Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, who were formally accused of attempting to murder former Russian
Their story about taking the costly flight from Moscow to London in the midst of winter for the purpose of visiting the cathedral in the English city of Salisbury only to turn back because of snow and slush on the ground seems scarcely believable, not least because these were young, healthy looking men from a nation that has vastly colder winters than England. Their seemingly rehearsed lines about the attributes of Salisbury Cathedral gave the interview an all the more surreal feel as it became clear that the two men clearly had something to hide, but that which they were trying to hide almost certainly had personal rather than geopolitical implications.
Yet one aspect of the interview that may have revealed the true intentions of Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov during their brief visit to England was when the pair reluctantly discussed their self-described medium sized business of apparently procuring and recommending health supplement products including minerals and vitamins. Below is the portion of the transcript of the pair's interview with RT's editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan where the men suspected by the UK of poisoning Sergey and Julia Skripal reluctantly discussed their business activities:
"SIMONYAN: So, you are in the fitness industry. So, do you consult with people in Europe who want to build muscle?Health experts or drug traffickers?
PETROV: Yes.
SIMONYAN: So, what you do in Europe is advise those who want to get bigger biceps or what?
PETROV: Why in Europe?
SIMONYAN: Well, this is going to be my next question, but first I would like you to answer this one.
PETROV: I advise them here [not in Europe].
SIMONYAN: Here?
PETROV: Right. Actually, advice on how to build up your biceps is not as trendy now - body shaping is... so-called "drying out" (dehydration), living healthy and eating proper.
BOSHIROV: Eating properly, healthy lifestyle...
SIMONYAN: So, you help your clients to achieve a beautiful body or work in fitness clubs... You are a coach then.
PETROV: Pretty much yes.
BOSHIROV: We wouldn't like to go public on this or provide further details about our work and all that. I just don't want this story to affect our clients, people we work with. I don't wish to elaborate.
SIMONYAN: Okay. The British say that you have made a lot - if not dozens - of visits to Europe in the last couple of years, Switzerland being named as your primary destination. What business could you have there as fitness coaches and physical trainers?
BOSHIROV: The British say all kinds of things...
SIMONYAN: So you didn't go to Europe?
BOSHIROV: The hotel room that they show and say we stayed in has a bed for one person only. Meanwhile, right next to it there are double and triple rooms. And it is perfectly normal for tourists to stay together in a double room. It saves money and it's practical. It's more fun that way and it's also easier. There's absolutely nothing wrong with this.
SIMONYAN: There is no need to make any excuses here. Frankly, the world couldn't care less about that. So, have you been to Europe in the last couple of years?
BOSHIROV: Sure.
PETROV: Yes. Mostly on business trips.
SIMONYAN: Which took you mostly to Switzerland?
PETROV: Yes, and once again...
SIMONYAN: So it's true?
PETROV: No, not mostly to Switzerland...
BOSHIROV: They exaggerate this... the number...
PETROV: If memory serves me well, we had just a couple of trips to Switzerland. We spent some time during the New Year holidays there.
SIMONYAN: But what were you doing there? What does it have to do with your business? I know you don't want to expose your clients, but what does your business have to do with Switzerland?
PETROV: Our trips are not always business-related. We went to Switzerland on holiday. We did have some business trips there as well, but I can't really remember when it was...
BOSHIROV: It's perfectly normal to go to Geneva. It's the shortest route to Montblanc. You can go to France - it's just a few kilometres away. It's convenient.
SIMONYAN: So what was it: a business trip or a holiday trip?
PETROV: We had both kinds of trips, business mostly.
SIMONYAN: And what does your business have to do with Europe?
PETROV: It's about healthy food, products and vitamins that they sell in Europe.
SIMONYAN: So, you purchase food there and then bring it here?
PETROV: It's not about buying it and bringing it over here in bags. We study the market for new products, including biologically active food supplements, amino acids, vitamins and microelements. Then we come back and decide what we need the most and try to figure out how these new products can be shipped over here. This is an area of our work".
It may be that solving the Skripal mystery all hinges on whether Petrov and Boshirov are actually in the health supplement business or whether this was a somewhat telling, all too convenient alibi. Based on what is known from the interview, either the men were legitimately too nervous to talk about their business (failing to realise that in a capitalist society like modern Russia, any publicity is good publicity) or the business simply does not exist as described. Furthermore, if their "business" was drugs rather than health, their lives could have been in danger if they said too much about their "business" as their nefarious associates in Russia would not want the pair to reveal too much about what they really do for a living. Perhaps this is why both admitted that their business could be in trouble if they disclosed to much on camera. The fact that both men were adamant about the harm they would incur by speaking openly about their business merely bolsters the theory that the men are involved with the narcotics trade.
Throughout the discussion of their own profession, it was not clear whether they procure, sell or merely recommend diet supplements. A further clue however was given when Petrov spoke about a fitness/health trend called "drying out" (dehydration). This would seemingly imply some sort of pill or sets of pills which dry out the body of toxins, but even this is stretching the meaning of his words. Dehydration is universally regarded as a grave danger to both short and long term health. Therefore, unless Petrov got his terminology confused, something simply does not add up. Logically, even when nervous, it is unusual for two men to either known so little or want to say so little abut their own medium sized business.
What is known is that Britain is the recreational narcotics capital of Europe while Britain is also in the midst of a steroid drug epidemic. With Russia having tougher drug laws than Europe and with Russian authorities cracking down on the use of steroids more than ever before, it could well be that the purpose of Petrov and Boshirov's visit was to plan a large drug trafficking initiative either revolving around recreational narcotics such as meth or cocaine or otherwise revolving around steroids. Under such a scenario, the ultimate aim of the men would be to traffic drugs concocted in England into Russia and beyond.
Objectively speaking, it would be odd for two men to spend so much money and go through all of the bureaucracy to travel from Russia to the UK simply to see a Cathedral and then get put off by the slush on the ground. But two men travelling to plan a major drug trafficking deal under such circumstances does in fact conform to a logical explanation of the brief visit of Petrov and Boshirov to England.
Questions that must be asked
The next question to arise is this: Did Petrov and Boshirov visit the Skripals as part of this drug deal? It must further be asked if Julia Skripal who unlike her father still lives in Russia, had any contact with Petrov and Boshirov prior to her arrival in England two days after Petrov and Boshirov? Furthermore, if in fact Petrov and Boshirov met with the Skripals during the time that Julia and Sergey Spripal turned the GPS tracking off on their phones for four hours on the date of the alleged poisoning, does this mean that all four individuals were part of the same deal - ostensibly a drug deal? Of course implicit in all of this is the fact that investigators must determine whether either of the Skripals had contact with Petrov and Boshirov or their associates prior to a possible meeting and furthermore, it is essential to determine what if any connection to the drug or chemical trade either of the Skripals may have had prior to March of this year.
The final question that must be asked is this: was the poisoning of the Skripals a terrible accident that occurred during a French Connection or perhaps Breaking Bad style drug concocting exercise?
Conclusion
The aforementioned questions regarding the alibi of the two men leads to a speculative conclusion that they and perhaps their possible associates the Skripals were involved in a drug ring. As such Petrov and Boshirov are currently frightened of being linked to a wider drug syndicate that would seemingly have members in Russia, England and likely elsewhere. It could well be that Petrov and Boshirov fear less for their lives because of the very remote chance that the UK secret service could successfully kill them on Russia soil than the fact that one of their own narco associates in Russia might kill them if they reveal too much about their "business".
Ultimately, the fact that two well known drug addicts in England were poisoned in the town of Amesbury which is only 11 kilometres from Salisbury lends further credibility to the suggestion that the Skripals were poisoned not by a "military grade nerve agent" that would have likely killed them immediately. Instead, it is highly likely that an attempt to concoct a drug which both Skripals were then exposed to, is what poisoned them and that this drug at least briefly went into circulation among the junkie communities in the towns surrounding Salisbury, including in Amesbury.
In summary the timeline of the aforementioned theory is as follows:
- Petrov and Boshirov arrive in England on 2nd March to meet with would-be associates regarding a trans-national drug trafficking deal
- Julia Skripal arrives in England on the day of said meeting on the 4th of March
- In a meeting between Sergey and Julia Skripal with Petrov and Boshirov during which the GPS tracking on the phones of both Skripals was turned off, both Sergey and Julia Skripal took a drug for demonstration purposes they were attempting to import into the Russian market via Petrov and Boshirov.
- Several hours after this meeting, the would be body enhancing or recreational drug threatened the life of Julia and Sergey Skripal as it self-evidently was not concocted properly
- In spite of this, some of the drug had already begun circulating among the junkies in towns around Salisbury. This lead to the "poisoning" of two known junkies in the town of Amesbury, one of whom died in the summer of 2018.
We do have the mystery of Rowley's expensive house ... he seems to have done very well for himself since leaving prison
This could also explain some of Yulia's reactions to her cousin etc.