"The Russian Foreign Ministry has requested that the British ambassador to Moscow provide fingerprints of men that London called suspects in the Skripal case and connected them to Russia," the diplomat informed. "The British ambassador stated that the British side would not provide these materials."

MOSCOW, September 5. /TASS/. British Ambassador to Moscow Laurie Bristow has stated during a meeting in the Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday that London would not provide fingerprints of two male suspects in the Skripal case, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova informed TASS.

Zakharova added that London also declined to share any other information related to the case, including the suspects’ ID numbers, and their personal information. "We hope that Interpol, at least, will deliver this information to us," the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said. Earlier she stated that the suspects’ names "say nothing" to Russia.

The British side has refused to respond to requests of the Russian embassy concerning the information on two suspects in the Skripal case, she said.

"The British side did not provide any answers to our diplomats’ requests concerning the information that was published," the diplomat noted.

According to her, so far, Moscow knows only "names and surnames of the suspects, there are photos, but nothing more: no passport numbers, no visa numbers, no extra data." "Why this information has not been reflected today, not publically, not during the contact between our embassy and the British side, is a big mystery," the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman stressed. Earlier, she stated that the suspects’ names "say nothing" to Russia.

May told the UK parliament on Wednesday that the Crown Prosecution Service was ready to charge two Russian citizens - Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov - with an attempt on the lives of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. Reports also stated that the British police would go ahead with inquiries into the Salisbury and Amesbury poisonings as parts of one case. May added that the operation was "approved at a senior level of the Russian state."

On March 4, former GRU Colonel Sergei Skripal, convicted in Russia of spying for Britain, and his daughter Yulia, were affected by a nerve gas of the Novichok class in Salisbury. The British government claimed that Russia might have been involved in the incident. Moscow strongly dismissed all speculations on that score, adding that programs for developing this substance had never existed in the Soviet Union or Russia.

Britain’s military chemical laboratory at Porton down has failed to identify the origin of the substance that poisoned the Skripals.</s>MOSCOW (AP) — The Kremlin says Russia is not investigating suspects named by UK in ex-Russian spy’s poisoning.</s>Two Russian nationals have been named as suspects in connection with the Salisbury poisonings in England.

Two Russian nationals have been named as suspects in connection with the Salisbury poisonings in England.

There is sufficient evidence to charge Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov with offences including conspiracy to murder over the Novichok attack on ex-Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in March, Scotland Yard and the Crown Prosecution Service have said.

Neil Basu, assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said it is likely the suspects were travelling under aliases and Petrov and Boshirov are not their real names. The pair are believed to be aged around 40.

The announcement will deepen the rift between Britain and Russia after the nerve agent attack sparked a wave of diplomatic expulsions by the UK and its allies.

British authorities are understood to believe several Russians were involved in the attempted murders, which also led to 44-year-old Dawn Sturgess becoming an indirect casualty of the poisoning.

A small amount of Novichok is thought to have been used in liquid form to target the Skripals in March.

In July, a source with knowledge of the investigation claimed two suspects had been identified and had left Britain after the attack.

It is understood the suspected perpetrators were identified through CCTV footage that was cross-checked with border entry data.

The UK Government has insisted it is "highly likely" Russia was behind the attack, but Moscow has repeatedly denied responsibility.

Ms Sturgess died in July, with authorities believing she and boyfriend Charlie Rowley picked up a discarded vial containing the substance. The pair fell ill on June 30 in Amesbury, near Salisbury. Mr Rowley remains seriously ill in hospital. Police believe it is linked to the poisoning of the Skripals, who were discovered slumped on a bench on March 4 and have since been discharged from hospital.

Independent investigators have confirmed the nerve agent used to poison Sergei and Yulia Skripal was the same toxic chemical that killed Dawn Sturgess three months later.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OCPW) said it had confirmed the UK's findings, which concluded in July the substance used in Amesbury was Novichok.

Ms Sturgess, a mother of three, died eight days later having never regained consciousness. It is believed they were exposed to a military grade nerve agent from a perfume bottle discarded by those responsible for the attack on the Skripals.

The OPCW said: "The results of the analysis by the OPCW-designated laboratories of environmental and biomedical samples collected by the OPCW team confirm the findings of the United Kingdom relating to the identity of the toxic chemical that intoxicated two individuals in Amesbury and resulted in one fatality.

"The toxic chemical compound displays the same toxic properties of a nerve agent.

"It is also the same toxic chemical that was found in the biomedical and environmental samples relating to the poisoning of Mr Sergei Skripal, Ms Yulia Skripal, and Mr Nicholas Bailey on March 4 in Salisbury."

Six months on from the attack in Salisbury, Russia has reiterated its belief that the UK is flouting international law by apparently keeping the pair from having contact with embassy officials.

A statement released by the Russian Embassy referred to the circumstances of the March attack as "obscure" and accused British authorities of keeping the Skripals in isolation ever since their release from hospital.

It said: "They remain out of the public eye at an unknown location, unable to communicate freely with their relatives, friends, journalists or Russian officials, deprived of the freedom of movement."</s>The United Kingdom’s Crown Prosecution Service on Wednesday named and charged two Russian men as suspects in the nerve agent attack on former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury in March. Police appealed to the public to share any information on the two men, identified as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov.

The Crown Prosecution Service charged the suspects, in absentia, with a conspiracy to murder, attempted murder and use of the nerve agent Novichok.

Prosecutor Sue Hemming said the United Kingdom will not ask Russia to extradite the suspects as Moscow prohibits the extradition of its citizens. “Should this position change, then an extradition request would be made,” Hemming said. “We have, however, obtained a European Arrest Warrant which means that if either man travels to a country where the warrant is valid, they will be arrested and face extradition on these charges for which there is no statute of limitations.”

Hemming said the evidence can be used in court. “It is of course for a jury to decide whether the evidence is enough for them to be sure of the suspects’ guilt,” Hemming said.

Police said the two men flew from Moscow to London on Russian passports two days before the attack on March 4, AP reported. Assistant Police Commissioner Neil Basu said the men were probably using aliases.

On March 4, Skripal and his daughter were found unconscious on a park bench outside a shopping centre in Salisbury, England. They recovered after weeks of treatment.

The poisoning led to a major diplomatic controversy globally. The UK and its allies, including the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, accused Moscow of involvement in the incident and expelled 23 Russian diplomats from their territory. The US expelled 60 suspected Russian spies after the incident.

Russia has repeatedly denied claims that the nerve agent, Novichok, used to poison the pair was developed in the country or the Soviet Union.

In July, a woman died in Amesbury town in South West England after being exposed to the same nerve agent. Amesbury is about 13 km from Salisbury, the place where Skripal was poisoned.

In August, the United States announced its decision to impose sanctions on Russia for its alleged use of a nerve gas agent.</s>The Kremlin has said Russia is not investigating the two men that Britain has named as suspects in the nerve agent attack on a Russian ex-spy.

Britain on Wednesday announced charges in absentia against two alleged Russian agents, and Theresa May has accused the Russian government of orchestrating the March attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury.

Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for President Vladimir Putin, said on Thursday that the prime minister's accusations were "unacceptable" and that "no one in the Russian leadership" has anything to do with the poisoning.

Peskov said Russia "has no reasons" to investigate the two individuals – Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov– charged on Wednesday because Britain had not asked for legal assistance with the case.

“Neither the highest-level of Russia’s leadership, nor lower ranks, nor any official representatives had or have anything to do with the events in Salisbury,” said Peskov. “Even the suggestion that they did so is unacceptable. Russia was not involved.”

May told the House of Commons on Wednesday that the attempted murder of Skripal, a former Russian military intelligence officer, and his daughter, Yulia, had likely been approved at the highest levels of the Russian government. Ben Wallace, the British security minister, said on Thursday that Putin was “ultimately responsible".

Peskov also said Russia had not received any official request from Britain for assistance in identifying the two suspected Russian GRU military intelligence officers that Scotland Yard believes carried out the attack – the first use of chemical weapons in Europe since the end of the second world war. “For us to be able to do something in this direction, we need to receive a request,” Peskov said. “This is usual international practice.”

Earlier Russia said its request for the British embassy in Moscow to provide the fingerprint records of the two men had been met with “an unconditional refusal”.

Moscow said Laurie Bristow, the British ambassador to Russia, was summoned to the foreign ministry shortly after May’s statement.

Maria Zakharova, the Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, told state television that Russian nationals would have had to provide fingerprints to receive a British visa.

Appearing in the studio of the 60 Minutes programme, she called the British refusal to allow Russia to study the alleged GRU officers’ fingerprints records “a gross rudeness”. The UK had refused to share evidence through official channels, she complained, and had staged an “absurd and funny provocation”.

Zakharova claimed Moscow was still open to cooperating with London in the investigation into the attack in Salisbury. The British embassy was not immediately available for comment.

She also described British accusations that Russia was behind the high-profile poisoning in Salisbury as “a hellish carousel that has no end or beginning”. She accused British authorities of doctoring CCTV images that the Metropolitan police say show the two suspects arriving on Friday 2 March at Gatwick airport. Police say the two men used aliases to travel to Britain.

“The same place, the same corridor, and the timestamp on the footage is identical to the second,” Zakharova said. “Accordingly, either the date and the exact time were overlaid on the image, or these are GRU agents who have learned to walk synchronously while appearing separately in two different photos. You know, this is god-level trolling,” the foreign ministry spokeswoman added, using a computer-game term.

On Thursday Scotland Yard said the images of the two suspects at Gatwick were taken from two different cameras covering separate lanes. The photos were recorded at the point passengers exit from international arrivals, a spokesperson said. Gatwick airport has several, nearly identical gate corridors that people arriving in Britain must pass through. The Scotland Yard response was also cited by Russia’s state-controlled RIA Novosti news agency.

Leonid Slutsky, the head of the Russian parliament’s international relations committee, also lashed out at May’s allegations that Moscow had dispatched would-be assassins to Salisbury.

"Britain is continuing a large-scale anti-Russian provocation,” he said. "This is absolute nonsense. Once again there is no real evidence of Russia's involvement, only ungrounded accusations.”

May’s claims that GRU officers carried out the chemical weapons attack in Salisbury came two days after Putin signed a presidential decree making information about freelance agents who carry out operations for Russian foreign intelligence services a state secret.

On Wednesday, Estonia said it had detained two of its nationals on suspicion of spying for Russia. One worked at the country’s defence forces’ headquarters. The men are suspected of passing Estonian and foreign classified information to GRU officers.</s>Sept. 6 (UPI) -- A day after two Russians were charged in the case, the Kremlin on Thursday denied having anything to do with the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal.

British prosecutors charged the pair with attempted murder and use of novichok, a banned Soviet-era nerve agent.

Officials said the suspects, Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, fled Britain and returned to Russia, but could be arrested if they enter any European Union country. Russia will not extradite its own nationals.

The United States, France, Germany and Canada sided with their British allies, saying the Russian government "almost certainly" approved Skripal's poisoning.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said it was "not a rogue operation" and "almost certainly" approved by senior Russian leadership.

The countries released a joint statement that said, "We the leaders of France, Germany, the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, reiterate our outrage at the use of a chemical nerve agent, known as novichok, in Salisbury on March 4."

Novichok is banned by the Chemical Weapons Act.

The statement went on to say they believe Petrov and Boshirov are Russian intelligence officers working for the GRU.

"We again say that neither the upper leadership, nor the leadership a rank lower or any official representatives had or have anything to do with the events in Salisbury," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a conference call. "Any suggestions of this kind or accusations, I repeat, are unacceptable."
Russia says that the United Kingdom declines to provide them with the suspects' fingerprints.