British prosecutors issued arrest warrants on Wednesday for Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, charging them with conspiracy to murder and attempted murder of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia.
UK Police Chief of Counter Terrorism Neil Basu noted that the suspects, both about 40-years old, arrived at Gatwick airport on a flight from Moscow on March 2 with Russian passports two days before the Skripals were poisoned on March 4 in Salisbury.
Indicating that two people were caught to CCTV in a voyage near Skripal's house, Basu said the remains of the nerve-agent found in the hotel room where the suspects were staying in London.
Royal Prosecutor's Office Head of Terrorism Department Sue Hemming announced that they had made a decision to arrest two Russian nationals across Europe, said the UK will not ask Moscow to extradite the men because Russian law forbids extradition of the country's citizens.
"The names published by the media, like their photographs, mean nothing to us," Maria Zakharova, the foreign ministry's spokeswoman, told TASS news agency. "The Russian side has numerous questions for London."
Zakharova demanded British authorities work with Moscow on the case. "Once again we call on the British side to move away from public accusations and informational manipulations towards practical collaboration of law enforcement agencies."
ILKHA