Accessibility links

Breaking News

UK Counterterrorism Police to Probe Russian Ex-Spy's Mystery Illness


A police tent covers the spot in Salisbury, Britain, March 6, 2018, where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found critically ill Sunday following a suspected exposure to an "unknown substance."
A police tent covers the spot in Salisbury, Britain, March 6, 2018, where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found critically ill Sunday following a suspected exposure to an "unknown substance."

Britain's counterterrorism police will lead the investigation into a mysterious illness that struck down a Russian former double agent and his daughter in the southern English city of Salisbury, police said on Tuesday.

Sergei Skripal, 66, and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia were critically ill in a hospital after being found unconscious on Sunday on a bench outside a shopping center in the city.

"Due to the unusual circumstances, it has been decided that the Counterterrorism Policing network will lead the investigation as it has the specialist expertise to do so," London's Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

"It has not been declared a terrorist incident and at this stage we are keeping an open mind as to what happened."

  • 16x9 Image

    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

XS
SM
MD
LG