RT channel in Moscow, Russia,
            deadly nerve agent on the    Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018.                                                              contact  the  media,  and
            front door of a former Rus-                                                                        Associated Press  Petrov  said  he  heard  Pu-
            sian spy.                                                                                                           tin's statement on the radio
            Petrov  and  Boshirov,  both  known as the GRU, and say  is  famous  for  its  123-meter  almost  certainly  approved  and  contacted  Margarita
            charged  in  absentia  by  they were merely tourists in  spire."                       "at a senior level of the Rus-  Simonyan,  RT's  editor-in-
            Britain  last  week  for  trying  the  city  southwest  of  Lon-  James  Slack,  spokesman  sian  state,"  an  allegation  chief  who  conducted  the
            to kill Sergei Skripal and his  don.                      for  British  Prime  Minister  that  Moscow  has  vehe-   interview.  Petrov  said  that
            daughter,  Yulia,  with  the  "Our friends had been sug-  Theresa May, derided their  mently denied.                on their first trip to Salisbury,
            nerve   agent    Novichok,  gesting  for  quite  a  long  claims  as  "lies  and  blatant  Skripal,  a  Russian  military  they were unable to make
            went  on  the  Kremlin-fund-  time that we visit this won-  fabrications."             intelligence  officer  turned  it  from  the  train  station  to
            ed  RT  satellite  channel  derful  city,"  Petrov  said  in  "More importantly, they are  double  agent  for  Britain,  the cathedral — about 800
            Thursday  to  proclaim  their  the interview.             deeply offensive to the vic-  and  his  visiting  daughter  meters (half a mile) — be-
            innocence,    deny    they  "They  have  a  famous  ca-   tims and loved ones of this  fell  ill  March  4  from  what  cause  of  snow  and  slush.
            were agents of the military  thedral   there,"   Boshirov  horrific attack," he said.  Britain  says  was  a  Soviet-  Much  of  Britain  suffered
            intelligence  service  widely  said,  adding  studiously:  "It  Britain said the attack was  developed  nerve  agent;  such weather that day.q
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