Sounds like "the West" is pretty easily wrecked.
.
Moderators: Elvis, DrVolin, Jeff
by JackRiddler » Thu Mar 15, 2018 11:07 pm
by SonicG » Thu Mar 15, 2018 11:23 pm
Trump nominee
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lieutenant General Paul Nakasone, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Cyber Command, said on Thursday he did not think Russia, China and other countries expected much of a response from the United States to cyber attacks.: Russia, China don't expect 'much' U.S. response to cyber attacks.
“They don’t think much will happen,” Nakasone said when questioned by Republican Senator Dan Sullivan at his confirmation hearing to be director of the National Security Agency and commander of the military’s U.S. Cyber Command.
“We seem to be the cyber punching bag of the world,” Sullivan said during the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.
Nakasone’s hearing came two days after his retiring predecessor, Admiral Mike Rogers, told the same panel that Trump had not granted him the authority to disrupt Russian election-hacking operations.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa- ... SKCN1GD5KX
by JackRiddler » Thu Mar 15, 2018 11:38 pm
by SonicG » Fri Mar 16, 2018 1:10 am
by JackRiddler » Fri Mar 16, 2018 6:39 am
by seemslikeadream » Fri Mar 16, 2018 9:58 am
Russia spy Sergei Skripal’s daughter Yulia had nerve agent ‘planted’ in suitcase
POLICE investigating the attack on former Russian spy and his daughter who are fighting for their lives, have reportedly come up with a new theory about how they became infected with a military-grade nerve toxin.
Investigators believe poisoned former Russian agent Sergei Skripal was planted in his daughter’s suitcase before she left Moscow, The Telegraph newspaper reported, citing unidentified sources.
Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were found slumped unconscious on a bench outside a shopping centre in the genteel southern English city of Salisbury on March 4.
They have been in a critical condition in hospital ever since.
Yulia Skripal flew to London from Russia on March 3, according to counter-terrorism police.
British investigators are working on the theory that the toxin was impregnated in an item of clothing or cosmetics or in a gift that was opened in Skripal’s house in Salisbury, the Telegraph said, citing the unidentified sources.
“They are working on the theory that the toxin was impregnated in an item of clothing or cosmetics or else in a gift that was opened in his house in Salisbury, meaning Miss Skripal was deliberately targeted to get at her father,” the newspaper said.
The theory may even suggest that Yulia was behind the attack on her father. But if she wasn’t, then someone else targeted her and her father through her suitcase.
It comes after a relative said yesterday that they believed Yulia was the ‘real’ target of the shocking attack.
Ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and daughter Yulia pose in Zizzi restaurant at heart of poison plot. Picture: Supplied
Ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and daughter Yulia pose in Zizzi restaurant at heart of poison plot. Picture: SuppliedSource:Supplied
Britain has said the toxin, which also poisoned a British police officer who attended the scene, was Novichok, a lethal nerve agent first developed by the Soviet military.
After the first known offensive use of such a weapon on European soil since World War II, Britain has pinned the blame on Moscow and given 23 Russians who it said were spies working under diplomatic cover at the London embassy a week to leave.
Britain, the United States, Germany and France jointly called on Russia on Thursday to explain how the toxin came to be used on British soil. Russia has denied any involvement and has accused London of whipping up anti-Russian hysteria.
A police cordon at The Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury, southern England. Picture: AFP
A police cordon at The Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury, southern England. Picture: AFPSource:AFP
In a joint statement, they demanded Moscow “address all questions” related to the attack against former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, which they said amounted to a “breach of international law”.
In her first visit to Salisbury, where she also met a police officer injured in the incident, British Prime Minister Theresa May said it was important to send a “united” response.
“This happened in the UK but it could have happened anywhere and we take a united stance against it,” she said.
US President Donald Trump said: “It certainly looks like the Russians were behind it. Something that should never, ever happen, and we’re taking it very seriously.”
Military personnel wearing protective coveralls work to remove a vehicle as part of the ongoing investigation. Picture: AFP
Military personnel wearing protective coveralls work to remove a vehicle as part of the ongoing investigation. Picture: AFPSource:AFP
RUSSIA’S AMBASSADOR TO AUSTRALIA WEIGHS IN
Russia’s ambassador to Canberra has insisted the Kremlin had no motivation to kill a former spy in the UK and suggested Britain might be involved. Grigory Logvinov believes a full investigation into the attempted assassination is needed before blame can be attributed.
“I’m afraid Russia would be the last country to have any motive,” Mr Logvinov told the ABC on Friday.
“But the other countries, they have much stronger motives, including Great Britain.”
Britain and its western allies are blaming Russia, but Mr Logvinov questioned what possible motive Moscow could have.
“This guy, he was arrested, he was sentenced, he served his term, he was pardoned and expelled from the country,” Mr Loginov said.
“What’s the use for Russia to assassinate him in this way, just on the eve of the presidential elections, and when the world soccer championship is approaching?” Earlier, Foreign Minister Julia Bishop argued Russia had “no plausible excuse” for the attempted assassination.
Australia's Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Defence Minister Marise Payne. Picture: AFP
Australia's Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Defence Minister Marise Payne. Picture: AFPSource:AFP
Ms Bishop said Russia was either behind a nerve-gas attack on a former spy in the UK, or the country had lost control of its chemical weapons supply. The foreign minister believes there are global security ramifications for the assassination attempt on Mr Skripal and his daughter. Australia has sent people to Moscow to follow up on the UK’s accusations that Russia is behind the attack.
“There seems to be no plausible excuse — either the Russian State was behind it or Russia has lost control of its chemical weapons stockpile,” Ms Bishop told the ABC.
“Either way Russia must answer these accusations.” Ms Bishop said Australia would work closely with the UK in the short-term, backing Britain’s decision to expel 23 Russian diplomats and cut off high-level contacts with Moscow.
Police officers continue to stand guard outside Zizzi restaurant in Salisbury. Picture: Getty
Police officers continue to stand guard outside Zizzi restaurant in Salisbury. Picture: GettySource:Getty Images
Australia will continue ongoing sanctions, including targeted financial sanctions introduced after threats to the Ukraine in 2014 and trade sanctions and travel bans introduced in 2015.
“We keep our sanctions against Russia under constant review and will continue to work very closely with the United Kingdom and other like-minded partners as the UK’s investigation into this horrendous act continues,” Ms Bishop said. But Australia has no plans to introduce a Magnitsky Act, like those in the UK, United States and Canada, which allow sanctions against Russians connected to human rights violations.
Longer term, Ms Bishop believes Australia can play a role in a co-ordinated international campaign against chemical weapons.
British Prime Minister Theresa May stands outside The Mill pub during a visit to the city where former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned. Picture: Getty
British Prime Minister Theresa May stands outside The Mill pub during a visit to the city where former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned. Picture: GettySource:Getty Images
RUSSIAN ELECTION WITH COLD WAR FEARS
May on Wednesday announced the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats and suspended high-level contacts, including announcing that British royals and ministers would boycott this summer’s football World Cup in Russia.
She warned more measures could follow, noting that the US-led NATO alliance and the UN Security Council had discussed the attack, while it was also expected to be on the agenda of the European Union summit next week.
The crisis comes as Russia prepares for a presidential election on Sunday in which Vladimir Putin is expected to easily win a fourth term.
Forensic teams remove a recovery truck used in the aftermath of the Salisbury nerve agent attack. Picture: Getty
Forensic teams remove a recovery truck used in the aftermath of the Salisbury nerve agent attack. Picture: GettySource:Getty Images
Russia has denied any involvement in the attack, the first offensive use of a nerve agent in Europe since World War II.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia would respond by expelling British diplomats “soon”.
He said his country had no motive to target Skripal, but suggested other players could use the poisoning to “complicate” the World Cup.
He also accused Britain of trying to “deflect attention” from its decision to leave the European Union, which has cast uncertainty over its place in the world.
SPY SANCTIONS HIT RUSSIA
NATO allies on Wednesday put out a joint statement condemning the attack, and Secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said it must have “consequences”.
He said Britain had not invoked the alliance’s Article 5 mutual defence clause. But he noted the attack came against the “backdrop of a pattern of reckless behaviour” by Russia — a point also made in the US, British, German and French statement.
Opening the Paris Book Fair on Thursday, French president Emmanuel Macron on pointedly avoided the Russian pavilion.
Russian President Vladimir Putin denies Kremlin links. Picture: AFP
Russian President Vladimir Putin denies Kremlin links. Picture: AFPSource:AFP
“I decided not to go to the official Russia stall ... in solidarity with our British friends,” he told reporters, adding Paris was in contact with London to decide on “appropriate answers to this aggression on the soil of our British allies”.
Separately, Washington on Thursday levied sanctions against Russia’s top spy agencies and more than a dozen individuals for trying to influence the 2016 US presidential election and two separate cyberattacks.
The measures target five entities and 19 individuals — including the FSB, Russia’s top spy service; the military intelligence agency, or GRU; and 13 people recently indicted by Robert Mueller, the US special counsel handling a sprawling Russia probe.
Sanctions were also levied against individuals behind the separate Petya cyberattack and an “ongoing” attempt to hack the US energy grid.
http://www.news.com.au/world/europe/chi ... 1897224cbf
Why is the UK accusing Russia of launching a nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, and what is the evidence?
Friday 16 March 2018 12:09 GMT
What do we know about the attack?
What are Novichoks?
How does the Government know Novichok was used in Salisbury?
Why has the British Government named Russia as the culprit?
What is Russia saying?
Where else could Novichok have come from?
What are the other theories?
“There is no alternative conclusion other than that the Russian state was culpable for the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal and his daughter - and for threatening the lives of other British citizens.”
That was the conclusion Theresa May delivered to MPs over the nerve agent attack in Salisbury, sparking the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats and a wave of reprisals that have been met with an angry response from the Kremlin.
Russian officials have denied involvement, branded the Prime Minister’s statement a “circus show” and accused the UK of violating a chemical weapons convention by refusing to send it samples of the substance used.
Meanwhile, conspiracy theories are swirling online, with proponents blaming a range of targets including the US, Ukraine, the EU and Britain itself for the attack.
Police have not yet confirmed how Mr Skripal and his daughter Yulia were exposed to the substance, which left them in a critical condition in hospital and affected 36 other people.
What do we know about the attack?
Ms Skripal, 33, was visiting her father and arrived in Heathrow Airport on a flight from Russia at on 3 March.
At approximately 1.40pm the following day, the pair arrived in Sainsbury’s upper level car park in The Maltings shopping precinct in Salisbury.
They went to The Mill pub before going to Zizzi’s Italian restaurant at 2.20pm, where they stayed until around 3.35pm.
Emergency services were called for the first time 40 minutes later and found Mr Skripal and his daughter “extremely ill” on a nearby bench.
Investigations by military experts at the Defence, Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down identified the substance used as from a group of nerve agents known as “Novichoks”, roughly translating as “newcomer” in Russian.
What are Novichoks?
The name was given to a group of nerve agents developed by the Soviet Union in a covert programme that was revealed by defectors.
Vil Mirzayanov, a chemical weapons developer who fled to the US, said Novichoks were up to 10 times more deadly than VX.
He told Reuters the programme involved as many as 30,000 or 40,000 people, including around 1,000 who worked on Novichoks specifically, although many were not aware of the initiative’s true nature.
Dr Mirzayanov said they could be synthesised by mixing harmless compounds together, making it made it easier for Russia to produce the necessary materials under the cover of manufacturing agricultural chemicals.
He described the effects of the chemical including extreme pain and suffocation, as it paralyses the respiratory system, after testing its effects on lab animals.
“Novichok was invented and studied and experimented and many tons were produced only in Russia - nobody knew in this world,” Dr Mirzayanov said, arguing that only the Kremlin would have the capability to deploy the agent.
He claimed that Russia maintained tight control over its Novichok stockpiles and that the agent was too complicated for a non-state actor to have weaponised.
“The Kremlin all the time, like all criminals, denying - it doesn’t mean anything.”
How does the Government know Novichok was used in Salisbury?
The Prime Minister said the nerve agent was identified by military scientists at Porton Down, which formerly developed nerve agents including VX itself.
No details of the chemical analysis have been provided publicly but samples are being sent to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) for verification.
Dr Patricia Lewis, research director for International Security at Chatham House, said Novichoks could be identified because they have distinct chemical formulae.
“There could be contaminants that would give away where it has come from,” she told The Independent, adding that high-resolution trace analysis could detect pollen and other clues.
There are also different processes for manufacturing the chemical precursors of Novichoks that can be used to establish their origin or glean additional information.
Unlike other most other nerve agents, which are most commonly administered as liquids, the group can also be used in powder form.
Why has the British Government named Russia as the culprit?
Briefing the UN Security Council on Wednesday, British ambassador Jonathan Allen said Novichok was “not a weapon which can be manufactured by non-state actors”.
“It is so dangerous that it requires the highest-grade state laboratories and expertise,” he added.
“Based on the knowledge that Russia has previously produced this agent and combined with Russia’s record of conducting state sponsored assassinations – including against former intelligence officers whom they regard as legitimate targets – the UK Government concluded that it was highly likely that Russia was responsible for this reckless act.”
The Prime Minister gave Russia 24 hours to provide an explanation of how Novichok was used on the streets of Wiltshire, initially raising the possibility that Vladimir Putin’s government might have “lost control of this potentially catastrophically damaging nerve agent and allowed it to get into the hands of others”.
But the Russian government refused the demand, instead calling on Britain to hand over a sample of the nerve agent and accusing it of unacceptable “provocations”.
“They have provided no credible explanation that could suggest they lost control of their nerve agent,” Ms May told MPs on Wednesday.
“No explanation as to how this agent came to be used in the United Kingdom; no explanation as to why Russia has an undeclared chemical weapons programme in contravention of international law.
“Instead they have treated the use of a military grade nerve agent in Europe with sarcasm, contempt and defiance.
“There is no alternative conclusion other than that the Russian state was culpable for the attempted murder of Mr Skripal and his daughter - and for threatening the lives of other British citizens in Salisbury.”
Sceptics have questioned why the Russian government would seek to murder Mr Skripal after previously jailing him for treason and agreeing to hand him over to the West in a major Cold War-style spy swap in 2010.
They claim the Kremlin would not seek to carry out such a brutal and obvious assassination attempt ahead of presidential elections and during tensions over alleged election interference and the wars in Ukraine and Syria, while it would also endanger future spy swaps.
But those supporting the British Government's conclusion say the attack could be a show of power from Mr Putin, a "declaration of indifference to the suspicions of others" that intimidates allies and enemies alike.
Mr Skripal was viewed as a traitor after feeding state secrets to MI6 during his time as a GRU military intelligence officer, and may have been "freelance" spying for private intelligence firms in the UK.
What is Russia saying?
The Kremlin has denied involvement in the attack and accused the UK of violating the Chemical Weapons Convention.
But British authorities insist there are no provisions requiring them to share samples collected in the ongoing criminal investigation.
“It is therefore Russia which is failing to comply with the provisions of the convention and the UN Security Council should not fall for their attempts to muddy the waters,” Mr Allen said.
Russian politicians have contradicted each other, with some claiming that Novichok stockpiles were destroyed and others claiming that it was never developed in the first place.
The state-owned English language Sputnik website quoted Igor Morozov as saying: “Russia has not only stopped the production of nerve agents, including Novichok, but also completely destroyed all their reserves. This was done in accordance with international agreements under the control of OPCW international observers.”
But deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov told Interfax news agency: “I want to state with all possible certainty that the Soviet Union or Russia had no programmes to develop a toxic agent called Novichok.”
Vassily Nebenzia, Russia’s representative at the UN Security Council, repeated the assertion and told delegates: “In the Russian Federation there was no scientific research or development work under the title Novichok…in 1992 in the Russian Federation, Soviet developmental work was stopped, and in 2017 it completed the destruction of all existing stocks of chemical weapons. “
Russia announced the destruction of its declared chemical weapons stockpiles in September, but had never admitted the creation of Novichoks or the development facilities associated with them.
Dr Lewis said the fact Novichoks were not listed substances on the global Chemical Weapons Convention created a “loophole” meaning they were not monitored by international agencies.
Russia has said it will cooperate with the OPCW’s investigations, but attacked the organisation just four months ago after it found ally Bashar al-Assad had used sarin in rebel-held areas in Syria.
Foreign ministry officials called an OPCW report biased, "unprofessional and amateur”, claiming that civilian deaths in Khan Sheikhoun may have been “staged”.
Russia blocked UN Security Council action against its Syrian allies, then proposed changing the rules for inspectors at the Hague-based watchdog in ways that Western diplomats said would undermine its work.
Where else could Novichok have come from?
Some analysts have claimed that Novichoks could have been smuggled out of chemical weapons and storage sites after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when facilities were abandoned by unpaid staff and security was low.
Whistleblowers said they were only ever made in Shikhany, central Russia, and then tested at the Nukus site in Uzbekistan, which was decontaminated with US support.
While weaponised nerve agents degrade over time, if the precursor ingredients were smuggled out in the 1990s, stored in proper conditions and mixed recently, they could still be deadly in a small-scale attack according to some experts.
“Could somebody have smuggled something out?” said Amy Smithson, a chemical weapons expert at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies.
“I certainly wouldn’t rule that possibility out, especially a small amount and particularly in view of how lax the security was at Russian chemical facilities in the early 1990s.”
In 1995, a Russian banking magnate called Ivan Kivelidi and his secretary died from organ failure after being poisoned with a military grade toxin found on an office telephone.
A closed trial found that his business partner had obtained the substance via intermediaries from an employee of a state chemical research institute known as GosNIIOKhT, which was involved in the development of Novichoks.
The employee, Leonard Rink, told police he had been storing poisons in his garage and selling them to pay off debts.
Novichoks could theoretically be manufactured by other states but experts believe the creation of a weaponised form of the nerve agent outside the former Soviet Union is exceptionally unlikely.
The binary agents are created by mixing unrestricted chemicals together, but need “extremely specialist facilities with high levels of security and protections for workers”.
Dr Lewis said that under chemical weapons convention and international law, it would be legal for countries to develop small amounts of Novichoks in order to build defences against them.
“I would be extremely surprised if since 1992 the chemical weapons experts in a serious number of countries which had chemical weapons capabilities have not sought to make small amounts to defend against it,” she added.
“It would be legitimate, legal and one would say they have a duty to do so.”
Dr Lewis said the fact Porton Down scientists identified the substance known as Novichok suggested they had information on its chemical structure.
There have been mounting concerns about the chemical weapons capability of North Korea, particularly following the murder of Kim Jong-un’s brother using VX in Malaysia last year.
She said experts were questioning whether the totalitarian state could be manufacturing nerve agents and selling them to non-state actors, but there was no evidence of Novichoks being in North Korea’s arsenal.
What are the other theories?
Some critics have cast doubt on the findings of British intelligence agencies by citing the false conclusions that Saddam Hussain had undeclared weapons of mass destruction, which sparked the Iraq War.
Jeremy Corbyn suggested that the nerve agent attack could have been carried out by Russian-linked gangsters rather than ordered by Moscow.
“To rush way ahead of the evidence being gathered by the police, in a fevered parliamentary atmosphere, serves neither justice nor our national security,” he wrote in The Guardian.
”In my years in parliament I have seen clear thinking in an international crisis overwhelmed by emotion and hasty judgments too many times.
“Flawed intelligence and dodgy dossiers led to the calamity of the Iraq invasion.”
Several alternative theories and conspiracies have been raised, although few provide a credible means and motive for another actor attacking Mr Skripal – a former Russian double agent who was given refuge in the UK after selling secrets to MI6.
Some have accused Britain itself of launching the attack as a “false flag” to smear Russia, damage Mr Putin ahead of elections or even to distract from a grooming scandal in Telford.
Mr Nebenzia told the UN Security Council that the “most probable source” of the Novichok was countries that had been carrying out research on nerve agents since the 1990s, including the UK.
Russian media reports have also suggested that the US stole samples of Novichoks while decontaminating a former Soviet Union testing plant in Uzbekistan from 1999 onwards.
Proponents of the theory claim that the US may have launched the attack itself, either through the “deep state” or because of Mr Skripal’s potential links to the private security firm that compiled a dossier of allegations against Donald Trump.
Or, they say, Americans passed the nerve agent or details on how to manufacture it to British allies, with many citing the proximity of Porton Down to the location of the attack.
Ukraine has been raised as another potential culprit, in the belief that it would seek to discredit Russia to gain international backing against pro-Russian separatists fighting an ongoing war against government forces.
Other conspiracy theorists have blamed wide-ranging targets including the EU or pro-Remain elements in Britain.
“I believe this is all to derail Brexit,” said one caller to LBC radio. “It's to make us look isolated and vulnerable against Russia so that we stay in the EU.”
Ben Nimmo, of the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, said many Russian news articles furthering the theories were based on “interviews with former security chiefs and weird commentators” with no expertise or credibility.
He told The Independent a mounting disinformation campaign was using the “same techniques” as those seen after incidents including the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight 17 using a missile from Russia.
“You can think of them as dismiss, distort, distract and dismay,” Mr Nimmo said. “You insult the critic, then distort by falsifying the evidence.
“Distract is the whole ‘if they accuse you, you accuse them’ method, and then there’s the conspiracy theorists. Dismay comes when they threaten ‘horrible things will happen if you do this’.”
Mr Putin’s spokesperson said Russia “won’t take long” to respond to the UK’s expulsion of diplomats, while a foreign ministry representative suggested British journalists could be kicked out of the country.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/cr ... 58911.html
by JackRiddler » Fri Mar 16, 2018 11:43 am
by Rory » Sat Mar 17, 2018 1:21 pm
by alloneword » Sat Mar 17, 2018 5:46 pm
(London) Times wrote:Nearly 40 people have experienced symptoms related to the Salisbury nerve agent poisoning, it was revealed yesterday, as locals expressed anger about a lack of information from the authorities.
Sergei Skripal, a former Russian double agent who sought refuge in Britain after a spy swap in 2010, and his daughter Yulia are among 38 people who required hospital treatment for poisoning symptoms, Neil Basu, the national head of counterterrorism, revealed...
Craig Murray wrote:I think I might now have a vodka. Of a type developed by Russia. Made in Warrington.
by seemslikeadream » Sun Mar 18, 2018 8:18 am
Skripal Poisoning: If Not Russia, Then…
The many theories of who used a Russian nerve agent in England
Some of the many conspiratorial headlines around the Skripal poisoning. (Graphic by @DFRLab)
Ever since the British media began suggesting that Russia was behind the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal with a rare nerve agent on March 4, theories have swirled over who else might have done it, especially via pro-Kremlin outlets.
The conspiracy-based speculation intensified on March 14, after British Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed that the UK government held the Russian state responsible.
Pro-Kremlin outlets have a long history of broadcasting unorthodox, and sometimes conspiratorial, theories when Russia is accused of violating international law. Here, we present some of the main theories circulating on English-language outlets, especially Russian state-owned outlets.
1. It was a British “false flag” operation
The most oft-repeated theory, especially on Russian state broadcasters RT and Sputnik, was that the Skripals’ poisoning was the work of British intelligence.
This began early. A Sputnik editorial on March 8 argued, “Given their inveterate anti-Russian agenda, the British authorities have much more vested interest in seeing Skripal poisoned than the Kremlin ever would.”
(Source: Sputnik)
The article rationalized the theory that the British government would use a foreign nerve agent on a civilian and former informant in a crowded public place in southern England by referring to events in Russia.
“It seems highly significant that Russia’s presidential elections are due to take place later this month. What better way to smear the expected electoral victory of incumbent president Vladimir Putin than to accuse the Kremlin of carrying out an assassination plot on British soil against a former Russian spy?”
The same Sputnik author repeated his theory on March 13. He wrote, “What’s much more plausible is that the British authorities staged the event as a propaganda stunt to frame and further demonize Russia.”
The same day, Sputnik interviewed a number of “analysts” under the headline, “Russia ex-spy’s poisoning seems like plot to derail UK-Russia ties — analysts.”
(Source: Sputnik)
According to one of those analysts, Helga Zepp-Larouche, the attempted murder could be a “dirty trick” created by UK intelligence “as a pretext for another anti-Russia escalation.”
It is to be questioned whether Zepp-Larouche is an authoritative analyst of British government intelligence practices, however. One of her earlier writings was titled, “Defend mankind from the satanic climate-change swindle,” and argued that anthropogenic climate change is a “swindle” aimed at establishing “a fascist world government which would exceed Hitler’s most audacious dreams.”
Other pundits interviewed for the article included two representatives of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), which has a pattern of pro-Kremlin voting in the European Parliament, and the leader of the fringe UK Christian Peoples Alliance. The final analyst was Swedish-based Professor Marcello Ferrada de Noli, best known for accusing the Syrian White Helmets rescue group of staging video footage of their response to a chemical attack in March 2015.
The analytical qualifications of the bulk of these “analysts” therefore seem open to question.
The same day, RT reported an interview with the former head of Russia’s FSB intelligence service, Nikolay Kovalev. The interview was given to Sputnik’s sister agency, RIA Novosti.
(Source: RT)
As quoted by RT, Kovalev said, “It looks like British secret services are complicit in it. [Defectors] are fully under surveillance … the secret services are monitoring them, they know their whereabouts and schedules.”
In the same post, RT also quoted another RIA Novosti interviewee, former FSB general Vladimir Mikhailov, who said that MI6 “could have synthesized the agent and use it for political purposes.”
Another RT article quoted yet another former FSB head, Sergei Stepashin, who said, “a primitive provocation by British intelligence services.”
This theory fits the Russian disinformation model of “dismiss, distort, distract, dismay.” It is best seen as an attempt to distract attention from the British government’s extraordinarily severe accusation against Russia.
2. It could be the CIA
Both RT and Sputnik also broadcast the claim that the United States had access to the Novichok family of nerve agents — basing their news coverage on a New York Times article written in 1999.
Sputnik headline from March 14, 2018, quoting a report from May 25, 1999. Note the way the headline refers simply to a “report”, without specifying the date. (Source: Sputnik)
RT referenced the report briefly in a larger article detailing various reasons why Russia might not be behind the poisoning. Sputnik provided a standalone article, largely quoting from the New York Times.
Neither outlet stated outright that the United States may have played a role in the poisoning. That was left to the Director of the Institute of Political Studies in Moscow, Sergei Markov, who connected the dots in an interview with Al Jazeera:
“Novichok had been produced in Uzbekistan in the Soviet times and after the fall of the Soviet Union, as we know, the American intelligence services had access to this factory. The American and British intelligence services have a very strong cooperation with each other, and I am sure 100 percent that the British got this Novichok nerve agent from them for this provocation.”
The same argument was taken up by sites on the conspiracy-theory fringe of the English-language media space, especially sites which support United States President Donald Trump.
Far-right blog “The Ethnic European”, which proclaims its principles as “Race — Nation — Culture — Heritage — Tradition — Family,” posted a long article headlined “The assassination nation,” which reviewed a history of alleged assassinations in Britain, Europe and, especially, the United States:
“In the US more than 40 forty high profile Western bankers have died under suspicious circumstances. The European Union records more assassinations than does Russia; is the EU trying to catch up with the US perhaps?”
Another article by the same outlet on March 11 indirectly quoted an analyst named Tom Secker, who said that there were “many victims of the British agent who had a motive for his attempted murder. Skripal betrayed many people, not just in terms of agents but criminal organizations too.”
This appeared to be based on a Sputnik interview with Secker on March 9, in which he said, “He betrayed quite a lot of people, and not just in terms of governments, not just in terms of government agents or intelligence agencies, but potentially private criminal organizations.”
3. Because of Donald Trump
U.S.-focused users were particularly excited by the theory that Skripal’s poisoning may have been connected to the controversy surrounding Trump’s Russian connections.
The theory, which surfaced within hours of the discovery of the Skripals, argued that the Russian former agent could have been a contact of former British agent Christopher Steele. Steele, in turn, was the author of a notorious dossier alleging corrupt links between Trump and Russia — the subject of bitter partisan fighting in the U.S.
The theory was debated on both sides of the hyper-partisan divide. As early as March 6, Trump opponent and online commentator Ed Krassenstein posted on the story, saying, “It is expected that Putin may have had him poisoned.”Ed Krassenstein
@EdKrassen
Sergei Skripal, a Russian double-agent was found unconscious and ill in the UK, along with his daughter.
Skripal has done work with Christopher Steele and it is expected that Putin may have had him poisoned.
11:03 AM - Mar 6, 2018
(Source: Twitter / @EdKrassen)
The following day, the Daily Telegraph alleged that Skripal had become close to a consultant who worked alongside Steele.
The story was quickly picked up by Trump supporters, who argued that Skripal was more likely to have been targeted by British or American intelligence — both portrayed as part of a “deep state” conspiracy against Trump.
Conservative partisan site the Gateway Pundit, for example, headlined, “Who Poisoned Russian Agent Sergei Skripal? Who Had the Most Reason to Off Him? …Was it Russia or Deep State?” The article repeatedly accused an alleged “deep state” in the U.S. of involvement:
(Source: Gateway Pundit)
Website moonofalabama.org wrote, “More likely is an involvement of Skripal in the Steele dossier and the CIA/MI6 operation against Donald Trump. Was he assailed because he threatened to talk about it?”
Pro-Kremlin propaganda site The Duran also devoted an entire article to the thesis, headlined, “The poisoning of Sergei Skripal leads straight to Hillary Clinton and the DNC,” referring to the Democratic National Committee. It asked, “Was Skripal the latest victim of the Clinton mafia’s murder machine?”
(Source: The Duran)
The consonance between pro-Kremlin, pro-Trump, and anti-Clinton was especially visible here. It need not imply coordination, but underlines once more the narrative convergence between the two groups.
4. There’s always Ukraine
Those who followed the accusations and counter-accusations which followed the shooting down of Malayasian Airlines flight MH17 will be aware of the range of ways in which the Kremlin sought to blame Ukraine. An international investigation found in 2016 that the fatal missile had been brought into Ukraine from Russia.
A few Russian commentators appear to have revived the narrative to cover the Skripals’ poisoning, although it is unclear how seriously they meant it.
Former FSB director Kovalev, for example, aired the theory that the nerve agent could have been stockpiled in Ukraine, and used by the Ukrainian state, in his RIA Novosti interview:
“Given that [such substances] were stockpiled in former Soviet Union republics — sorry, but Ukrainian involvement can’t be ruled out.”
Researcher Julia Davis highlighted a moment on Russian state TV in which Ukraine was singled out for blame.Julia Davis
@JuliaDavisNews
#Russia's state TV presents #Skripal poisoning conspiracy theory No. 9:
"Ukraine did it to frame Russia."
(It's so ridiculous that the host and panelists can't keep a straight face and burst out laughing.)
9:35 PM - Mar 13, 2018
(Source: Twitter / @JuliaDavisNews)
Davis kindly shared the exact timestamp of the video with @DFRLab, allowing us to confirm the comment, “I don’t want to point the blame at Ukraine, but…” and a subsequent discussion of why Ukraine might be guilty.
(Source: YouTube/ Rossiya1)
This also allowed us to screengrab the faces of the other panelists, showing their disbelief. One then commented ironically, “The fascists in Kiev, of course!”, indicating that this conspiracy theory is unlikely to gain traction even in Russia.
The reaction when Ukraine was blamed. (Source: YouTube / Rossiya 1, timestamp 23:57 and 23:59)
Davis also underlined a number of other theories pushed by the Russian-language media in a Twitter thread, including accusing the UK, U.S., an accidental overdose, and suicide. The latter do not appear to have made it into the English-language space, at least as yet.
5. And finally…
The conspiracy theories did not stop here. Multiple special-interest groups have attempted to lay the blame for the Skripals’ poisoning at the door of their chosen enemies.
A UKIP branch in High Wycombe, in the English Home Counties, tweeted to accuse “a third party such as the EU” of “trying to interfere in UK Russian relations.”UKIP High Wycombe
@UKIPHighWycombe
Replying to @AllieRenison
@RussianEmbassy too early to say who did it .It could be a third party such as the EU trying to interfere in UK Russian relations
10:45 AM - Mar 8, 2018
Archived on March 14, 2018. (Source: Twitter / @UKIPHighWycombe)
According to David Leask, chief reporter at The Herald newspaper in Scotland, one apparently Scottish user on The Herald’s website accused England, on the tortuous logic that such a move would allow the British government to criticize former Scottish nationalist leader Alex Salmond for hosting an RT show.
David Leask
@LeaskyHT
Replying to @benimmo @ChrisHernon
Not necessarily from the Kremlin, but there is "The English done it to smear Alex Salmond" is an theory on the fringes of Scottish cyberspace.
11:20 AM - Mar 14, 2018
(Source: Twitter / @LeaskyHT)
Sputnik even misquoted former Kremlin advisor Alexander Nekrassov as accusing “rouge agents” [sic] of carrying out the attack, “for some sort agenda [sic] such as slander or tarnish Russia [sic] or cause friction between Britain and Russia.”
Archived on March 14, 2018. (Source: Sputnik)
Given Sputnik’s editorial standards, it is fair to assume that Nekrassov was talking of “rogue” agents, rather than agents in heavy makeup.
Given the range of conspiracy theories swirling around the attack, however, even this may not be certain.
@DFRLab will continue to monitor developments with regard to the Skripal poisoning, subsequent developments between nations, and narratives from all sides of the conversation.
https://medium.com/dfrlab/skripal-poiso ... 49f086e3e0
All the theories Russia is pushing to claim they weren't behind the nerve agent attack on a former spy in the UK
Alexandra Ma and Kieran Corcoran
Sergei Skripal, the poisoned ex-spy, in 2006. AP
Britain has accused Russia of trying to kill former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter with a deadly nerve agent — but the Kremlin is fighting back.
The UK blamed Russia partly on the grounds that Novichok, the poison used in the attack, was developed in the former Soviet Union. Allies including the US, France, and Germany have agreed that this is the only plausible explanation.
Regardless, the Kremlin has denied all involvement. Instead Russian officials and state media outlets have promoted numerous alternative theories which they claim could lead to the real culprits.
1. Britain supplied the poison itself from a chemical weapons lab.
Vladimir Chizhov, Russia's ambassador to the EU, refutes involvement in the poisoning. BBC News
On Sunday, Vladimir Chizhov, Russia's ambassador to the European Union, suggested that the Novichok could have originated from a UK military lab at Porton Down.
The facility is where scientists analysed traces from the murder this week, leading Britain to point the finger at Russia.
In an interview with the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, Chizhov said: "Porton Down, as we now all know, is the largest military facility in the United Kingdom that has been dealing with chemical weapons research.
"And it's actually only eight miles from Salisbury."
He later added: "I don't have any evidence."
2. Ukraine did it using leftover Soviet chemical weapons.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kiev in February 2018. Gleb Garanich/Reuters
Nikolay Kovalev, the former director of Russia's secret service (FSB), pointed the finger at Ukraine because the former Soviet Union republic could have stockpiled the nerve agent used to attack Skripal.
Novichok, the deadly nerve agent identified in the poisoning, was developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
The state-backed RT TV network cited Kovalev as saying: "Given that [such substances] were stockpiled in former Soviet Union republics - sorry, but Ukrainian involvement can't be ruled out."
3. Sweden, Slovakia, or the Czech Republic were involved.Margot Wallström
@margotwallstrom
Forcefully reject unacceptable and unfounded allegation by Russian MFA spokesperson that nerve agent used in Salisbury might originate in Sweden. Russia should answer UK questions instead.
11:21 AM - Mar 17, 2018
711
455 people are talking about this
Russian officials have also suggested other European countries could have been the source of the poison.
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the likeliest source of the posion is "countries which have been carrying out intense research on the substances from the 'Novichok' program."
She listed Sweden, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic as the countries she meant, as well as Britain.
The Swedish , Czech and Slovakian foreign ministries have all bluntly rejected that suggestion.
4. Britain did it because Brexit is going badly.
Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels in December 2017. Yves Herman/Reuters
Sergei Markov, a pro-Kremlin former politician and director of Moscow's Institute of Political Studies, accused British intelligence of orchestrating the attack to distract the public from domestic politics and Brexit negotiations.
He told Al Jazeera: "Theresa May has a lot of problems because of the failure in the parliamentary elections, Brexit, and the complicated situation with the border between Ireland and the Northern Ireland.
"So the British intelligence service probably organised the killing of Mr Skripal, sacrificing the guy who they don't need any more."
5. Britain did it because they were worried Skripal would turn on them.
Sergei Skripal at his trial in 2006, where he was charged with treason against Russia. AP
This was the view put forward by ultranationalist Russian politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who is also running in the upcoming presidential election on March 18.
According to The Guardian, Zhirinovsky suggested that UK intelligence agencies could have poisoned Skripal because "he was of no more use to them" and feared that the ex-Russian spy would sell on their state secrets.
6. Britain did it to make Russia look bad.
Andrei Lugovoi in Moscow in September 2007. Epsilon/Getty
Andrei Lugovoi, a Russian politician and former spy, said earlier this month that this could have been "another provocation by British intelligence agencies" to slander Russia.
The Guardian cited Lugovoi as saying two days after the Skripals were found collapsed: "I don't rule out that this is another provocation by British intelligence agencies.
"Whatever happens on [British] territory, they start yelling: 'He was killed, he was hung, he was poisoned!' and that Russia is to blame for everything.
"This is to their advantage."
Lugovoi was also held responsible by British authorities in the assassination of ex-KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko in 2006. The UK later tried to extradite him, but Russia refused.
7. Britain must have been involved, because only they knew where Skripal was.
Sergei Skripal buying groceries near his Salisbury home on February 27, 2018. ITV News
Nikolay Kovalev, a former director of the Russian secret service (FSB), said Britain and its allies could have behind the attack because the UK would have known Skripal's whereabouts, and therefore been able to attack him in Salisbury.
RT cited him as saying: "It looks like British secret services are complicit in it.
"[Defectors] are fully under surveillance... The secret services are monitoring them, they know their whereabouts and schedules.
"And then you have such strange events happen in a row."
London's Metropolitan Police, whose counterterror police is leading the investigation, recently appealed for information on the Skripals' whereabouts 45 minutes before he arrived at the shopping centre at which he later collapsed.
8. The West timed the attack to coincide with Russia's elections.
Putin arrives at his presidential re-election campaign rally in Moscow in March 2018. Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via Reuters
Sputnik ran an op-ed alleging this four days after the Skripals were found poisoned.
The columnist, Finian Cunningham, wrote:
"It seems highly significant that Russia's presidential elections are due to take place later this month [March 18]. What better way to smear the expected electoral victory of incumbent president Vladimir Putin than to accuse the Kremlin of carrying out an assassination plot on British soil against a former Russian spy?
"Given their inveterate anti-Russian agenda, the British authorities have much more vested interest in seeing Skripal poisoned than the Kremlin ever would."
MailOnline also cited Argumenty i Fakty, a Russian tabloid owned by the Government of Moscow, as saying: "Whatever happened in reality, we need to admit that Skripal is a very convenient figure for promotion of another round of anti-Russian hysteria."
9. Non-state actors who wanted to "cause an international scandal" did it.
May announcing measures against Russia in the House of Commons. BBC News
Lieutenant General William Rooda, a retired Soviet intelligence agent, told Sputnik Skripal was "obviously" carried out by non-state actors who wanted to stir up an international scandal.
Paraphrasing Rooda, Sputnik reported that the former Soviet spy said the perpetrators' "aim was not to murder him but to cause an international scandal."
Rooda also claimed that Skripal, who was pardoned and sent to the UK in 2010, didn't pose a threat to Moscow and therefore couldn't have been poisoned by the Russian state.
Besides, Rooda claimed, Russian military intelligence never used poison or other toxic substances to kill its enemies.
10. The US could be involved because it previously accessed an Uzbek research site that made Novichok.
Both RT and Sputnik suggested that the US might have been behind the poisoning because it had could have had access to the chemical plants that produced Novichok.
While neither outlet accused the US outright, both wrote articles heavily implying that the US could possess the knowledge and materials for Novichok.
Both cited a 1999 article from The New York Times, which reported that the US had been given access to a research site that made the nerve agent.
"Is Russia the only place it could come from?" RT asked, while Sputnik re-reported The New York Times' story.
Markov, the Institute of Political Studies director, was less subtle.
He told Al Jazeera:
"Novichok had been produced in Uzbekistan in the Soviet times and after the fall of the Soviet Union, as we know, the American intelligence services had access to this factory.
"The American and British intelligence services have a very strong cooperation with each other, and I am sure 100% that the British got this Novichok nerve agent from them for this provocation."
11. The UK and US made their own version of Novichok, which could have been used in the poisoning.
A Soviet officer shows off weapons stored at the Shikhany chemical weapons base, where Novichok was developed, in October 1987. John Thor Dahlburg/AP
This theory was put forward by Alexander Shulgin, the Russian envoy to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
State-backed Sputnik news agency cited him as saying: "It is entirely possible that this substance could have been used from their arsenals, from their stocks.
"My guess is this, Britain cannot provide us with the real evidence and confirmation of those claims that are put forward to us."
12. In fact, anyone could have created Novichok because the chemical formula is published in a book.
Vil Mirzayanov in 2009. vilmirza/YouTube
Vil Mirzayanov, a scientist who helped the Soviet Union develop Novichok during the Cold War, has said that anyone — including Britain — could have created its own version of Novichok because he published the chemical formula in his book.
Mirzayanov told Voice of America on Thursday: "The British could easily have synthesized it on the basis of the formulas that I published in my book. [...]
"Each country takes care of its own security, and as part of the study of possible threats, a model could have been created."
Russia's embassy in London also tweeted a link to Mirzayanov's interview.
Pro-Russian outlets, such as the state-backed RT TV network, quickly used Mirzayanov's statement to suggest that other state and non-state actors could have been behind the poisoning.
http://www.businessinsider.com/theories ... ?r=UK&IR=T
by Harvey » Sun Mar 18, 2018 3:57 pm
by alloneword » Sun Mar 18, 2018 5:45 pm
Rory » Thu Mar 15, 2018 5:13 pm wrote:Things have taken an odd, discordant tone all round. Mischief is afoot.
Here is Britain's Left Wing Voice
Very retro, ironic.
by Rory » Mon Mar 19, 2018 10:21 am
Among senior ministers and officials, there's quiet satisfaction that the Russia crisis seems to be going according to plan. Maybe even better.
According to one senior government source, "it's gone at least as well as we'd hoped".
He didn't add, "...so far, anyway". But then he hardly needed to. As Britain ponders its new post-Brexit role in the world, we're now witnessing the start of a new and defining phase.
Judging the high and the low politics of the Russia crisis objectively, Theresa May and her team have been able to tick a series of boxes. So far, anyway.
by seemslikeadream » Mon Mar 19, 2018 10:28 am
Vehicle used to pick up Yulia Skripal from airport seized for forensic tests
The vehicle used to pick up Yulia Skripal when she arrived in the UK has been seized
The vehicle used to pick up Yulia Skripal from Heathrow when she arrived in the UK from Moscow has been seized by the military for forensic testing.
The development suggests that detectives believe the Novichok nerve agent used to poison both the 33-year-old and her father, Russian spy Sergei Skripal, a fortnight ago may have been unwittingly carried over by her from Russia the previous day.
Barely 24 hours later, the pair were found on a bench in the centre of Salisbury in a catatonic state.
Miss Skripal was picked up from the airport on Saturday March 3 by Ross Cassidy, one of Col Skripal's closest friends, who drove her back to her father's house in Salisbury.
Intelligence officers have suggested that the toxin may have been hidden in her luggage, either impregnated in an item of clothing or cosmetics or else in a gift, meaning Miss Skripal was deliberately targeted to get at her father.
Mr Cassidy confirmed when contacted by The Telegraph that his pick-up truck had been seized at the concrete plant in Amesbury where he works.
Ross Cassidy, a close friend of Sergei Skripal, who is understood to have picked Yulia Skripal up from Heathrow
Meanwhile, police investigating the murder of Russian businessman Nikolai Glushkov said they had found no evidence of forced entry into his home.
The 68-year-old was found apparently strangled at his terraced house in Clarence Avenue, New Malden on March 12, prompting fears that a new Moscow-sponsored attack had been carried out on UK soil.
The former Aeroflot deputy director, a fierce critic of Vladimir Putin, was granted asylum in the UK after fleeing Russia in 2006.
His death was initially treated as unexplained but four days later, following a post-mortem examination, Scotland Yard launched a murder inquiry.
Mr Glushkov, who was close friends with Putin critic Boris Berezovsky, was wanted over fraud allegations in his native Russia.
He was also outspoken after Mr Berezovsky died in 2013, refusing to accept that his friend had taken his own life.
Counter-terrorism police are leading the investigation into Mr Glushkov's death but have stressed that there is no evidence to link it with the attempted murder of Col Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury.
On Monday officers were carrying out house-to-house inquiries near his Clarence Avenue home and appealing for witnesses to come forward.
Metropolitan Police Commander Clarke Jarrett said: "I would urge anybody who may have information to get in touch if they have not already done so. We will have officers in Mr Glushkov's local neighbourhood today so please come and speak to us if you think you may have seen or heard anything suspicious last Sunday or Monday.
"The investigation is progressing; we have taken a number of statements and have over 400 exhibits which are being processed. We have found no sign of forced entry thus far, but the forensic examination at Mr Glushkov's home continues and we expect to be there for some time.
"I must stress that there is nothing we have found in our investigation so far to suggest any link to the attempted murders in Salisbury and I would like to reassure the public in New Malden that there are no wider public health concerns in relation to this investigation."
Officers at the cordon near the tent covering the bench where Sergei Skripal and his daughter were found poisoned Credit: REUTERS/Peter Nicholls
The bodies of Russian dissidents who have died in the UK are likely to be exhumed in the wake of Boris Johnson's disclosure that the Kremlin has spent a decade developing nerve agents for assassination purposes.
The remains of at least two Russians who died suddenly and mysteriously are expected to be re-examined. Neither was tested for nerve agent poisoning after their deaths. Yesterday, the Foreign Secretary accused Putin's regime of breaking international law in developing Novichok for use by hit squads.
Today, inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will visit the defence laboratory at Porton Down to collect nerve agent samples used in the attack for independent testing. The tests are expected to last at least two weeks.
Mr Johnson said the Government had proof that Novichok was being stockpiled by Russia.
The Skripals remain in a critical and life threatening condition.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/0 ... sic-tests/
by Rory » Mon Mar 19, 2018 10:39 am
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