'WE'RE THE VICTIMS!'
Skripal poisoning suspects claim they were only in Salisbury to see Stonehenge and moan ‘our lives have been turned upside down’
THE suspected Russian assassins wanted over the Novichok poisoning claim they visited Salisbury to see Stonehenge as tourists in their brazen first interview.
Alleged GRU spies Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Bochirov outrageously painted themselves as victims with state-backed RT in what the UK government has branded "obfuscation and lies".
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In echoes of the 2006 Alexander Litvinenko poisoning scandal, the duo are wanted over the attempted murder of former KGB spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia using a military-grade nerve agent on March 4.
They spoke with the Kremlin's propaganda-machine Russia Today on Wednesday in yet another attempt by Vladimir Putin's regime to obscure the narrative surrounding the incident.
The pair said: "Our friends had been telling us for some time we should visit this extraordinary town."
Claiming to be interested in the history of the local area, they praised Salisbury Cathedral for its "123-metre spire and its clock, one of the first ever created in the world that's still working".
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Despite being filmed "moments before" the botched hit before leaving the country hours later in a flight out of Heathrow, the brazen Russians claimed they spent "no more than an hour" in Salisbury.
Petrov said they wanted to visit Wiltshire's pre-historic monument Stonehenge rather than carry out a state-sponsored execution on foreign soil.
He said: "Of course, we went there to see Stonehenge, Old Sarum, but we couldn’t do it because there was muddy slush everywhere.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin says two suspects in Novichok poison attack on Skripals in Salisbury have been found but they're 'not criminals'
"The town was covered by this slush. We got wet, took the nearest train and came back (to London).”
Boshirov added: “We spent no more than an hour in Salisbury, mainly because of the lags between trains.
“Maybe we did (approach) Skripal’s house, but we don’t know where is it located.”
It comes after Vladimir Putin said there is "nothing criminal" about Petrov and Boshirov.
His comments set him up for yet another showdown with the West, after countries - including the US - backed Theresa May's statement that the duo were assassins sent by the Russian state.
In an escalating war of words, Russia claims the moves are to prepare the British public for aggressive measures against its country.
During their chat with RT, Boshirov tried to paint himself and his colleague as victims, complaining about how being named as suspects has made them fear for their lives.
PUTIN’S PROPAGANDA MACHINE Russian response to Skripal poisoning
Russia has repeatedly denied any involvement in the poisoning and accused Britain of witholding information and not involving them in the investigation.
- If he did command the hit, Putin might have many motives. It may be a warning to other defectors, or a show of power.
- His blase response, and the government's sometimes-disparaging dismissal of foreign concerns reinforced the impression that the quasi-dictator does not have to answer to anyone.
- By claiming the UK's actions are intended to prep its populace for supporting aggression towards Russia, the Kremlin simultaneously muddies the water and creates a sense of injustice at home.
- Russian media has attacked the Novichok investigation on several fronts. It has claimed the poor execution of the attack suggests it was criminal rather than state sponsored, and now says the suspects are normal civilians.
- Diplomats also recently stressed they has made several proposals to the United Kingdom to establish cooperation over the Salisbury incident.
- The attack, and Putin's response, bare striking resemblance to that of Russian defector Alexander Litvinenko, who was killed after being exposed to a radioactive substance.
- Russia is a regular target for criticism and condemnation from media freedom watchdogs, with the majority of TV and Newspapers either state-run, or owned by companies linked to the Kremlin.
- Most toe the Kremlin's line, and critical voices are often attacked or even murdered.
- This allows Putin to get his narrative to the population largely-unopposed.
He said: "When your life turned upside down, you don’t know what to do and where to go. We’re afraid of going out, we fear for ourselves, our lives and lives of our loved ones."
A chilling timeline revealed the men arrived in the UK on March 2 before making their way to the £48-a-night City Stay Hotel in Bow, East London.
They stayed there for two nights, and then went to Salisbury for reconnaissance. Cops searching their hotel room on May 4 are said to have discovered minute traces of Novichok.
However, Boshirov rejected claims they handled nerve agent Novichok or the perfume bottle it was allegedly carried in.
Laughing, he said: "No, that's complete bulls***. Isn't it silly for decent lads to have women’s perfume?
“The customs are checking everything, they would have questions as to why men have women’s perfume in their luggage. We didn’t have it.”
Petrov said: "We simply want to hide and wait it out. We definitely don't need such fame."
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Timeline of movements of Russian nationals Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov who are suspected of conspiracy to murder Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, Wiltshire
Speaking after Prime Minister's Questions last week, Theresa May said the suspects were members of the Russian Military Intelligence Service and were carrying out a mission on behalf of the state.
She said: "Based on a body of intelligence, the Government has concluded that the two individuals named by the police and CPS are officers from the Russian military intelligence service, also known as the GRU."
However, today Boshirov denied being a spy while claiming he had never even heard the name Skripal before.
He said: "I didn't know, I haven't heard - until this situation, until this nightmare with us started, I haven't heard this last name (Skripal), I knew nothing about them
“We came here to you for protection. But it becomes some sort of interrogation - we are starting to go deep. We are asking for your protection."
Asked what they did for a living, Petrov said "We are midscale entrepreneurs".
He claimed they were involved in "the fitness industry" who deal in "everything that comes to sport nutrition, vitamins, microelements, proteins and so on."
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Sue Hemming, CPS: Evidence to charge Russian nationals Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov with conspiracy to murder Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, Wiltshire
During the interview, the RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan also touched upon the picture of the two from the Gatwick airport.
She said: “Here is the picture that puzzled the whole world, Gatwick airport, you are leaving through a gate literally in the same times, almost the same second. How did it happen?”
Boshirov replied said: “We always go together through the same corridor and the same custom service officer or a policeman.
“One goes, the other waits. We went through the corridor together, we always (do it) together. How did it happen? It’s better to ask them (UK police).”
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Last week, the Crown Prosecution Service said: "There is sufficient evidence to charge two Russian nationals named as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov with offences including conspiracy to murder over the Salisbury nerve agent attack."
Scotland Yard also confirmed that both suspects had been to the UK before on the same passports and "travelled extensively on them in the past".
Following the attack, the Skripals were saved by British doctors - with Yulia making a full recovery just weeks later.
The same deadly nerve agent was also said to be responsible for the killing of mum-of-three Dawn Sturgess in nearby Amesbury, in June.
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Her boyfriend Charlie Rowley picked up the fake Nina Ricci ‘Premier Jour’ perfume used to poison the Skripals.
Russian President Putin appears to be playing from his own well-worn playbook, with a very similar reaction displayed following the assassination of Russian defector Alexander Litvinenko in 2006.
Nine years after the assassination, which used radioactive polonium, a report by Sir Robert Owen into the death named Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun as the perpetrators.
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The report was rubbished by Russian State media, who branded it a fabrication, politicised and not transparent - all of this parroted the official line put out by the Kremlin.
Putin later rubbed salt into the wound, awarding Lugovoi a medal for "services to the motherland".
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