Was daughter of ex-Russian spy poisoned for one-word Facebook comment calling for Putin to be jailed?
FORMER Russian spy's daughter Yulia Skripel dared to openly criticise Vladimir Putin on Facebook - suggesting that jailing the president would be a "great idea".
Yulia - now fighting for life in hospital after being poisoned with her double agent dad Sergei - exchanged anti-Putin chat with a pal on social media, it has emerged.
She commented “nice” on a note posted by a friend.
The note read: “I want to put into jail Vladimir Putin because I think that he is the worst president in the world.
“He’s stolen so much money that they can feed a small starving country."
It ends: "I think that with his passing our country will live much better."
Skripal, 66, and Yulia, 33, were yesterday critically ill in hospital as counter-terror officers took charge of the inquiry.
What we know so far:
- Ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were found unconscious on a bench in Salisbury on Sunday
- Police say they were deliberately targeted with a rare nerve agent
- Cops cordoned off his house and the grave of his wife and son fearing others could be exposed to the poison
- The first Wiltshire cop on the scene is also ill in hospital - but hopes were raised for his recovery now he is awake and talking
- A blonde woman with a red handbag is being hunted after being caught on CCTV minutes before the hit
- Cops say the poison may have been slipped into a gift Yulia brought from Moscow
- Spooks also believe the Russians may have had their drinks spiked in a pub or a Zizzi's restaurant
- Theresa May has vowed revenge on Putin over the 'hit'
- Russian state TV warned 'traitor' double-agents they are not safe in the UK
- It was claimed Yulia Skripal may have been poisoned after calling for Putin to be jailed on Facebook as doctors reveal her fight for life
- It was revealed Sergei's MI6 contact had links to poisoned ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko
They are investigating a theory that a Kremlin assassin may have spiked the pair’s drinks in a pub - however another theory is that an attacker sprayed the pair on the street.
And now it has emerged that the ex-spy's wife and son have recently died in mysterious circumstances.
This is now forming a part of an investigation being carried out by British authorities, crucially on whether or not it could be linked to Sunday's incident.
His wife Lyudmila died at the age of 59 in 2012, before his son Alexandr, last year, died at the age of 43.
It is claimed that mystery surrounds the deaths of his wife and son.
While Lyudmila's death certificate reads that she died of cancer, neighbours claim she actually died in a car crash.
Son Alexandr is said to have been killed in a St Petersburg car crash, however close family members say he died of liver problems.
A woman who cleans Mr Skripal's home in Salisbury said: "I saw reports on the news that his wife had died in a car crash.
"That is not true, she died of cancer that she had when they moved to England. And his son died of liver problems, so I don't know where the car crash idea came from."
Fontanka news agency, based in St Petersburg, say they can so far find no traces of him dying in the former tsarist capital.
“According to our research, Alexander Skripal did buy tickets on the Sapsan (high speed) train from Moscow, arriving on 13 July and departing on 15 July,” reported Fontanka.
“He was with a 49 year old female called Anna.
“It is not clear if the couple left St Petersburg on the planned date, as the tickets were bought about one and a half months ahead of the trip.”
It is understood Alexander Skripal died several days after his planned trip to St Petersburg which was described as a holiday.
The report added: “As of now, we failed to find traces of him dying in St Petersburg.
“And according to our information, Alexander had planned a trip to see his father in England in August 2017.
“He bought a ticket for a plane leaving early morning on 8 August 2017.”
Before falling ill on Sunday, Skripal and Yuli had gone into The Mill pub following a meal in a Zizzi restaurant.
Bio-terrorism experts played down fears that the pair were targeted with radioactive poison like the polonium-210 used to assassinate ex-KGB officer Alexander Litvinenkoin London in 2006.
A chemical poison like thallium is believed more likely.
Cemical teams in hazardous materials suits were dispatched to an ambulance station in Amesbury, Wilts, yesterday, believed to be connected to the poisoning.
Skripal, who worked in Russian military intelligence, was jailed in Moscow in 2006 for selling secrets to MI6. He is said to have revealed the identities of Russian agents.
He was freed in 2010 as part of a swap for captured Russian spies and came to the UK, settling in Salisbury.
But he is said to have feared that henchmen of Russia’s President Putin were still determined to exact revenge.
On Sunday he and Yulia, who is thought to have been visiting from her home in Moscow, arrived at Zizzi at around 1.30pm.
They ate starters, seafood risotto and drank white wine and water.
Skripal lost his temper after being forced to wait 40 minutes for his main course.
A chef said: “He was very angry and being very rude. He was smartly dressed and had a thick Russian accent but he was behaving like an a******e.”
The chef, who said Yulia had “shoulder length reddish brown hair”, added: “He was waving his hands and banging the table. She barely said a word.”
The chef said their food could not have been contaminated but admitted drinks were vulnerable.
He added: “If he’s been poisoned, it definitely wasn’t in the food.
“No one came up to their table during the meal.
“There’s a possibility something could have been put in their drinks because they are made at the bar by the front door.
"They are left there and then carried over to the tables by the waiters. But it would be difficult to know which drinks are going to which table.
“I don’t believe anything happened in the restaurant.”
Skripal and Yulia left Zizzi at around 2.30pm and went to the pub.
The CCTV footage, taken by a gym’s security cameras, shows an older man walking with the blonde with the red bag at 3.47pm.
It was 28 minutes before a 999 call from a member of the public who found Skripal and Yulia unconscious on a bench outside The Maltings shopping centre.
A witness said he saw them slumped on the bench.
He added: “There was a man on the bench with his head between his legs being sick.
“I couldn’t see the woman properly, she was on the floor at the other person’s feet.”
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