I recently wrote a post rubbishing the Official Account of the Skripal business. I thought that since I have done this I should at least offer one of my own and give the opposition the chance to reply. There are of course bound to be errors and inaccuracies in any independent account. Not least due to the obfuscation and omissions in the real world narrative. The motives attributed to the Skripals for their actions given here are my own. Needless to say I’ve had to speculate to fill in the gaps. As I’ve written this it has confirmed my suspicions that this was not a state sponsored operation. It was personal. Skripal was at the centre of an Mi6 clique with Pablo Miller and Steele only two of its alumni. There are almost certainly others. The rumours of drug running probably have a solid foundation.
Sergei Skripal was an old man and his only living relatives; Mother and daughter, lived in the Russia that he had betrayed. As his own death grew closer his mind turned more and more to returning to the land of his birth and spending his final years there. There was a catch. As an ex-spy he knew that to accomplish this he would need something to trade. Something that would absolve him of guilt in the eyes of the Russian Intelligence community. Just by chance at this time his UK handlers consulted him on the Steele Dossier which was being used to try and sink the presidential prospects of Donald Trump. Through the medium of his daughter; Yulia; the only person he could really trust, he approached the FSB and offered personal testimony and evidence to show that it was fake.
It was an offer they could not refuse. It would cause a sensation, exacerbate UK/US relations and counter the anti-Russian narrative in the western MSM.
It was thought by the Russian PTB that it would be best for Sergei to flee the UK voluntarily to show that his repentance was genuine, and to avoid accusations of abduction and forced confession, but also to nullify any claims that Russia has violated the terms of his exchange. They would supply false documents and a security team with a medic to aid in his return but avoid active involvement.
The plan was quite simple. The Skripals would make their own way into Salisbury and at the last moment board the 15.15 train to London. Go directly to Heathrow and leave the country on the duplicated passport of an FSB operative that had flown into the UK on the Saturday and disappeared.
It was decided that this operation should take place as soon as possible on one of Yulia’s visits to her father.
The first member of the team to arrive in the UK was its leader Denis Sergeev who arrived at Heathrow, on the Friday, four hours ahead of his operatives, Mishkin and Chepiga. In accordance with security protocols they booked in at different hotels.
It is important to stress at this time that none of these people possessed any Novichok or any other form of inflicting lethal injury, which, had it been intercepted at the airport would have crashed the mission and caused an International Incident.
Mishkin, who is a doctor, (in case Sergei suffered some ailment) and Chepiga left their hotel at eleven o’clock the following morning and caught the train to Salisbury. This was a reconnaissance mission to acquaint themselves with the town’s layout ready for the next day. They returned to London on the 16.10 train and after something to eat, buy some dope and beer, hire a prostitute and enjoy themselves. They have nothing to fear. They are not committing any crime.
Meanwhile Yulia had arrived at Heathrow at 14.40 and been picked up by her father and his neighbours Ross and Mo Cassidy from across the road and then been driven back to 47, Christie Miller Road. Followed by an early night one suspects.
The Skripals get up early on the Sunday morning and go to the cemetery where Sergei’s wife and son are buried. One imagines that this was a last goodbye. Should they be successful there would be no possibility of doing it again. Did they take some soil from the graves?
Though the Skripals have been quick off the mark the two FSB agents have not been slacking. They arrive in Salisbury at 09.43 where they stooge around for a while before taking a brisk walk to arrive at the Shell service station on Wilton Road.
There is a question here. We have a still from the station’s security camera that shows them there at 11.58 yet nothing more; no sign of their crossing the road or proceeding any further. This footage must exist. You are just not allowed to see it.
Was this a rendezvous? Noon is a time fraught with cultural significance. Opposite the petrol station is a footpath that leads up through Montgomery Gardens and eventually to 47, Christie Miller Road. Did Yulia walk down to the road, unwilling to trust the phone, to confirm their presence and signal that they were ready? Whatever, the two agents were back at Salisbury station by 12.30.
The Skripals leave home at around 13.25 and at 13.40 park their BMW on the top floor of the Maltings. A ploy to spot anyone following. They feed the ducks and then go to Zizzi’s at 14.20 and eat lunch. It is here that Sergei abuses the staff, ostensibly because their order is late but there is still ample time to walk to the station so why the aggression? Can it be the presence of Pablo Miller? His former Mi6 handler? That he knows? A row would also attract attention to himself and deflect an attack. Does this man sit there and watch them? Does he pass Sergei a note telling him to meet him in the park at 16.00? Whatever, it eats into the time for their escape so that it is 15.15 when they leave.
At the station Mishkin and Chepiga have boarded the train. The Skripals have failed to appear and there is no purpose in their remaining. They are back in Moscow by midnight.
The atmosphere in Zizzi’s must be difficult after the row so the Skripals adjourn to the Bishops Mill Pub. It is also a little nearer to the park. Sergei gets up to go to his appointment alone but Yulia insists on accompanying him. She is frightened. Sergei soothes her and tells her that she is in no danger, She has committed no crime. She says yes but if she is present there is the less chance of something happening. They link arms as they walk through the tunnel and over the bridge into the park. The rendezvous is the Superdrug shop and they sit down on the bench facing it.
Sergei has come prepared to talk but there is no time. The two assassins act immediately. Sergei can no longer be trusted, he has betrayed them, as he betrayed Russia, and they cannot guard him forever. It is over very quickly. There is no time to call out.
Who were the assassins? Well in this whole business only one man has proved unequivocally to be in possession of a chemical weapon of any kind and that, not by some spurious connection to Porton Down but by the death of his girlfriend from the same.
The other? Well only one other man has suffered symptoms remotely like those of the Skripals. Initially he was said to be present at the bench and then not. Did he catch a whiff during the operation?
The true sorrow of all this is that the Skripals are now almost certainly dead. Not at the hands of their enemies, but those of a compliant state that has sacrificed them in the cause of geo-politics.