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A FORMER KGB agent may have been unwittingly poisoned by his daughter after she opened a "gift from friends" as they ate in a restaurant, it was claimed last night.
Anti-terror cops are investigating the possibility that Kremlin-linked assassins slipped deadly sarin nerve gas into Sergei Skripal's present as daughter Yulia prepared to fly over from Moscow days earlier.
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Another theory being probed is that the gas was sprayed into their faces or slipped into their drinks in a Salisbury restaurant.
The pair were later found slumped on a bench near a shopping centre by a hero cop who was also admitted to hospital after coming into contact with the poison.
But today Amber Rudd confirmed that the brave cop was on the mend, and he was "engaged and talking."
But docs fear that former military intelligence officer Skripal is on the brink of death.
A Whitehall source told : “The feeling is that he is not going to make it out of this.
What we know so far:
- Ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were found unconscious on a bench in Salisbury on Sunday
- Police say they were deliberately targeted with a rare nerve agent
- Cops cordoned off his house and the grave of his wife and son fearing others could be exposed to the poison
- The first Wiltshire cop on the scene is also ill in hospital - but hopes were raised for his recovery now he is awake and talking
- A blonde woman with a red handbag is being hunted after being caught on CCTV minutes before the hit
- Cops say the poison may have been slipped into a gift Yulia brought from Moscow
- Spooks also believe the Russians may have had their drinks spiked in a pub or a Zizzi's restaurant
- Theresa May has vowed revenge on Putin over the 'hit'
- Russian state TV warned 'traitor' double-agents they are not safe in the UK
- It was claimed Yulia Skripal may have been poisoned after calling for Putin to be jailed on Facebook as doctors reveal her fight for life
- It was revealed Sergei's MI6 contact had links to poisoned ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko
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New CCTV of ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal buying groceries and scratchcards days before he was 'victim of poison attack' in Salisbury
Police officer who was a first responder to Sergei Skripal and his daughter is now ill in hospital after they were targeted with a 'nerve agent' in Salisbury
“I think it could be more positive [for Yulia]. They are hopeful that she might be able to pull through.
The police officer’s condition is thought to be less severe than the other two patients.
The Russian pair were "targeted specifically" when they were dosed by a deadly nerve agent, Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley confirmed this afternoon.
All the sites involved in the investigation are now secured - but a police presence may stay in Salisbury for at least a couple of days, Mr Rowley added.
Poisoned Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal was shunned by other exiles as he 'saw Kremlin officers once a month'
Last night security sources told The Sun that the poison could only have been produced in a handful of labs worldwide - including the Russian government's notorious Yasenevo complex.
Tory MP and ex-Army officer Bob Seely said: “In my mind now, there is now no doubt this was a hit ordered by Putin, and by using something complex they’re effectively showing off.
“We’re now in public execution territory. The Russians are basically saying, they don’t care who knows it was them. It is a very alarming development.”
Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, ex-commander of the Army’s chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear regiment, said: “All the circumstances point in the direction of sarin. It’s very toxic and the symptoms displayed tally with its effects.”
The signs a person has been exposed to nerve gas
Although it is not yet known exactly what substance was used, the most well-known are potent VX or sarin - a highly toxic nerve agent that can kill even in the smallest of doses.
Those who have been exposed may experience:
- runny nose
- watery eyes
- small pupils
- eye pain
- blurred vision
- drooling and excessive sweating
- a cough
- tightness in the chest
- rapid breathing
- diarrhoea
- nausea and vomiting
- weeing more often
- confusion
- drowsiness
- weakness
- headache
- slow or fast heart rate
- low or high blood pressure
- loss of consciousness
- convulsions
- paralysis
- respiratory failure leading to death
It comes as a fellow Russian exile Valery Morozov claimed that Skripal was not in fact retired - and regularly met with Kremlin officials at the Russian Embassy.
He told Channel 4 News: “If you have a military intelligence officer living after retirement in the UK every month going to the embassy to meet military intelligence officers... for me being political refugee, I thought that this contact might not be very good for me because it can bring some questions from British officials."
Last night it was claimed that Skripal was close to a security consultant who worked for the company that compiled the explosive "dirty dossier" on Donald Trump.
According to the , the unnamed consultant lived near Skripal and knew him for some time.
NHS workers in hazardous material protective suits after former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were taken ill in Salisbury
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Forensic cops wearing protective clothing and masks were tonight scouring the Great Western Ambulance Service building in Odstock Road, near Salisbury after it was evacuated.
Police are also appealing for "vital" evidence from the public including any photos or video taken in Salisbury town centre on Sunday.
Earlier footage obtained by showed the ex-spy buying milk, sausages and scratchcards from a store 10 minutes walk from his home on February 27.
Shopkeeper Ebru Ozturk told the : "He would come into the shop a couple of times a week and he always bought his scratchcards. He loved to buy them, I think he loved to gamble."
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A decontamination zone remains in Salisbury with officers extending the cordon this morning to Solstice Park in Amesbury.
Counter-terror cops from Scotland Yard took over from Wiltshire Police to work out who was behind the poisoning as fingers point to Moscow.
They are also probing the death of Skripal's paratrooper brother - who passed away in Russia at 68 after a dramatic weight loss in the months before his death - and his son Alexander.
Alexander is thought to have been struck down by liver disease in August 2017, while mum Liudmila died of cancer in 2012 - sparking fears the whole family was targeted by Russian assassins.
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Two women were today escorted into an ambulance from offices next door to Zizzi where the dad and daughter dined before they were poisoned.
Footage shows the pair being taken away by emergency services this afternoon.
Fire crews, paramedics and cops raced to Sarum House at 1.30pm today.
Many of the 100 workers inside were not allowed to leave and those who had gone out on a lunch-break were prevented from re-entering the offices.
Shortly after the building was flooded with emergency services and two women were escorted to waiting ambulances and driven away.
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Skripal, a former colonel, was jailed in Russia in 2006 for passing Russian secrets to MI6.
He was released in a spy exchange in 2010 and settled in Salisbury, Wilts.
Cops are now also investigating the deaths of Sergei's wife and son.
While Lyudmila's death certificate reads that she died of cancer, neighbours claim she was killed in a car crash.
Son Alexandr is said to have also perished in a St Petersburg car smash - yet close family members say he passed away after a battle with liver problems.
It comes after Yulia dared to openly criticise Vladimir Putin on Facebook, suggesting that jailing the president would be a "great idea".
She exchanged anti-Putin chat with a pal on social media, it has emerged.
Yulia wrote “nice” on a note posted by a friend.
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The note read: “I want to put into jail Vladimir Putin because I think that he is the worst president in the world.
“He’s stolen so much money that they can feed a small starving country."
It ends: "I think that with his passing our country will live much better."
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