Skripal suspects 'have nothing to do with Putin', Kremlin insists
The two suspects in the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal have nothing to do with Russian President Vladimir Putin or the government, a Kremlin spokesman insisted again yesterday.
Britain has charged two Russian men, identified as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, with attempting to murder Mr Skripal and his daughter Yulia by spraying a chemical weapon on their front door in the southern English city of Salisbury in March.
"The fact is that neither Petrov nor Boshirov have nothing to do with Putin, and the Kremlin of course," Dmitry Peskov said.
Mr Putin had claimed the two men were civilians and there was "nothing special and criminal" about them.
The duo appeared on Russia's state-funded RT TV on Thursday, insisting they were in the UK as tourists.
Britain says the two men were Russian military intelligence officers almost certainly acting on orders from high up in the Russian state.
