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International desk: A man who is critically ill after being exposed to an unknown substance in Wiltshire is a Russian national convicted of spying for Britain.<\/p>\nInternational desk: A man who is critically ill after being exposed to an unknown substance in Wiltshire is a Russian national convicted of spying for Britain.<\/p>\n
Sergei Skripal, 66, was granted refuge in the UK following a “spy swap” between the US and Russia in 2010.<\/p>\n
He and a woman, 33, were found unconscious on a bench at a shopping centre in Salisbury on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Zizzi restaurant in Salisbury has been closed by police “as a precaution”.<\/p>\n
The substance has not been identified, but Public Health England said there was no known risk to the public's health.<\/p>\n
Wiltshire Police are investigating whether a crime has been committed. They said the pair had no visible injuries but had been found unconscious at the Maltings shopping centre.<\/p>\n
They have declared a “major incident” and multiple agencies are investigating. They said it had not been declared as a counter-terrorism incident, but they were keeping an “open mind”.<\/p>\n
Col Skripal, who is a retired Russian military intelligence officer, was jailed for 13 years by Russia in 2006 for spying for Britain.<\/p>\n
Sergei Skripal: Who is the former Russian colonel?
\nHe was convicted of passing the identities of Russian intelligence agents working undercover in Europe to the UK's Secret Intelligence Service, MI6.<\/p>\n
Russia said Col Skripal had been paid $100,000 for the information, which he had been supplying from the 1990s.<\/p>\n
He was one of four prisoners released by Moscow in exchange for 10 US spies in 2010, as part of a swap. Col Skripal was later flown to the UK.<\/p>\n
He and the woman, who police said were known to each other, are both in intensive care at Salisbury District Hospital.<\/p>\n
A number of locations in the city centre were cordoned off and teams in full protective gear used hoses to decontaminate the street.<\/p>\n
The hospital advised people to attend routine operations and outpatient appointments unless they were contacted. It said its A&E department was open but busy because of the weather.<\/p>\n
On the restaurant closure, police said Public Health England had reiterated the advice that there was no known risk to the wider public, but as a precaution advised that if people felt ill they should contact the NHS on 111.<\/p>\n
“If you feel your own or another's health is significantly deteriorating, ring 999,” police said.<\/p>\n
Neighbours at Sergei Skripal's home in Salisbury say police arrived around 17:00 GMT on Sunday and have been there ever since.<\/p>\n
They said he was friendly and in recent years had lost his wife.<\/p>\n
Eyewitness Freya Church told the BBC it looked like the two people had taken “something quite strong”.<\/p>\n
She said: “On the bench there was a couple, an older guy and a younger girl. She was sort of leant in on him, it looked like she had passed out maybe.<\/p>\n
“He was doing some strange hand movements, looking up to the sky…<\/p>\n
“They looked so out of it I thought even if I did step in I wasn't sure how I could help.”<\/p>\n
The possibility of an unexplained substance being involved has drawn comparisons with the 2006 poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko.<\/p>\n
The Russian dissident died in London in 2006 after drinking tea laced with a radioactive substance.<\/p>\n
A public inquiry concluded that his killing had probably been carried out with the approval of the Russian President, Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n
A spokesman for the Russian Embassy in the UK, when asked for comment on the incident, said: “Neither relatives nor legal representatives of the said person, nor the British authorities, have addressed the embassy in this regard.” BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
International desk: A man who is critically ill after being exposed to an unknown substance in Wiltshire is a Russian national convicted of spying for Britain. Sergei Skripal, 66, was granted refuge in the UK following a “spy swap” between the US and Russia in 2010. He and a woman, 33, were found unconscious on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":41887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,14],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n