Home Secretary due to chair a Cobra crisis committee today
UK Home Secretary Amber Rudd is due to chair a high-level COBRA meeting today to discuss the suspected poisoning of Sergei Skripal, who had been granted refuge in the UK in 2010 under a “spy swap” but was found unconscious with his 33-year-old daughter outside a shopping centre this weekend.
According to Daily Mail, Skripal may have been sprayed with a deadly chemical in the street before he collapsed with his daughter Yulia in Salisbury. Investigators are also exploring if the deadly nerve agent, VX, was used in the attack.
Another line of inquiry is looking into the possibility of Skripal’s drink being spiked at a pub which he and is daughter last visited.
Both Skripal and his daughter are fighting for their lives and remain in a critical condition.
The incident is being treated as an assassination attempt linked to the Kremlin, Whitehall sources confirmed to The Times.
Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, Britain’s top counter-terrorism officer told media: “The focus at this time is to establish what has caused these people to become critically ill. This investigation is at the early stages and any speculation is unhelpful at this time.”
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