James Forsyth James Forsyth

With 240 potential witnesses, were Skripal’s poisoners trying to send a message?

‘Any fool can commit murder, but it takes an artist to make it look like suicide’ the KGB used to say. But whoever put Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in hospital was rather less subtle: police have identified 240 potential witnesses, according to Amber Rudd, and have extensive CCTV coverage to go through. 

I write in The Sun this morning that anyone capable of getting hold of the nerve agent used was capable of killing him in a far more subtle manner – with no witnesses and nothing in CCTV. Whoever carried out the attack on Skripal wanted to send a message. They wanted to prove that enemies of Russia are not safe wherever they may be. They also wanted to highlight Western impotence; to show how the liberal democratic world struggles to deal with attacks that come wrapped in a cloak of deniability.

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