‘It Didn’t Take Them Long’: The Serious Condition of Double Agent Skripal Reminds of the Poisoning of Litvinenko

The Kremlin announced on Tuesday that it is ready to cooperate with the United Kingdom if it requests assistance in the investigation of the incident involving the former Russian double agent who was found in serious condition after exposure to an unknown substance.

Sergei Skripal, who was once a colonel in the Russian military intelligence service GRU, is in critical condition and is hospitalized on Tuesday after being exposed to an unknown substance in southern England.

“No one has made such a request to us,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov in response to a journalist’s question about whether British authorities had requested assistance from the Russians. “Moscow is always open to cooperation.”

>>>After exposure to an unknown substance, former Russian spy in critical condition, Kremlin ready to cooperate

When asked to comment on speculation from British media that Russia poisoned Skripal, Peskov said: “It didn’t take them long.”

Calling the incident a “tragic situation,” he stated that the Kremlin has no information about what happened.

“We have no information about what could be the reason (for the incident), what this person was doing, and what it could be related to,” emphasized Peskov.

He also said he does not know whether Skripal is officially still a Russian citizen.

The British counter-terrorism police are assisting in the investigation to determine what caused Skripal’s illness, said Mark Rowley, the senior British officer in charge of counter-terrorism, on Tuesday.

Poisoning of Litvinenko

Police found two unconscious individuals on a bench in a shopping center in the city of Salisbury on Sunday – a 66-year-old former spy and a 33-year-old woman. They are receiving medical assistance due to “exposure to an unknown substance” and remain in critical condition, the police confirmed.

“This is a very unusual case, and it is important to determine what caused the illness as soon as possible,” Rowley told BBC Radio.

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Sergei Skripal was granted asylum in the United Kingdom after a spy swap between the US and Russia in 2010, the BBC reported on Monday.

Relations between Britain and Russia have been strained since the murder of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006. A British investigation concluded that his murder was likely approved by President Vladimir Putin.

Skripal, a former colonel in the Russian military intelligence service, was convicted in Russia in 2006 on charges of spying for the British intelligence agency MI6 and sentenced to 13 years in prison. He was pardoned in 2010 as part of a spy exchange with the United States, according to media reports at the time.