Russia spied on the Sergei Skirpal and his daughter for at least five years, says UK

National Security Adviser says Russia had investigated applying nerve agents to door handles - the method used in Salisbury

Lizzie Dearden Home Affairs Correspondent 3 hours ago

Russia has been spying on Sergei and Yulia Skripal for at least five years and investigated how to launch nerve agent attacks using door handles, Britain has said.

In a letter to Nato, the National Security Adviser Sir Mark Sedwill revealed that they were the subject of “interest” from the Kremlin’s security services since 2013.

He said email accounts belonging to Ms Skripal had been targeted by cyber specialists with Russia’s GRU intelligence agency, where her father was a colonel while passing secrets to Britain as a double agent.

Sir Mark said that even after being convicted of espionage and handed over in a high-profile spy swap, Mr Skripal may still have been seen as a target.

“It is highly likely that the Russian intelligence services view at least some of its defectors as legitimate targets for assassination,” he added.

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