2 Russian Suspects Identified in Salisbury Novichock Incident

a reply to: Freeborn


Give them time. Don't forget - the West's lies about WMD, Libya, Syria, Porton Down etc?

a reply to: Freeborn

No argument it sounds like the biggest B.S. alibi ever. But I personally can't shake the feeling there is more to this than simply saying "Oh Putin wants him dead."

originally posted by: OtherSideOfTheCoin
a reply to: micpsi

Patsies, this is exactly what the Russians done the last time we had something like this happen.

Apparently these two guys were just innocently checking out the Cathedral.

hmmmm....

If you believe that then I guess you would believe just about anything.

What I would be willing to believe is their story that they visited London on business and - as many businessmen do - took a day off to visit the sights, in this case a city with a famous cathedral that they say in their interview with RT today was suggested to them by some of their friends. Entirely believable, except, of course, to someone whose mind is already made up and will not accept anything the two Russians say - however plausible it is.

originally posted by: DJW001
a reply to: micpsi

Russia Today has just announced that the two Russians asked to be interviewed, which RT has now done and is about to air. A few minutes ago, RT gave an excerpt lasting about a minute. The two men said that a friend of theirs had suggested that they visit Salisbury because it was an interesting city. The full interview will be broadcast in the next hour or two.

Well... if it's om RT it must be the unvarnished truth!

It is starting to sound like they were set up as patsies.

Seriously? I've been to Salisbury. It's a nice town, and, of course, there's Stonehenge. I find it hard to believe that a couple of Russians would fly all the way there... and not go to Stonehenge.

Obviously, you know nothing about the bad weather and deep snow that blocked roads and disrupted travel the day they visited Salisbury - so much so that they had to go back quickly to London, then returned the following day. According to their interview, they had planned to visit Salisbury to see the cathedral because friends of theirs had suggested this would be worthwhile.
Having listened to the two men, I am persuaded that they are innocent and have been set up as patsies by people who knew they were travelling to Salisbury and took advantage of their likely being filmed by CCTV. As they argued, what assassin would risk taking a ladies perfume bottle filled with a deadly nerve agent through customs? It's absurd! Any customs agent worth his salt would have become suspicious of two men with a ladies perfume bottle in one of their luggage cases and would have wanted to examine it. The scenario is totally implausible, and only believable to someone who cannot weigh up the evidence dispassionately because his mind is already made up.

originally posted by: oldcarpy
Sal isbury Journal Suspects Came to See Old Sarum and Stonehenge

So they came all the way from Russia but saw neither and went back to London because it was snowing a bit? Seriously? Literally, unbelievable.

"Snowing a bit"? Ha! Ha! Seriously? The cold weather at the time had been one of the worst winter storms ever to hit Britain, severely disrupting travel for millions of people for days on end. What's unbelievable is your sheer ignorance of the facts. In their interview, the two Russians said that they primarily visited the UK for business in London - not to go to Salisbury. Friends of their had suggested that they visit Salisbury Cathedral during their trip. These two facts discredits your argument.

a reply to: micpsi

Look at the photo's of the two men wandering round Salisbury, barely any snow or slush or anything.

www.bbc.co.uk...

Lame excuse.

Busted.

originally posted by: paraphi
So, travel from Russia for two very short visits to Salisbury, having based out of London. Distance between Vladivostok where Putin said they were and Salisbury is c. 5,500 miles by air.
Sounds legit, eh?

Lol!!! Tourism? .... arriving on the 2nd March and leaving on the 4th March with

flight time being three and a half hours not to mention time spent going through

customs and into the city from the airport. Not much of a sight seeing tour!


More of a 'hit and run' than a sightseeing excursion ....... Oops did I just say that?


As for people and Putin saying what reason did he have?


The logical one *Because he can* With all the rumors going around

of him having his political fingers in every pie, he's just 'ego' flexing his political

muscle for all the world to see.


Edit to add: -

Our two new members ChefFox and AriAsulin have not been back to the board

since the 7th Sept.??? So I guess all is cut and dried at their end?

a reply to: micpsi


Yes, here in Salisbury (where I actually am) we did have Storm Emma, I think it was, a couple of days or so before they were in Salisbury. But you can see from the CCTV footage that it was pretty much clear by then, a bit slushy and the travel disruption was during the week before. Did not disrupt their train service, did it?

You are either extremely gullible or you have an agenda to push.

Should have gone to Specsavers!

a reply to: micpsi


"Any customs agent worth his salt would have become suspicious of two men with a ladies perfume bottle in one of their luggage cases and would have wanted to examine it."


Really? Duty free present, perhaps?

a reply to: micpsi

Having listened to the two men, I am persuaded that they are innocent and have been set up as patsies by people who knew they were travelling to Salisbury and took advantage of their likely being filmed by CCTV.

Bloody hell! Just how gullible are you?!!!! I have a bridge in London for sale - PM me if you are interested.....

a reply to: micpsi

Having listened to the two men, I am persuaded that they are innocent and have been set up as patsies by people who knew they were travelling to Salisbury and took advantage of their likely being filmed by CCTV. As they argued

You see for me I read this and basically it sounds like you will believe basically anything so long as it doesn't point to the Russian state being behind this assassination attempt. There is actually zero point in even attempting to debate it with you, you simply will never be able to understand the truth behind this attack for whatever reason you may have. This kind of attitude of just blindly believe stuff like this just breeds ignorance, I like to deny ignorance myself.

Honestly though its absolutely no skin of my. nose if you want to pretend that it was anyone but the Russians behind this assassination attempt. I only ask that you please recognise that you have a opinion (not a fact) of the situation that is not consistent with the facts nor is it consistent with the consensus of opinion.

what assassin would risk taking a ladies perfume bottle filled with a deadly nerve agent through customs? It's absurd! Any customs agent worth his salt would have become suspicious of two men with a ladies perfume bottle in one of their luggage cases and would have wanted to examine it

This just kind of emphasises my point above.

I dont how many times I have travelled myself nipped into Duty free to get my partner a bottle of perfume, absolutely nothing suspicious about that whatsoever. Yet you want to paint it as being something that pokes a hole in this story not because it is actually a inconsistency in the official narrative but because it fits with your pro-russia agenda.

RT.com know that people are taking the p1ss over this tourist excuse. Just does not work on intelligent people. Yet, most people who read RT.com believe it all. For Russian propaganda it's the storyline that counts and the fact that if you keep throw crap at the wall, some will stick.

I can tell anyone who want to bother to listen that while there was snow on the UK in early March access to Stonehenge was not effected, on the basis that to get there involves driving on cleared roads. Anyway, a little scrabbling around... weather in Salisbury in March 2018

These are Russians and they are afraid of a possible hint of snow. Come on RT.com, is that the best you can do!!!

originally posted by: CrawlingChaos
a reply to: Freeborn

No argument it sounds like the biggest B.S. alibi ever. But I personally can't shake the feeling there is more to this than simply saying "Oh Putin wants him dead."

Consider that it was a rogue element within the GRU? I would imagine that lots of people in the GRU would have been pissed about Skripal escaping justice and being released from detention. Now put yourself in Putin shoes. How can he admit that as the "Strongman of Russia" that he doesn't have control of one of his security and intelligence services? Which brings into question who is actually in charge in Russia? Is Putin just the face man? The same with the MH17 downing over Ukraine. In my opinion there are elements within the military and security apparatus that are making decisions independently that they believe are for the best interests of Russia. When they go wrong, fail or simply get out of hand there is nothing that Putin can do but go into denial. He has no other option.

originally posted by: micpsi

As they argued, what assassin would risk taking a ladies perfume bottle filled with a deadly nerve agent through customs? It's absurd! Any customs agent worth his salt would have become suspicious of two men with a ladies perfume bottle in one of their luggage cases and would have wanted to examine it. The scenario is totally implausible, and only believable to someone who cannot weigh up the evidence dispassionately because his mind is already made up.

Ah but was the perfume really carried by them through customs? Consider that the perfume package was smuggled into the UK or even by diplomatic bag and that it was passed onto the pair after they arrived in the UK? Consider that the Novichok was prepared in batches using the cover of perfume packaging long before as cover for potential operations and already existed in GRU controlled labs as one of their assassination weapons?

originally posted by: micpsi

What I would be willing to believe is their story that they visited London on business and - as many businessmen do - took a day off to visit the sights, in this case a city with a famous cathedral that they say in their interview with RT today was suggested to them by some of their friends. Entirely believable, except, of course, to someone whose mind is already made up and will not accept anything the two Russians say - however plausible it is.

They claim in their interview that this trip to London was nothing to do with business.

So can you explain why they travelled away from the centre of Salisbury after leaving the station on the 4th March? There is nothing of tourist interest where then ended up. Just a coincidence that they were imaged 300 metres from Skripal's house

The following link will take you to the Shell garage. Take a look around that area. Note that the don't claim to have taken a wrong turning after leaving the railway station. There is nothing there of interest for tourists and they admit that they went there.

Map Link for Shell Garage

Skripal's house is just 300 metres away via a pedestrian footpath! Whoever was doing the debrief and preparing them for the cameras failed miserably in not suggesting that they had taken a wrong turning and got lost before finding the way to the tourist destinations.

I've been highly skeptical of this whole thing. It didn't seem to ring true to me that in the year of the world cup some minor ex spy would be worth a state sponsored chemical attack.

I had my money on some russian organised crime thing, or a personal vendetta.

However, this laughable show from Russia makes me believe for the first time it was a govt hit. Just a really really incompetent one. You don't fly to London and pick the entirely unremarkable market town of Salisbury as your tourist destination. Sorry GRU, bad choice of excuse comrades. Cover blown.

From the interview the only clear things are 2 :

1) These 2 guys are obviously no more a credible saboteur threat to Russia
2) The UK, should probably look at the Cathedral''s cameras and publish their pictures visiting around !

Aside from this stuff, I would ask them 2 questions :

1) Did you ever visit other EU countries except for the UK ?
2) During those visits or during the visit to Salisbury, did you experience headaches, accompanied by insisting thoughts or insisting voices in your heads asking for some specific actions to be done when returning back to Russia?

a reply to: paraphi


I am in Salisbury. These two were here at the weekend - we had snow I think on Thursday and Friday. Not at the weekend. Roads were clear by then. Travel to Stonehenge was not affected and you could walk around without any bother - as you can see from the CCTV images.

I know the Shell garage and have often filled up there myself. There is nothing near it of any remote interest to tourists nor is there anything walkable in that direction of any interest. It is close to the Skripal house, though. Funny coincidence, that.

They apparently walked there from the station. They could not have had any touristy reason to go there. It's in the opposite direction to the Cathedral (which you can't miss in Salisbury as apart from all the signs it has a bloody great spire that can be seen for miles) and Old Sarum.

There are loads of taxis at the station and a tourist bus that goes to Stonehenge which they could have used.

The Russian story is laughable. Putin seems to find the whole thing funny. What a git.

a reply to: Flanker86


Thanks for the laugh.

There aren't any photos of them visiting the Cathedral because despite coming all the way from Russia they could not be bothered to do the 10 minute walk there from the station. Because it was a bit slushy and the poor souls got a bit wet and had to go back to London. Sound about right to you?

a reply to: oldcarpy

The entire interview was hilarious but I think it was supposed to be, I think its supposed to send a message of "haha yeah we done but you will never get us".

I mean really that crap about how they were going to the cathedral is just taking the piss, I love how that one guy rattles off a bunch of facts about it like he had just done a quick wiki search before sitting down in front of the camera.

It would be funny if it where not for the fact that a innocent women died as a result of being exposed to this stuff.