The United Kingdom on December 4 announced sanctions against the Russian GRU for the poisoning of Russian spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury in 2018. The restrictions were imposed after the publication of the investigation into the death of British woman Dawn Sturgess, who was then a victim of poisoning.
This is reported by the British government and The Guardian.
The report, presented by former English Supreme Court judge and head of the inquiry Anthony Hughes said that the attack on Skripal was authorized by Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin. Hughes said that the Russian leader bears “moral responsibility” for the death of the British woman.
According to the investigation, Russian agents stored the nerve agent Novichok in a perfume bottle. They sprayed it on the door handle of the Skripalsʼ apartment and then threw the bottle away. It was found by British man Charlie Rowley and given to his girlfriend Dawn Sturgess — she used it and died soon after.
GRU itself was subject to sanctions, as well as 11 Russians associated with it: Denis Smolyaninov, Volodymyr Lipchenko, Yuri Sizov, Boris Antonov, Anatoly Istomin, Igor Bochka, Oleksiy Umets, Denis Denisenko, Dmitry Goloshubov, Pavlo Yershov, and Mykola Kozachok.
- Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned in the city of Salisbury on March 4, 2018. British authorities blamed Russian intelligence services, in particular officers of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, who worked under the pseudonyms Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov.
- The third Russian suspect was identified as 45-year-old Sergei Fedotov, whose real name is Denis Sergeyev. Law enforcement officials believe Sergeyev acted as the ground commander of the operation and was a senior member of the Russian GRU group. Sergeyev is a major general and held a high position in the GRU’s Unit 29155, a group believed to be responsible for sabotage and assassinations.
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