A London newspaper on Sunday, citing "security insiders" as the source, claims Sergei and Yulia Skripal are "desperate to leave the UK", and are "living under house arrest...[at] a secret location where [they are] guarded by British intelligence agents."
The report also claims they "may have already travelled to Australia and New Zealand to scout possible locations."The newspaper report has appeared days before the second anniversary of the incident in Salisbury, England, on March 4, 2018. Then, according to British Government allegations, the Skripals were the targets of a murder attempt by a nerve agent manufactured in Russia and delivered by Russian assassins. The attempt failed.
In the history of the British criminal law,
the Skripals are the only targets of a crime who have not been allowed to testify in public nor communicate with their kin; Sergei Skripal was last heard of in a telephone call to his mother's house on June 26, 2019; Yulia Skripal on July 18, 2018.
The British authorities have yet to produce in court evidence of the crime, the weapon, the crime scene, or even the arrest warrants allegedly issued by the Crown Prosecution Service for the culprits.The book,
Skripal in Prison, just published, provides the full story.
Sources in the Australian Federal Police (AFP), the organisation in charge of witness protection in that country, indicate there is "no verification that the [London] article is correct." The Australian Minister of Home Affairs, Peter Dutton, to whom the AFP reports, refuses to say whether the Skripals have visited Australia, or whether there has been any discussion with the British Government on relocation to Australia and protection for the Skripals. Nicole Chant, confirming her role as Dutton's spokesman and agreeing to follow up on the London press report, said by telephone: "I don't want to be referred to in any article."
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