Open Thread: Skripal Suspects Interviewed on RT
For those of you who missed it – the Skripal suspects came forward, approaching RT to tell their story. The whole interview is embedded above and available here, with a transcript here.
A quick rundown of their claims:
- They are civilians, not GRU officers.
- They are tourists, who travelled to Salisbury to see the cathedral and visit Stonehenge.
- They are were not carrying, and have never seen, the Nina Ricci perfume bottle.
- They did not know Sergei Skripal lived in Salisbury and had never heard of him before he was in the news.
- They urge the UK police to show the CCTV footage from Salisbury cathedral, which they claim serves as their alibi.
In the interests of impartiality we point out they produce no evidence to back up these claims, and the case remains very much a “he-said-she-said” situation.
These developments open up new questions
- Will the UK request extradition?
- Will Russian authorities invite UK police to Russia to question the men?
- If asked, would the UK police go?
- What prompted these men to come forward?
- Will the UK police release the CCTV footage of Salisbury cathedral?
- Are they really civilians? Will they produce passports and/or documentation as evidence?
- How many tourists visit Salisbury cathedral every year? How many Russians visit the UK as tourists every year? How many Russians, excluding the named suspects, were in Salisbury around this time? These statistics could be revealing.
- This move could bolster the UK cause, at least in the media, is it part of a quid pro quo diplomatic arrangement? Possibly with the UK making a concession in Syria?
Whatever the truth of the matter, this interview certainly serves to confuse things. Their story is possible, but not supported with evidence. They are clear on some details – and their request for the police to release the cathedral CCTV rings true – but yet they are also cagey about their business and personal life.
The talking heads in the mainstream media have already dismissed the interview as lies from start to finish – they would do this no matter what was said – but it is foolish to seize on the translated words of two obviously anxious men as evidence of guilt. Especially when the “official narrative” is so full of holes in terms of the timeline, logistics, motive and method.
However, it would equally partisan, in the opposite direction, to declare their story watertight and totally believable. There are certainly a lot of unanswered questions here, and we have a duty to withhold judgment and attempt to be impartial.
What happens now? And do you believe the two men? Comment below.
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The entire story is fake imo.
The reported : “chemical weapon assassins’ birth date attributes” … The reported birth date attribute for the script entity known as “Ruslan Boshirov” is 12 April 1978 The reported birth date attribute for the script entity known as “Alexander Petrov” is 13 July 1979 Quote : There are almost no open sources of information about Boshirov. According to the “Fontanka”, he was born on April 12, 1978 in Dushanbe, was registered in Moscow in a 25-storey house on Bolshaya Naberezhnaya street. Quote : Petrov is even less known. According to the documents, he was born on July 13, 1979*. A person with such a date of birth and a given name can be found in the list of employees of the national manufacturer of immunobiological preparations – the FSUE NPO “Microgen”. It was created in 2003 by the merger of fourteen enterprises of the immunobiological industry. The structure of “Microgen”,… Read more »
Links for above post :
Source : https://www.fontanka.ru/2018/09/05/075/
Translation : https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&u=https://www.fontanka.ru/2018/09/05/075
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillary_Clinton_presidential_campaign,_2016
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theresa_May
MG
The Masonic / Kabbalistic / Zionic number 37 aka the 12 th Prime.
https://off-guardian.org/2018/06/10/ronan-tynan-kicks-off-world-cup-anti-russia-campaign-by-implying-us-war-crimes-work-of-putin/#comment-123851
MG
Whilst not forgetting, the vassal state we are in …
“Trump to May ?
six six six months, weeks and days” …
*
Theresa May’s first day as UK PM was 13 July 2016[1]
Donald Trump was born on 14 June 1946[2]
= 666 months, 666 weeks, 666 days [3]
*
[1] Theresa May
[2] The Jo Cox script …
Donald Trump was born on 14 June 1946, the same day that the inventor of television, John Logie Baird died.
The cryptic, “tune in a TV” narrative node in the Jo Cox / Thomas Mair script, clearly referenced Donald Trump via the John Logie Baird allegory.
[3] Date calculation method is INClusive ISUAF = Include day 1 and the last day in the calculation. If Smaller Units Added First. ( Days & Weeks, then Months & Years ), so two date calculation URLs are required :
Links to follow.
MG
“Ruslan Boshirov” and Hillary Clinton’s Presidential Nomination.
See above : The reported birth date attribute for the script entity known as “Ruslan Boshirov” is 12 April 1978
Hillary Clinton won the Democratic Presidential Nomination on 26 July 2016
Democrats Make Hillary Clinton a Historic Nominee
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/27/us/politics/dnc-speakers-sanders-clinton.html?_r=0
By PATRICK HEALY and JONATHAN MARTIN
JULY 26, 2016
PHILADELPHIA — The Democratic convention formally nominated Hillary Clinton for president on Tuesday, making history by choosing a woman to be the first standard-bearer of a major political party, a breakthrough underscored by a deeply personal speech by Bill Clinton calling her “the best darn change-maker I have ever known.”
INClusive =
= 666 + 666 + 666 weeks
https://www.timeanddate.com/date/durationresult.html?d1=12&m1=4&y1=1978&d2=26&m2=7&y2=2016&ti=on
MG
The Yulia Skripal Reuters video and Hillary Clinton’s Presidential Nomination.
The Yulia Skripal Reuters video :
OffG : Whose words was Yulia reading?
https://off-guardian.org/2018/05/24/whose-words-was-yulia-reading/
“Yulia Skripal allegedly making voluntary statement May 23 2018”
*
See above : Hillary Clinton won the Democratic Presidential Nomination on 26 July 2016
= 666 days
https://www.timeanddate.com/date/durationresult.html?d1=26&m1=7&y1=2016&d2=23&m2=5&y2=2018
MG
“Alexander Petrov” and “Ruslan Boshirov” rt.com interview and Hillary Clinton’s Presidential Nomination.
Hillary Clinton accepted the Democratic Presidential Nomination on 28 July 2016
Hillary Clinton
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillary_Clinton
Clinton made a second presidential run in 2016. She received the most votes and primary delegates in the 2016 Democratic primaries and formally accepted her party’s nomination for President of the United States on July 28, 2016 …
*
The “Alexander Petrov” and “Ruslan Boshirov” rt.com interview was broadcast on 13 September 2018
= 777 days
https://www.timeanddate.com/date/durationresult.html?d1=28&m1=7&y1=2016&d2=13&m2=9&y2=2018
MG
Dr Chris Bushby was arrested and released today. He never bought the argument that Russia had poisoned the Skripals. One of the leading figures in the science community. He do know what he’s talking about.
Thank you Peter Schmidt.
Dr Chris Busby’s home was raided by police on 13 September 2018, the same day as the “Petrov” and “Ruslan” RT production …
COP POISON PROBE Police taken ill with ‘chemical poisoning’ after raid on home of British nuclear expert who appears on Russia Today
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7250170/chris-busby-devon-police-ill-chemical-poisoning-nuclear-expert-russia-today/
Dr Chris Busby was held by police after a dramatic raid on the nuclear expert’s home in Bideford, Devon
By Neal Baker
13th September 2018, 1:48 pm
*
Dr Chris Busby on the Skripal Russia Poisoning affair
Video: Dr. Chris Busby on Novichoks and the Skripal Russia Poisoning Affair
https://www.globalresearch.ca/video-dr-chris-busby-on-novichoks-and-the-skripal-russia-poisoning-affair/5635305
MG
MG – sorry I’ve just seen your video after posting mine below. As far as I can tell mine is a shortened version of yours covering just the last 2-3 minutes.
Re Dr. Busby, harassment of any one who questions the official narrative too closely: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-488667/Why-I-know-weapons-expert-Dr-David-Kelly-murdered-MP-spent-year-investigating-death.html
Why I know weapons expert Dr David Kelly was murdered, by the MP who spent a year investigating his death
By NORMAN BAKER
Last updated at 00:13 20 October 2007
Thank you.
So, the only 100% conclusion that can be drawn is that TheArse May & BlunderButt Boris are completely stupid liars, so insane as to attempt to demonise Russia, on a transparent false flag, even to the extent of risking WWIII?
John Doran.
He’s clearly a thorn in the side of the U.K. our intelligence agencies. Here’s his view on the Salisbury false flag:
https://www.express.co.uk/videos/555051/Dr-Chris-Busby-Novichok-poising-was-a-false-flag-operation
The full range of harassment against anyone who questions official stories too closely Why I know weapons expert Dr David Kelly was murdered, by the MP who spent a year investigating his death By NORMAN BAKER Last updated at 00:13 20 October 2007 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-488667/Why-I-know-weapons-expert-Dr-David-Kelly-murdered-MP-spent-year-investigating-death.html < blockquote>Like me, he had many doubts about the true circumstances surrounding Dr Kelly’s death and he had begun making his own surreptitious inquiries around Southmoor, the Oxfordshire village which was Dr Kelly’s home. Posing as a freelance journalist, he had attempted to contact the key policemen involved in investigating the case. In this he was unsuccessful but within an hour he received an unexpected return call. The person on the other end of the line did not bother with formalities, but instead cut to the quick. How would my contact welcome a full tax inspection of his business, VAT, national insurance, the lot? Life could… Read more »
Moscow, October 8
Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Bohirov, the two men suspected of poisoning the Skripals in Salisbury, have been found dead in an empty garage outside Moscow. An independent investigation by the Moscow police has concluded that the death was a double suicide. A letter found near the bodies stated: “We cannot live any longer as two innocent men being hounded to death by the Western media and secret services. This is all the Western media’s and secret services’ fault. The Western media and secret services hate Russia and the Russians, and it is because of them that we died”. The men have apparently chosen to enter a suicide pact by shooting each other 17 times in the back.
Upvoted yourself three times, have you, troll? Think yourself funny, do you?
Probably bribed his call-centre cubicle pals on either side of him and in front of him to upvote his comment.
Just when you think Matt the pretend Venezuelan aka #DownWithAssad couldn’t be any more crass, immature and vulgar in his trolling, he straight away descends to depths hitherto believed unfathomable.
The irony of one who accuses another, without evidence, of being part of a “call-centre” and getting posts upvoted from fellow colleagues, of calling me a “troll”, is simply too great for me to handle.
Which call centre do I work at? If you were serious when making this accusation, and not merely trolling (which is probably the reality), then present evidence to support your claim.
My “call-centre pals” did such a poor job of upvoting my comment that it only received 5 upvotes vs. 72 downvotes!
I must tell them to work harder.
Dear rude commentator,
It is also possible that 4 people upvoted me. Look again. My comment has 72 downvotes, so if I were to upvote myself, it would be to go over that amount. Duh.
Think a little before you accuse people of “trolling” and of upvoting themselves.
Are you being sarcastic, or just suggesting their impending demise? Sometimes, it’s just being offensive.
The Golden Rule : If a narrative contains references, then they are included for a reason. Always.
So, has anyone managed to work out the connection between :
Sergei Skripal’s alleged son Alexander & his reported meanderings on Russian Rail / the Sapsan train …
The “Ruslan” and “Boshirov” narrative “New Balance sneakers” …
and :
the Donald Trump 2016 Election Campaign ?
I am surprised that nobody has mentioned any of these “narrative nodes”.
For example, why do you think that 2 alleged assassins, in such an important media interview, would feel compelled to mention their trainers / sneakers by their brand name ?
BTW : Today, there is another ongoing Prezzo restaurant “medical emergency” in Salisbury High street once again …
‘Medical incident’ at Prezzo restaurant in Salisbury
https://news.sky.com/video/medical-incident-at-prezzo-restaurant-in-salisbury-11500210
MG
The reported : “chemical weapon assassins’ birth date attributes” … The reported birth date attribute for the script entity known as “Ruslan Boshirov” is 12 April 1978 The reported birth date attribute for the script entity known as “Alexander Petrov” is 13 July 1979 Source : https://www.fontanka.ru/2018/09/05/075/ Translation : https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&u=https://www.fontanka.ru/2018/09/05/075 Quote : There are almost no open sources of information about Boshirov. According to the “Fontanka”, he was born on April 12, 1978 in Dushanbe, was registered in Moscow in a 25-storey house on Bolshaya Naberezhnaya street. Quote : Petrov is even less known. According to the documents, he was born on July 13, 1979*. A person with such a date of birth and a given name can be found in the list of employees of the national manufacturer of immunobiological preparations – the FSUE NPO “Microgen”. It was created in 2003 by the merger of fourteen enterprises of the… Read more »
No takers then ? The Golden Rule : If a narrative contains references, then they are included for a reason. Always. So, has anyone managed to work out the connection between : Sergei Skripal’s alleged son Alexander & his reported meanderings on Russian Rail / the Sapsan train … and : The “Ruslan” and “Boshirov” narrative “New Balance sneakers” … and : the Donald Trump 2016 Election Campaign. See the Wikipedia page for : “List of Donald Trump presidential campaign endorsements, 2016” Among that list is the owner and chairman of New Balance is Jim Davis, [503] “New Balance founder gave nearly $400,000 to Trump – The Boston Globe” Also we read that Vladimir Yakunin, Russian businessman, public figure, former president of Russian Railways, and founder and president of the World Public Forum “Dialogue of Civilizations”[541] also contributed to Donald Trump’s Presidential campaign. The Wikipedia page for the “List of… Read more »
Looks like raging nutter Christo Grozev has been working on this story for Bellingcat along with Aric Toler.
Now the number 495-195-79-66 is what appears on the matrackuksis mattress firm’s website, dated 2016.
Aric Toler is claiming that the Ministry of Defence’s number is 499-195-79-66, and it looks like they are going to claim they called it and recorded the call in their next Bellingcat post.
It turns out that the 495-195 area code changed to 499-195 between 2016 and now.
So obviously 499-195-79-66 is still the mattress retailer’s number.
Any supposed recording of a ‘Ministry of Defence clerk’ claimed to be on that number will be a total fake.
By the way I’ve called the number myself, it rings but there’s no answer today. Bit strange that the Russian MoD reception doesnt answer the phone, perhaps they were at lunch.
Bellingcat sources Western presstitutes Novaya Gazeta and Yulia Latynina for their MOD ‘connection’ because it’s from the same district as the ministry, LOL and when they called the number someone hung up 🙂
Source: https://www.novayagazeta.ru/news/2018/09/14/145085-novaya-gazeta-obnaruzhila-dopolnitelnye-dokazatelstva-vozmozhnoy-svyazi-cheloveka-obvinyaemogo-v-otravlenii-skripaley-s-ministerstvom-oborony-rossii?utm_source=push
Except:
Man From Atlan
Spiritual Answers For the New Age
Russian. Journalism?
September 01, 2017
https://manfromatlan.blogspot.com/2017/09/russian-journalism.html
There’s no answer either on the number they say is the phone number for ‘Foreign Military Review Magazine’, 499-195-79-64.
They say this is the official magazine of the Ministry of Defence, but it appears to have no website of its own and as far as I can see hasn’t been published since 2011.
I could be wrong obviously, I’m just an amateur bellingcat style.
Bless the “amateurs” I say.
Patrick Reevell of ABC’s Moscow bureau called the number and got through to the MoD:
https://twitter.com/Reevellp/status/1040768754421035009
Oliver Carroll, Moscow correspondent for the Independent and Evening Standard, also earlier called the number and got through to the Ministry of Defense:
https://twitter.com/olliecarroll/status/1040766698620690432
Now that the MoD has wised up, expect no more calls to the number to be picked up.
And maybe the Atlantic Council with their enablers in Russia got the MOD number from “a publicly available database” and the gullible western media called them up to confirm they got through to the ministry as if that proves they were Russki spies, LOL.
It is for this reason that Bellingcat blocked me, not because I was ‘abusive’ but because I skewered their thin gruel connect-the-dots logic with ridicule then sends their followers to argue their case here on OffGuardian.
Assertion repeated endlessly is not proof of anything, as I say to the “Q” cult or Jordan Peterson/Sam Harris fan boys on Twitter 🙂
It’s not the MoD’s number.
Of course someone could call the actual MoD, record the call, and pretend they’d called 499-105-79-66 (The mattress retailer) which is likely what Bellingcat have done.
Don’t you just love Russophobic trolls quoting the Western presstitute propaganda sewer?
Matt wrote:
Patrick Reevell of ABC’s Moscow bureau called the number and got through to the MoD:
He can’t have done. Any recording of the call?
Is it significant even if he did?
We currently have no provenance for the alleged docs, no information on if they’re genuine or how they may have been tampered with, and no data to show the alleged markings would be how ‘spy passports’ would be processed.
Given the obvious incongruities and the fact the source (Bellingcat) is a known dumpster for the worst pseudo-research and fake intel, there’s no reason to give any of this any real world credence at this stage, whoever the alleged phone number may belong to.
He can’t have done, he literally called the number that’s written on the mattress firm’s webpage.
Your site for some reason won’t let me post even an abbreviated version of the firm’s page.
We aren’t stopping you posting. Send it to us directly
Sent link twice already.
Well yes, it seems highly unlikely that the procedure for issuing GRU members passports is with blank forms with a special stamp mixed in with everyone else’s normal civilian passport forms.
That passes as ‘evidence’ nowadays. Extreme scepticism is sometimes called for when it comes to MSM claims.
Bellingcat is far more truthful than many other alternative media outlets. It may make errors from time to time, but that is perfectly natural and not reason to smear them. Are media outlets not allowed to make mistakes every now and then? If they, say, make repeat errors that derail their entire claim, then perhaps it would be cause for concern. But most of what they publish is perfectly reasonable, truthful, and backed up by solid analysis. Your visceral reaction to the mention of Bellingcat comes from your reliance on RT, which has engaged in an unprecedented smear campaign against the outlet and its founder. I’ve never really seen anything like it, and here are a bunch of people who repeat these horrible smears. Funny thing is that Bellingcat’s research has been published numerous times in a positive manner by the Russian media… but only when the articles discuss Ukrainian… Read more »
How Fancy Bear Destroyed Eliot Higgins Bellingcat Credibility
https://washingtonsblog.com/2018/06/how-fancy-bear-destroyed-eliot-higgins-bellingcat-credibility.html
So Eliot Higgins sources re Russia are US State dept funded “dissidents” and Ukrainian intelligence, LOL. Now can your passive aggressive voice, Matt.
And I challenged @EliotHiggins directly here, got blocked for my pains 🙂 https://twitter.com/manfromatlan/status/886628839887187969
Response to these guys broke every rule in the KGB/GRU handbook comment on Twitter: Like the 9/11 “hijackers” who broke every rule in the Muslim, Jihadi, and suicide bombers handbook, and were “too incompetent to fly a single engine aircraft” according to instructors at their flying school in Florida but left a Boeing 767 handbook in their car, LOL.
My impression is that these guys had nothing to do with the Skripal poisoning. On the other hand, their business dealings are probably illegal, and if they came clean, they–or people they associate with, in Russia or abroad–would go to jail. The evidence that would exonerate them of Skripal involvement would most likely destroy their business and/or their lives–and those of associates who might take revenge for being ratted out. I wouldn’t want to be in these guys’ shoes.
And, I suspect, if they were to come clean they would risk ending up face down in a lake somewhere at the hands of their ‘business associates’.
All comments disputing the UK government narrative of the Skripal poisoning are being rapidly deleted in this article published in the Independent. What does the UK government fear?
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/salisbury-novichok-attack-suspects-passport-russia-skripal-putin-petrov-boshirov-a8539666.html
And now Putin has poisoned a Pussy Riot member, The Guardian tells me. Not with novichok though.
I’d imagine Putin has his remaining novichok up on ebay now since it’s proven to be pretty rubbish.
theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/13/pussy-riot-activist-in-hospital-after-being-poisoned-says-group-pyotr-verzilov
Bad batch of coke?
Pyotr Verzilov was treated by doctors at the Sklifosovsky Institute in Moscow. They say he was poisoned by anticholinergic drugs which are used as neurotransmitter-blocking medications to treat conditions such as vertigo (Verzilov reported feeling dizzy after a courtroom hearing earlier on the day he fell ill) and respiratory conditions such as asthma. Verzilov may have overdosed on the medicine or had a reaction to it. Anticholinergics are rarely used for recreational purposes.
https://meduza.io/en/news/2018/09/14/pussy-riot-member-pyotr-verzilov-has-regained-consciousness-he-s-been-hospitalized-for-three-days-and-his-friends-fear-he-was-poisoned
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anticholinergic
My post with the link seems to be stuck, so just in case anyone missed it, the phone number 195-79-66 claimed by Bellingcat, Insider Russia, Novaya Gazeta etc to be the number of the Russian Defense Ministry’s Military Intelligence Directorate belongs in fact to a mattress retailer.
Good old Bellingcat. Fantasy news backed by waffles and syrup. Since their MH17 Buk missile fantasy, they just get better. Soon they’ll try news.Indicative of the Groin, that their nonsense is used as “evidence”.
The Daily Mail’s Skripal Suspects drug fueled romp with a prostitute article: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/russia/article-6172497/Novichok-suspects-drug-fuelled-night-cannabis-prostitutes-75-night-London-hotel.html?login¶m_oauth_token=n8Nx1gAAAAAAMAhPAAABZeKJLgM¶m_oauth_verifier=5Cfn9B64ZJ5r6XH74QQYOBRBoymX9mb5¶m__host=www.dailymail.co.uk¶m_hideMasthead=¶m_hideFooter=¶m_geolocation=us&base_fe_url=https%3A%2F%2Fsecured.dailymail.co.uk%2F&validation_fe_uri=%2Fregistration%2Fp%2Fapi%2Ffield%2Fvalidation%2F&check_user_fe_uri=registration%2Fp%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Fuser_check%2F&isMobile=false
” The finding by the respected investigative website Bellingcat directly contradicts Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claims that Petrov and Boshirov were merely civilians who travelled to Salisbury to see its cathedral”. 🙂
The Mail’s story has a ‘traditional’ story line; the Baddies smoked weed and had noisy sex with a prostitute according to an unnamed ‘witness’. No references to the Hotel management and presumably no questions are allowed. So these skilled Agents on a murder mission either brought cannabis with them or bought it in London on arrival as well as procuring a prostitute.
Beats having to visit Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral then 🙂
The GRU doesn’t employ gay men so the Daily Mail got the directive from HM Government to turn them straight with some ‘witnesses’.
Are you assuming this, or is there some evidence to support it?
Bellingcat a ‘respected investigative website’??!! Fake news at its fakest!
I thought it will be good to post my comment on this platform too. Yesterday i posted this comment on Bellingcat’s website in their topic about “Suspects passport data”. Not sure they will publish it. Maybe they’ll do, maybe not. Anyways, here’s what I answered to Bellingcat’s “investigation”: (1) First, and the most important – It’s useless to seriously discuss this topic (read, this version of events) simply because any normal & sane person understand that real personnel who work for special/secret services will never (i repeat, never) be presented in any kinds of public/civilian databases – passport database, tax database, address database, drivers licence database and so on and so on. This is rediculous. And even if we assume purely theoretically (as the most incredible and stupid fantasy) that secret agents are actually present in some civil databases, it is absolutely clear that they will never use their real… Read more »
Bellingcrap is a notorious propaganda disinformer working for MI8, NATO and the Atlantic Council. The mere mention of its name ought to invoke contempt and mirth, nothing else.
MI8? MI6.
Mis-Information 8, the media arm of MI6.
Relax. Good work, but wasted on Bellingcat, a name that reeks of fake news. Any article using Bellingcat as a source can confidently be disregarded. The “Groin” has sunk to a UK govt mouthpiece and should also be disregarded, except for sports scores, menopausal confessions and fad diets.
Freedland and Harding in Versionland through the looking glass. The Graun in its never ending racist spiels about Russia has rushed to judgement again this time about the two identified tourists purported to be Skripal assassins. Freedland in his self proclaimed farce accuses Russia of messing with the truth, something which he clearly thinks is the roll of RT. Not of course the Graun??!! However in his gleeful canter to condemn, he fails to realise that he, the Guardian and Harding have been endlessly pilloried for the same – their lack of balance even total abandonment of the facts in reporting on all things Russian. Russia did it/ Kremlinesque/ Putin Dr Evil screeds. How best to fight for the facts? What Freedland says as Harding explaining, “Versionland”, in which there is no single truth grounded in fact but competing versions.” as though it is used exclusively by Russia, Is exactly… Read more »
How do citizens get to know what D notices are issued? It’s an offence to even report there are D notices in force? Currently there must be more than the one forbidding reference to Agent Miller but what about the owner or manager of the Hotel in East London? S/he could cast light on the whole business and especially whether other later occupants were sought in case they were ill? As for the staff at the Salisbury hospital….It is a bit odd isn’t it that in a country that proclaims it has a ‘free press’ Ministry of Defence Orders to keep stuff secret is commonplace?
Maybe I’m too excitable, but the Guardian stories to which you refer have all the appearance of shark jumping to me. The story based on Bellingcat ‘research’ is a direct and sharp insult to the intelligence. While Freedland’s “Russia’s brazen lies mock the world. How best to fight for the truth?” simply turns the knife in the wound. What is shocking is that, inevitably and in short order, the truth about these banalities will come out. Whether these people are GRU agents is not something than can now be disguised, which suggests to me that they cannot be. Whether it is so easy to discover their ‘secret’ status that even Higgins can do it without the Home Office and MI catching on seems extremely unlikely. Obviously the pair were neither followed nor monitored, surely, were they known to be agents of the state they would have been. The more one… Read more »
The Guardian is investing heavily in satire. A Carole Cadwalladr today writes: “…These intelligence officers, we now know, worked for the GRU, the Russian military intelligence agency that, in July, special counsel Robert Mueller identified as responsible for hacking the emails of the Democratic National Committee, an act that went on to play a defining role in the US election. These same intelligence officers last week went on air and took what can only be described as the piss. Because having been identified by the British authorities after months of painstaking detective work, Boshirov and Petrov coolly spun a preposterous tale about their burning desire to see a cathedral, a cathedral that in two days they never managed to visit because there was “too much slush” on the ground…” I have never seen the Establishment so short of arguments and so ready to defend the indefensible as it seems to… Read more »
Cadwalladr nailed.
Mental.
Freedland brings that trade-mark Zionazi frenzy to his hate-filled denunciations of Russia, like his simulacrum Cohen. But the ultra-odious Cadwalladr (sic) exceeds both today with a crazy diatribe worthy of Streicher at his most unhinged. Just why these creatures are striving for a war with Russia that would exterminate humanity is the only really important question to be answered. Evil does not come more dire than this.
And as always comment is closed which stops us dissenting voices from pointing out the pot calling the kettle black element in asserting the Russian’s are lampooning and trolling the UK…..who have lampooned and insulted the Russian’s at every turn!
https://mobile.twitter.com/PaoloWalnuts/status/1040214960478015489
The Metropolitan Police confirmed at 5. September “that ‘low’ levels of the nerve agent were found in the two-star £48 a night hotel in May – two months after the poisonings – during part of their investigations.”
Why the police did not warn the visitors already may?
Why it did took still three months to find the 2 russians, if the police did know the hotellroom…?
The novitshok had to be on the surface and not in the air, because the police did take away all novitshok in two samples. But if the hotellroon was cleaned normally after several visitors for two months, so how there where could be any samples left from novitshok? The Metropolitan Police writes: ”On 4 May 2018, tests were carried out in the hotel room where the suspects had stayed. A number of samples were tested at DSTL at Porton Down. Two swabs showed contamination of Novichok at levels below that which would cause concern for public health. A decision was made to take further samples from the room as a precautionary measure, including in the same areas originally tested, and all results came back negative. We believe the first process of taking swabs removed the contamination, so low were the traces of Novichok in the room. Following these tests, experts… Read more »
Because now visitor did gett ill in that hotell, the amount of novitshok had to be minimal (0,0001 g). But it is possible take samples from that. Craig Murray writed: “What matters is whether they can be connected to the novichok, and here the safety of the identification of the microscopic traces of novichok allegedly found in their hotel bedroom is key. I am no scientist, but I have been told by someone who is, that if the particle(s) were as the police state so small as to be harmless to humans, they would be too small for mass spectrometry analysis and almost certainly could not be firmly identified other than as an organophosphate. Perhaps someone qualified might care to comment.” (https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/09/lynch-mob-mentality/comment-page-8/#comment-782606)
Because they are lazy and went on holiday over the summer. Now they’ve returned matters or facts don’t really mean anything, just the outcome. They say Russia is bad as it has interfered in their plans. They forget, prod the big bear enough times and eventually it will bite.
In the case of anything to do with Russia, guilty until proven ‘probably guilty’ is the norm. The indoctrination of the British people runs deep. Seemingly rational people can see that the lamestream media conduct unjustified vilification campaigns against the likes of Corbyn but can’t stretch their imaginations to believe the same is being done with Putin or any other enemy of the month (past and present). But let’s take heart from the fact that the Toady program on Radio 4 has lost 800,000 listeners. The cringe-worthy explanation that it’s because listeners don’t want to hear bad Brexit news is just the usual BBC denial of fault. Newspaper circulation is fallIng – my local supermarket has a deal where you get a free newspaper with your shopping. They no longer remind anyone of this! Look around on the train or other transport – how many people are reading newspapers compared… Read more »
Warning, this video is from Utube. I have not viewed it, because I no longer view Utube:
https://youtu.be/wBaVe19amhU
A leaker from the Russian government gave Bellingcat access to the pair’s passports. The findings? If these two men aren’t agents of the GRU, then pigs will start flying.
The passport data showed various.. oddities.
First, please read the article. And don’t let RT’s smearing of Bellingcat get in your way; the former is still bitter about the latter’s debunking of Russia’s multiple, contradictory conspiracy theories about MH17.
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2018/09/14/skripal-poisoning-suspects-passport-data-shows-link-security-services
My Reddit comment explaining my thoughts:
https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/9fy2x8/skripal_poisoning_suspects_passport_data_shows/e602tzb/
I would very much appreciate it if Off-G, in the interests of debate, posted Bellingcat’s article about the passports.
In my opinion, it’s a slam dunk.
I don’t think the Russian government was involved, however. It’s likely that these GRU agents had links to organized crime in Europe, and Skripal senior’s work with various state and private intelligence agencies irked a mobster’s ire. Similarly, I suspect this is why Litivenko was killed. False flags pretty much never happen, despite the alternative media’s penchant for discussing them.
I suggest they do that at the same time publishing the excellent takedown of the Bellingcat article by Elena Evdokimova at https://twitter.com/elenaevdokimov7/status/1040764359998230528 And the text of the Netherlands law 138ab about illegal access to a computer system or the use of data stolen from a computer system – similar laws apply to Eliot Higgins in the UK – given this series is part authored by Daniel Romeijn in the Hague, along with Aric Toler in the US, and Eliot Higgins in the UK Article 138ab 1 With a term of imprisonment not exceeding two years or a fine of the fourth category, a person who deliberately and unlawfully invades an automated work or part thereof shall be punished as guilty of computer intrusion. At least there is a question of intrusion if access to the work is acquired: a. by breaching a security, b. through a technical intervention, c. using… Read more »
Russia’s First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN retweeted that thread by Elena Evdokimova: https://twitter.com/Dpol_un/status/1040791463402135552 Elena first claimed they looked “Ukrainian”. Thats about the “quality” of work we’ve come to expect from Russia and its associates. Disgustingly xenophobic. Regarding the hacking claim, I have only two things to say about that: After so passionately defending WikiLeaks and its release of hacked materials, why do you all suddenly have an urge to prosecute hackers of important information? I thought that releasing hacked information was “ethical” as long as it shed light on the truth. What happened to all that? Hypocrites. There is no evidence that Russia’s passport database was hacked, or that the Bellingcat folks did it. First, Russia has not presented evidence of the database being hacked, nor have they even officially made this claim. It could have been an inside source that released these files. In fact, this is… Read more »
Let me assure you that using information stolen from some information system by any means including ‘hacking’, bribery, and physical theft is a criminal offence in all of the EU. This is in addition to the actual crime of unlawful access to an information system which does not have to be in the EU. Your friends Eliot Higgins and Dano Romeijn are both in EU jurisdictions that enforce this. They have admitted to using stolen personal information from an online retailer website. This is in addition to using information illegally obtained (stolen) from government records by some means. To be frank, I don’t think the Bellingcat group are clever enough to do an even basic hack, and rely on some dissident Russians or Ukraniane to do it for them. Their crime is either commissioning the hack and/or using information they know has been criminally stolen against EU law. My day… Read more »
As a one time Wikipedian I can confirm that ever since Jimmy Wales married a Blair appendage the site has gone way down. Their metric is not verifiable truth but that as long as it’s reported by a ‘reliable source’ (usually western media but also various front NGO’s) then it gets special protection from their sub-editors, witness the numerous malicious edits to the George Galloway/ Vanessa Beeley/ Brian Whitaker pages.
That would be Tony Cartalucci’s 2012 piece
US State Department’s Russian “Journalist”
http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/05/us-state-departments-russian-journalist.html
Only a hasbara troll would utter such a ludicrous lie as ‘..false-flags pretty much never happen..’. The audacity of the lying is typical.
Mulga, the Hebrew word for that typical audacity is “hutzpah” — a lie so audacious it takes one’s breath away. Like St.Theresa of Westminster with her Novijokes.
St.Theresa told such dreadful lies / It made one gasp and rub one’s eyes
And when in the House Theresa spoke / They rolled on the floor with the Novijoke.
— with apologies to Hilaire Belloc
And it is also Adolph Hitler’s ‘Big Lie’ process in action.
Strange ‘slam dunk’.
Aside from the consideration of how the alleged ‘anomalies’ can be explained by mundane reasons, we should wonder at the logic of Bellingcat’s article.
Why do secret operatives create fake personas? I mean what is the point of creating a fake persona nine years ago and then living under it openly, even going on TV before a hundred million people as that fake persona ? It’s just ridiculous. Real operatives use fake identities for a specific job then abandon them so as to be able to function afterwards under their real (or a different) identity.
Or is Higgins suggesting that Petrov and Boshirov (NB no passport story there) are their real birth identitites? In which case, why did they travel under their real identities with their ‘Spy’ passports, instead of simply taking an alias for the most high profile assassination attempt of the century?
This is clearly some new usage of the words ‘slam dunk’ we weren’t previously aware of.
But you know we may just do that – with our own commentary added
Wherein those strange personalities at Bellingcat get so impressed with their own internal verification processes they automatically validate their own arguments’ LOL. One sees similar self-
validation in every emanation from Q/4chan which is just another western psyop in my opinion.
You don’t honestly think Bellingcat have the slightest idea what they’re talking about when it comes to the details of GRU agents getting passports, do you?
‘Bellingcrap’ is an agent of the USA, of the NATO Atlantic Council and a proven disinformer. Must try harder, hasbaranik.
‘Hasbaranik’ is good, Mulga. But it’s not sufficiently derisive to the deliberately-deceitful goons who do it (‘Matt’ being one, perhaps?). Try ‘hasbarollocks’ and ‘hasbarollockser’. Both portmanteau words; I needn’t detail the other word besides ‘hasbara’ that’s included, need I? Good British-English word meaning both ‘testicles’ and ‘utter rubbish’. PS: I hope the Off-Graun editors won’t contaminate this website by giving any space – and thus some possible credence – to the USukiznato-axis propaganda-mediawhore Eliot Higgins’ lie-stream. Anyone wishing to wade in that 30-piecesofsilver-funded moral cesspool can google him, if they really feel the need. In an honestly-run world, Higgins would be one of a multitude of minor, fourth-rank war-criminals on trial as enabling accessories to high crimes against humanity by the first-rank Western gangsters-in-high-places; in the dock of a new international Nuremberg 2 tribunal. And should you happen to read this, Eliot: Do sue for libel. I dare you! I… Read more »
All that “gets in my way” is Bellingcat’s record of spurious propaganda and their equally spurious funding sources. You’re getting into the realms of intelligence agency disinformation here, which will be kicked out by all parties in an attempt to muddy the waters. Bellingcat are funded and connected to that.
“Russia’s multiple, contradictory conspiracy theories about MH17” Haha, you must be kiddin’? It has long been clear who shot down the plane. The name of this country begins with the letter U. For some incredible reason, this country participates in the “commission of inquiry”. Naturally, the “conclusions” of this commission are objective and unbiased. Sure. Russia has provided (let’s note – provided on a voluntary basis, because Russia was not obliged to) already enough factual and serious material, clearly speaking about who shot down the plane. A large-scale scientific experiment, declassified data on “BUK”, original radar data and other. But for some reason “commission of inquiry” (the one who’s “objective and unbiased”) prefer “not to see”, to ignore all this important data. What’s wrong, haha? Instead, the “investigation” is based on some data and photos from social networks (whose authenticity/reliability, by the way, has long been exposed), and “investigations” of… Read more »
Russian passport holders need a visa to visit the UK. This means the government would have already known about these two’s passports well in advance of their arrival in the UK. I’m not sure whether getting the visa as a Russian is as complex as getting a visa when you’re from India or West Africa (can anyone help with info?) but I’d guess there would be some checks on the applicants since Russians would be regarded as an overstay risk.
So its quite possible that the passport information didn’t come from a Russian leaker but the UK government itself. It just adds another layer of confusion; I only mention it because the story seems to be fine tuned to fit a British person’s experience of global travel (which is mostly visa-free for tourists).
You think the Russian security agencies stamp the words ‘top secret’ on their agents’ passport applications?Just to make sure everyone knows how secret they are?
Has anyone yet shown the smallest piece of evidence that this is what the initials even mean?
FYI – Bellingcat has no skills, no training, does NO research, and is simply a conduit for third rate fake ‘intelligence’ the professionals don’t want to be associated with. They gave him the shoddy BUK nonsense and now this. Too silly. Reddit is where anyone who believes this junk belongs
Sorry, but the story was about INTERNAL passport files, so no, Russian intelligence does not stamp “top secret” on the public passports of their agents. Reading comprehension fail. Russia’s First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN retweeted this popular thread attempting to debunk Bellingcat: https://twitter.com/Dpol_un/status/1040791463402135552 Read this reply: https://twitter.com/ASpinOfTheWheel/status/1040963253898235904 Zakharova confirmed that the leaked files are real: https://twitter.com/bellingcat/status/1040679184396374018 https://twitter.com/christogrozev/status/1040937364657459205 Google translation of the tweet by the Russia MFA: “And again, a hoax from the “storytellers” from Bellingcat. We really need only guess where you got the data from FMS. Hacked you “base” or you just bought it, it remains on your conscience.” More tweets: https://twitter.com/AricToler/status/1040670751005859840 Combine the above information with the phone number, and it’s obvious these guys are Russian intelligence agents. It’s funny how some people are saying the phone number belongs to a mattress retailer, claiming the area codes were swapped a few years ago. Fine. Let’s assume… Read more »
The fact you blindly trust the idiot-level propaganda put out by the western media, even to the point of thinking the lamentable underwear salesman Eliot Higgins is a serious source is your personal tragedy. By all means believe what you need to believe, since serious analysis, comprehension or basic sense are beyond you, but don’t trash this site if you want to continue posting here – that’s trolling, and we don’t permit it.
Further name-calling will be erased.
You literally just ignored everything I just said. You refused to argue against even a single one of my points. You refuse to admit that you were wrong about thinking these passports were public ones; they were internal files, hence the “tops secret” markings. You refuse to acknowledge the fact that the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs admit that the passport data is completely real and true. You refuse to acknowledge that Russia has been caught lying about MH17, including the fact that Carlos was a fraudster. When you found out that you made mistakes when interpreting the article, you instead decided to make an ad hominem attack against Higgins. So what that he used to sell underwear? Does that change anything about Russia lying about MH17? Or Carlos being a fraudster? Or the Russian MFA admitting that the passport data is real? Please, I’m begging you, address my points.… Read more »
Funny, how comments disappear or don’t show on the Bellingcat site and they tend to block people on Twitter (I suggested the Bana El Abed story was fake since East Aleppo was served by 3G networks therefore they couldn’t post video from there but instead of rebutting, they blocked 🙂
I agree that blocking people is bad, but considering that Bellingcat has been the subject of unprecedented attacks (sometimes personal) by a government, its state media and various allied Western “independent” media outlets, it can probably get frustrating dealing with all the state-sponsored abuse. This could lead to preemptive blocking of critics online.
I see Bellingcat references my friends Yulia Latynina and Novaya Gazeta to confirm their specious Russian MOD “connection”.
Source: https://www.novayagazeta.ru/news/2018/09/14/145085-novaya-gazeta-obnaruzhila-dopolnitelnye-dokazatelstva-vozmozhnoy-svyazi-cheloveka-obvinyaemogo-v-otravlenii-skripaley-s-ministerstvom-oborony-rossii?utm_source=push
Except Yulia, and I, have er, history 🙂
Russia. Journalism?
https://manfromatlan.blogspot.com/2017/09/russian-journalism.html
Admin, I would like a proper response to my claims, especially for those which directly contradict your own claims.
I’m sorry for the insults I used before; they were counter-constructive to the spirit of debate, and won’t happen again.
No, there is no need to tell us about it, we understand your meaning already
Response to the Bellingcat narrative https://off-guardian.org/2018/09/13/open-thread-skripal-suspects-interviewed-on-rt/#comment-130862
Rebutted already https://off-guardian.org/2018/09/13/open-thread-skripal-suspects-interviewed-on-rt/#comment-130862
I already read that response. There are numerous mistakes made. First, the author forgets that these are internal passport files, not ones that are open to the public, hence, the “top secret” markings. Admin made the same mistake. Secondly, the author refuses to acknowledge that someone from Russia could have given Bellingcat this information. It’s completely plausible. Thirdly, the author repeatedly claims the documents are fake, claiming they were faked, due to their blurriness and squiggly lines. The author forgets that the documents were scanned, and potentially a long time ago, by the Russian government. So it’s not the fault of Belligncat that the documents are blurry. Also, the Russian Foreign Ministry has already confirmed the documents as being real, and is now claiming that Bellingcat either hacked or bought the information online, or that a “Western special service” gave them the data to leak. This lack of denial and… Read more »
My mother in law, who actually reads Russian, says the spokeswoman “confirmed” no such thing (it could be she asked you to have your sources, ie: British passport control to confirm it).
Pty your lot uses Microsoft translate, LOL
Of course she never directly confirmed it. But not only did she not deny it, she accused Bellingcat of “hacking” the information, or getting it from “Western specials services”. This implies that the information is real. But it gets better: The passport number was issued by the “VIP” Federal Migration service (unit 770-001), which is used when granting passports in sensitive or high-profile cases. For example, here is the passport of the actor Gérard Depardieu, who received his passport after Putin signed an Executive Order granting him Russian citizenship: So, Petrov and Boshirov are just your normal sports vitamin salesmen, right? Witnesses have now come out, who were near the pair when they stayed at a hotel. They say that the pair invited a prostitute to their room, had loud s*x, and there was the smell of cannabis coming from their room: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/russia/article-6172497/Novichok-suspects-drug-fuelled-night-cannabis-prostitutes-75-night-London-hotel.html Quotation: “A guest who recognised the pair… Read more »
A good run Matt, but all you have is a presumption of guilt and the unverified statements of known liars, all wrapped around a story that is patently ridiculous from start to finish. All told by a group of desperate sociopaths with an obvious motive to throw out the long held principles of justice and shore up their own diminishing power.
https://www.theblogmire.com/petrov-boshirov-and-the-burden-of-proof/
I might be wrong, but until I see something proven or even just credible…
RT on MH17 story from today.
The JIT include Ukraine, but exclude Russia, and consider evidence from Bellingcat- who is qualified how exactly?
https://www.rt.com/news/438596-mh17-downing-russian-briefing/
Yes I read it. Total pile of bollocks.
“Yet they are also cagey about their business and personal life.” As would anyone be, were they suddenly thrust into the public eye in this fashion. “How many tourists visit Salisbury cathedral every year?” We visited that cathedral in late November/early December, supposedly the tourist off-season. But there were many tourists there alongside us. We were visiting the UK from overseas at the time. Not from Russia, as it happens… “…it is foolish to seize on the translated words of two obviously anxious men as evidence of guilt.” I’m not surprised that they were anxious: wouldn’t any of us be, suddenly being adjudged guilty of a crime in such circumstances? To my mind, this bespeaks innocence: the truthful story has gaps and inconsistencies.They weren’t expecting to have to explain themselves. If they’d given a smooth account, I’d have concluded that it was a narrative, a just-so story, designed to exculpate… Read more »
@D’Esterre. And St.Theresa regime is still trying to shore up those miraculously multiplying holes. Yesterday Admin detected the regime trotting out “a friend of the Skripals” to confess that he had made a mistake when he testified that the Skripals had left their house in the morning, before the plane from Russia had even landed; his new story has the Skripals waiting patiently in their house until well after the “Russian suspects” had left the airport, so now they had enough time to commit that dastardly doorknob Novijoke — always supposing they did not waste that time wandering around Salisbury and visiting the cathedral.
They still look like a couple of gay guys to me., struggling not to say they were there for love, caught out by the cruelties of the odious MI6/tereason MAY psyop.
The “Nina Ricci” bs “poison perfume” allegory points to Sir Mark Sedwill who is Theresa May’s “National Security Adviser” … The Sun : CHARITY POISON BOX Novichok perfume bottle was found dumped in CHARITY collection bin by tragic Amesbury poisoning victims https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7183276/novichok-poisoning-perfume-bottle-found-charity-collection-bin/ By Ellie Cambridge 5th September 2018, 2:25 pm Updated: 5th September 2018, 3:36 pm A PERFUME bottle containing deadly Novichok was found dumped in a charity bin before a woman died and a man was left fighting for his life, cops have revealed today. It was picked up by poisoning victim Charlie Rowley in Amesbury and taken home – but could have easily ended up on the shelf of a charity shop. https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7183276/novichok-poisoning-perfume-bottle-found-charity-collection-bin/# Charlie Rowley was poisoned after he found a bottle of perfume which contained Novichok It is not known how it came to be behind a row of shops in Catherine Street, but the innocuous bottle… Read more »
Just wonder how amateurish the Russian intelligence service is, when they can’t even hire a car in the UK or have one ready for their hit men. Poor blokes had to traipse round Salisbury with rucksacks on their backs in the sleet and snow before finding the Skripals.
george, how do you know they even found the Skripals? If SMERSH forgot to supply them with a car, it also forgot to supply them with a map; and even if the two “GRU agents” (St.Theresa swears they were GRU agents) had got that map it would have been no use to them because SMERSH forgot to write down Skripal’s name and address. No wonder the two decided to visit Salisbury cathedral instead — at least they could find out where that was: just ask some fellow tourists in that Russian plane. By the way, some of my family have just returned from a tour of St.Petersburg. Magical city, Venice of the North, Paris on steroids: the river, the boulevardes, the parks, the Hermitage museum, a vegan restaurant, a nice apartment from AirBnB, a classical concert with a great Russian pianist… Mind you, I’m not knocking Salisbury, another (non-Russian) foreign… Read more »
Could the minute trace of novichok in the hotel room be mistaken for a steroid compound? (traces that are organic phosphate compound of some sort. Not a chemist, so would appreciate any with knowledge to contribute.
Insecticides are often Organophosphates. Someone claimed, as this hotel is a poor one, they use such insecticides against bugs, lice etc coming with people from other countries. I don’ t know, if this is correct so, but it could explain traces of Organophosphates. Included is a link to the description of such Organophosphates.
https://www.msdmanuals.com/professional/injuries-poisoning/poisoning/organophosphate-poisoning-and-carbamate-poisoning
Good point. The scientific evidence would be so weak about Novo in the Hotel it’s no surprise the British don’t really want a trial. Putin should put the hobos on a plane to London, he’s obviously keen on the absurd aspects of the case.
Pt. 2 THE DUBIOUS ROLE OF THE OPCW (in Salisbury and Syria) (THE OPCW NEVER uses the word “Novichok”) Even those people who are skeptical about what the British government says (and rightly so) tend to accept the „Novichok“-Psyop after they read that „OPCW confirms Novichok nerve agent in Amesbury“. But if you actually read what the (summary) of the OPCW says, you will find the following: „The team requested and received splits of biomedical samples COLLECTED BY THE BRITISH AUTHORITIES for delivery to the OPCW laboratory and subsequent analysis by OPCW designated laboratories… for purposes of comparison and in order to verify the analysis conducted by the United Kingdom. (S 1671, Paragraph 6.) This VIOLATES THEIR OWN RULES about ensuring the forensic „chain of custody“ because they did not take bio-samples THEMSELVES but accepted the (2nd-hand) material the „authorities“ gave them. Regarding the „Premier Jour“ perfume-story the OPCW has… Read more »
We should all call this substance with amazing and changing properties for what it really is, created in Porton Down laboratories, or even in the Downing Street communications department. Let’s call it simply: Portonchok
Love that name but I still prefer Novifraud. Sometimes I have toyed around with the deep suspicion that it was hidden in the Cathedral and the two lads collected it from there. Of course it could be that the Cathedral was the drop off for documents between the lads and the Skripals. So many possibilities and such a stupid englander government that the plot lines are in abundance.
‘Professional journalism’ in the West was always a wasteland. As Chomsky and Herman shewed twenty-five years ago, the Western fakestream media is a propaganda system for the ruling Western elites, the most Evil body of degenerates humanity has ever produced. The ‘professional’ tells it all-one incident of independence or honesty of thought, one deviation from the habitual 100% Goupthink of the presstitute invertebrate class, and your well-paid job is gone, forever.
“In the interests of impartiality we point out they produce no evidence to back up these claims, and the case remains very much a “he-said-she-said” situation.“ Impartiality … by pointing out a Lack of Evidence? These two men DO NOT NEED TO PROVE their innocence. It is the government (the CPS) which must prove that they committed a crime. Until then they are to be considered innocent. The whole PR-scam rests on the (laughable) premise that the British authorities have moral authority but „the Russians“ do not … Theresa May said on Sept 5: „… as a nation that believes in the rule of law we should give the police the space and time to carry out their investigation properly“ (sounds great )… but she had already negated (ridiculed) that statement with her preceding sentence: „„..a devastatingly toxic nerve-agent was used to attack our country (Novichok), a sickening and despicable… Read more »
Thank you heaps Cassandra for that temperate and measured response. I had considered a rolling pin clout myself. Innocent till proven otherwise… absolutely! It is up to this stupid warmongering englander government to prove its case. The sample from the hotel room should be dismissed as a false positive for the simple scientific reason that it could not be repeated! All hotels are treated with varying forms of insecticides to counter human borne parasites. That is normal. That is the derivation of the term ‘flea pit’. I imagine this hygiene system to include organo phosphates in many places. These are the foundation molecules by which novifraud is derived according to ALL the literature. The englander state apparatus has no evidence of significance against these two, it has a record in this case of manipulation, hiding evidence, issuing calculated contradicting statements. The englander state apparatus is a fraud and we should… Read more »
What a histrionic response by our government and the media to this rather lame interview. I think the government never expected the Russians to produce the two CCTV suspects.
The reaction of the sewer denizens of the Fraudian cess-poll has been particularly vicious and psychopathic-even by their Stygian standards.
And, right on cue, the execrable Freedland vomits up the most extreme tirade of lying, hypocrisy, vilification and sheer, depraved, psychological projection, so far. I await his denunciation of Corbyn as a partner of Evil Putin. How do these swine become so deranged?
Let’s not forget this is really about the UK regime doing its level best to save the last desperate remnants of NATZO’s terrorist army now holed up in Idlib, and facing final defeat by the battle-hardened Syrian Army and its powerful ally Russia. From Penny BTL SyrPer this Friday evening: https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/russia-for-humanitarian-corridor-in-idlib-lavrov-says/1254932 Humanitarian Corridors to be Created in Idlib Addressing a meeting of the German-Russian Forum in Berlin, Lavrov promised that they would take measures to prevent civilian casualties in the area. “Whatever we do we will try to keep in mind the issues and the interests of civilians in that area… a humanitarian corridor will be created in Idlib, just as we did in Homs and East Ghouta,” he said. “We will not act in the way the U.S.-led coalition acted in Mosul or in Raqqa when there were no negotiations about local cease-fires with opposition groups,” he added. Lavrov said currently,… Read more »
The “traces” detected in the hotel room appears to be a false positive, but you won’t hear that on BBC.
The London ‘hotel evidence’ is taken by all the media as ‘proof’ that it must have been the Russians because traces of novichok were found there, according to the British. Yet, is there really a link here. What real proof or evidence links the two men with novichok? And how does one know that they contaminated the room? It could have been someone else, couldn’t it? Was the room empty for three months? This is only circumstantial evidence after all. What about a third, or is it forth party, I’m getting confused.
…the so called evidence of Novichoc was planted there, simple!
Unfortunately it is not uncommon in serious criminal cases (Yes! Even in the UK!) for a piece of crucial ‘clinching’ evidence to turn up rather late in the investigation. Tram tickets to the crime locus under the carpet; a partial fingerprint on a Hotel register; spots of blood; firearm residue on a sleeve; drug traces and a slip of cocaine found in a jacket in the wardrobe etc. Believe it and the verdict has to be guilty if you don’t believe evidence can – and often is – planted. One test is How crucial is the evidence to the case? Here it couldn’t be more important; if true, two Russians brought the nerve agent to London. It ‘proves’ the whole saga. Too convenient!
Where did all the comments go?
Ignore this. Just saw ‘older comments’. But writing is very small!
Lest we forget that Porton Down is really about Chemical and Biological Weapons:
Melotte 22 BTL Saker Orban thread, on September 14, 2018 at 5:29 am EST/EDT:
“US diplomats involved in trafficking of human blood and pathogens for secret military program”
I highly recommend to check this amazing article by Bulgarian journalist/investigator Dilyana Gaytandzhieva
http://dilyana.bg/us-diplomats-involved-in-trafficking-of-human-blood-and-pathogens-for-secret-military-program/
Please spread the word about these evil activites.
The USA, through the Pentacle, operates a vast, world-wide, archipelago of bio-warfare research stations. They have been intensively seeking out and collecting specimens of blood, DNA and tissue, including neoplasms, from every identifiable human population group, for years. And they certainly utilise recombinant DNA technologies like CRISPR, in their ‘research’. I give you one guess what that multi-billion, per year, effort is designed to produce.
My guess is; they are trying to genetically engineer a virus to detect and destroy the Truther Gene in humans. Then the Emperor of the World can show himself naked and unashamed.
“Tell the Truth and shame the Devil”.
Ethnically-specific killer-pandemic pathogens, Mulga. My guess. No conclusive proof, just a few straws in the wind; just seems self-evident to me that the psychopathic gangsters-in-charge in so many places in the world would be drooling at the very thought of possessing such gravies – as long as they and their favoured cronies and servitors could be provided with reliable prophylactics.
PNAC : Rebuilding Americas Defenses
http://www.visibility911.org/pdf-the-neo-con-manifesto-rebuilding-americas-defenses/
PDF Page 60
http://www.visibility911.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/rebuildingamericasdefenses.pdf
And advanced forms of biological warfare that can “target” specific genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool.
MG
Vaccination for themselves and their kin and a few million necessary personnel, probably military and scientific-technological, say with mandatory anti-flu shots, beforehand, then let ‘er rip. Robots could be assigned the task of corpse disposal, and after a few years, a brave new world without ‘useless eaters’ and powered by intact technology, would be theirs. I’m sure it’s their favourite ‘wet-dream'(as in ‘wet job’).
A text version of the interview here https://www.rt.com/news/438356-rt-petrov-boshirov-full-interview/ I don´t see the London double room thing being interesting. It was a room with a double bed and a single bed. There are pictures of it here https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7183914/salisbury-novichok-attack-suspects-london-hotel/ When one has worked in a hotel, one knows it´s perfectly common to install for fewer people in a room, that it can accommodate. It is much rarer that you have 3 guests in a room, than having 2, and double rooms tend to be more plentiful, but for a hotel owner it is nice to have rooms with both possibilities. The only problem in the story is that of Skripal apparently not being proven to be at his house, after the two suspects arrived to Salisbury on their second visit, and that there are apparently no public records regarding his whereabouts from being in a car in the early morning in Salisbury,… Read more »
Note – there seems to be an attempt underway to rewrite the timing in order to erase the anomaly of the Skripals leaving the house before the two suspects arrived in Salisbury. Skripal’s alleged ‘friend’ turns up in the Daily Mail today to say he believes the Skripals didn’t leave home until after 1pm. Handy bit of off the cuff revision we need to keep an eye on.
It’s amazing how the UK media have jumped on “inconsistencies” in the stories of the two suspects, but have been completely silent on the massive inconsistencies in timelines and other issues of the government’s tale.
If I had to place a bet, it would be that they are neither trained assassins nor inconspicuous tourists. On that fateful weekend they behaved like they were hired as decoys, by whom I have no idea, and now they are being framed as patsies.
That theory holds up. The story is implausible but I don’t think there is evidence they did it.
IMO these two were up to no good, flying in from Russia to visit only Salisbury for only 2 days. But they were not assassins either for all the reasons stated by other commenters. All the characters in this drama were in place at the same time on March 4th for some reason other than an international poisoning incident, almost certainly connected in some way with the Steele / Miller dossier. The ensuing events are probably a consequence of something not going quite right, then a retrospective creation of a narrative to fit the events, continually updated, combined with a timely Russia bashing opportunity. There seems to be some game in play between the Russian intelligence services and our own intelligence service, why else would Putin put these 2 ‘suspects’ up for view, giving credence to the ‘it was the Russians what done it’ scenario. Highly likely we will never… Read more »
The full interview – a bit under 27 minutes is here https://youtu.be/Ku8OQNyI2i0
Of interest is the comment about a ‘double room’ and a visit to Old Sarum – allegedly debunked by the Grauniad who forgot that you can visit a site and walk around it without entering it (Grauniad claims it was closed on March 4)
A text version of the interview here
https://www.rt.com/news/438356-rt-petrov-boshirov-full-interview/
I don´t see the London double room thing being interesting. It was a room with a double bed and a single bed. There are pictures of it here
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7183914/salisbury-novichok-attack-suspects-london-hotel/
When one has worked in a hotel, one knows it´s perfectly common to install for example fewer people in a room that it can accommodate 3. It is much rarer that you have 3 guests in a room, than having 2, and double rooms tend to be more plentiful, but for for a hotel owner it is nice to have rooms with both possibilities.
They stated their intentions to visit Old Sarum but they’re ambiguous about whether they actually went. The interviewer asks if they went to Old Sarum and the Cathedral as one question. They reply “yes”, but then only talk about the Cathedral as if that’s the only part of the question they’re affirming. It seems unlikely they went to Old Sarum. Tourists who go there tend to do so as part of their trip to Stonehenge, as it’s included in the route that the tour bus takes from Salisbury railway station / centre to Stonehenge and back. I’m guessing the cancellation of their trip to Stonehenge also ruled out their trip to Old Sarum. It’s quite far to walk from the centre to Old Sarum and back and they wouldn’t have had the time to do so, considering their whole Sunday stay in Salisbury was 122 minutes. Of course they could… Read more »
I wonder how long the two Russian ‘tourists’ were in the frame? How long since it was known they stayed at a hotel in East London for two nights? Yet they only recently went there and announced there were traces of the nerve agent there; so much for protecting the innocent! Has any attempt been made to trace former occupants of the room? Where exactly was this ‘trace’? Is it odd they didn’t fall ill? Sounds as if that bit of ‘evidence’ is false.
The gay-steroids angle is part of the whole set-up, as a secondary story. Salisbury is now being described as a gay, decadent town on Russian TV, with too many night clubs and gay prides, typical of over-tolerant, Western decadence, It works very well for the domestic Russian public. It was also suggested by the interviewer, who´s the RT station’ s leader & has officially compared its role with that of the Russian military. In the video version of the interview, she smiles discreetly when asking about their mutual relation, and she later confirmed the option in a tweet, saying that she didn´t know if they were indeed gay. And there are surveillance photos of them on Wilton road from their second, likewise short visit, which means in the opposite area of the cathedral, near Skripal´s home.
Question Time on BBC last night was disgusting – I need say no more other than this is a nation being swept along by fools.
The whole Skripal affair is clearly a false flag in so far as the Russian leadership is concerned, and it’s “highly likely” that the CIA/MI*/Mossad are involved. However, it could be that these agencies are involved in an unexpected way. I’m starting to think that internal Russian resistance to Putin, especially the Navalnyists, Atlantacists, or elements of them, could be working in cahoots with the foreign intelligence services to embarass Putin, isolate him and then have him removed either democratically as the population revolts against pension policies etc, or eventually forcefully removed à la Kiev. What these 2 men have to do with this I cannot guess at the moment, but it’s very clear by their body language and vocal expressions that they are not telling the truth and are hiding something significant. They might be involved in some form of couriering for the underworld, which could feasibly involve the… Read more »
OMG, just got a marketing email from the Old Vic with their 2019 season. They’re putting on a dramatised version of Plagiarist Harding’s book about the Litvenenko poisoning. I thought molester Spacey as artistic director was as low as they could get…
This new production sure to get 5 stars from Guardian and Observer, sight unseen!
A number of facts invalidate the British claims and argue in favour of these men being the tourists they claim to be: 1) they travelled under their real names, not the “aliases” the police keep insisting on. Sooner or later they will be persuaded to show their ID cards/passports on Russian TV. 2) They flew direct Moscow-London on Russian passports under their real names, which no GRU assassin would ever do (as some of their ex-agents have testified) 3) They were NOT in Salisbury at the time of the poisoning of the doorknob, which occurred before the Skripals left home at 9.15, never to return (according to Police.) These men arrived in Salisbury at 11.48 on Sunday when the Skripals were in a pub. Nor could they have done it the day before or the Skripals would not have survived the night. It is time somebody from MI6 came clean… Read more »
I agree Julia is key to what happened. Her boyfriend and his mother are both associated with the Russian intelligence agencies, the mother at a senior level. I suggest Julia was telling her father what were the conditions placed on his request to return to Russia. By lunch time Sergei was cross about something – probably news from Miller that MI6 refused to let him go. They drugged and imprisoned both. With their story of deadly nerve agent generally ridiculed they ‘proved’ it did exist by putting some down in Amesbury.
This affair, on both sides, seems as full of unexplained and strange holes as a Swiss cheese. Given the enormous risks involved and the colossal diplomatic reaction if the plot was uncovered, with a glowing trail of breadcrumbs leading straight back to Russia; how realistic is it that the Kremlin would send two GRU assassins to Salisbury to murder Skripal?
One of two things must be true. They are either guilty or British authorities planted or manufactured ‘evidence’ of Novichok in their hotel room.
They say their hotel room was a ‘double room’ and not the single bed room which the UK alleges had Novichok.
See https://youtu.be/Ku8OQNyI2i0
Presumably the Hotel owner/manager is not allowed to talk either? How many D notices are there now.
“Will the UK police release the CCTV footage of Salisbury cathedral?” Reminds me of when Sir Thomas Beecham filed for bankruptcy. The judge enquired: “And on what did you spend all that money?” “On trying to keep a symphony orchestra going, MiLord” “Was not that a very foolish thing to do?” “Yes, MiLord”. Thus I can imagine the Crown Prosecutor enquiring: “And with what intent did you travel to Salisbury in winter?”. “To visit the cathedral”. “And was not that a very suspicious thing to do?”. (Speaking for myself, one of the highlights of a scientific meeting at Porton Down was the opportunity to admire Salisbury cathedral at leisure, in the mellow sunshine of an autumn evening. I had often admired Constable’s al fresco painting of the Cathedrals, which kicked off the Impressionist movement and later masterpieces such as the Monet sequence of Rouen cathedral at different times of day.… Read more »
To generate a little humour out of the situation, I was amused by the original voice-over translation that came with the first part of the interview. When asked why they made the visit (just over a minute into the interview) Petrov says that their friends recommended they visit “the wonderful city”. In the original voiceover, Simonyan’s response was interpreted with an incredulous,upwards, almost rhetorical, inflection: “[What?] Salisbury?? A wonderful city?”. Whereas Simonyan’s question was in reality posed objectively without inflection to get them to clarify that it was Salisbury they were referring to rather than London.
JudyJ, England has many magical places. I once asked some South African friends in Hampstead what they had liked most during their 6 month tour of Britain; they replied with one voice: Chichester. And the great French film director of Hiroshima Mon Amour and Dernier Annee a Marienbad, when he wanted to show the little Paris appartment of a typical French couple in Je Connais la Chansons, included the framed poster from their trip to Scarborough.
The Skripals are alive today, but let’s assume that Russia did it and let’s take another perspective not mentioned in the media lately:
How often does a spy agency bumps off [kills] some of their own for double crossing or as a punishment for treason?
I’d say, it happens frequently, perhaps it is happening somewhere, all the time.
Mostly we never hear about those cases. Occasionally, a book, or two, or three, would be written. A movie could be made perhaps. And that’s yet.
Now assume Russia wanted to dispose of one of their own (an ex-agent). Isn’t astonishing that the British government is reacting in a way as if they wish to start WWIII?
The British are acting under the orders of Israel through the USA. Israel are very angry that Russia have stopped then bringing down Assad, trashing Syria and neutralising the political scene as in Libya.
We find all such single-issue reductionism to be simplistic and unhelpful. Israel is a tool of neoliberal imperial interests, as are most western nations, if not most nations in the ‘developed’ world. The nature of their function within that can of course be debated, but the idea any sovereign nation calls the shots is a fundamental misunderstanding of how the power structure works
I’m sure the British, like the French are genuinely keen to see Syria bombed, they don’t need encouraging by anybody. Half the trouble is British-French competition for control of the ME. It’s similar to 2011 when by all accounts (Clinton and Obama) it was the French who were driving NATO to bomb Libya. Cameron felt obliged to keep up with French aggression. Clinton claims the French President was “hysterical” in his demands that heavy bombing should start. Obama says he insisted that in that case the French and British should take the lead role; unfortunately they soon ran out of missiles and totally relied on American targeting systems. As soon as it was over the ‘victors’ made great speeches about how Libyans would be ‘looked after’. They then buggered off and have done nothing for Libya since. It would be much the same if they got their way in Syria.
PaulX, please to be less sweeping when you say, “the British, like the French are genuinely keen to see Syria bombed”. I am British and definitely dislke seeing my country bomb Syria; so do many of my fellow countrymen; so did most members of Parliament when Camoron brought it to the vote, if I remember correctly. As for “the French”, it was President Sarkosy who led the charge. I seem to remember that Sarko or his son got a reward from Rothschild Carlyle Finance (as did Blair and Brown); and Camoron is a banker’s son.
I read somewhere there is a wasp whose poison affects the victim’s brain so that the victim (though still living) abandons it’s own interests and works only for the wellbeing of its parasite.
Ok not ‘the’ British but the ones In Charge – the Secret Services, GCHQ and of course the FCO. One could add the Tory Government but it seems unlikely those really in charge even speak to those incompetents. Did MI6 get Government permission to hire Steele to write up the Urination Dossier and leak it into the US media just before the election in an effort to support Hilary Clinton? It’s a question which Trump may be asking soon.
All in pursuit of the Zionazi Oded Yinon Plan, and its reiteration since, to destroy all Israel’s Arab and other Moslem neighbours. A particular incentive for Sarkozy and the likes of the loathsome Bernard-Henry Levy.
The ball is clearly in Theresa May’s court. Either she provides humanity with concrete, impeccable, incontrovertible evidence to verify her accusations against these (2) men – or she is in big-time political trouble.
Why would she do that? There was no concrete evidence that the Skripals were even poisoned by a nerve agent… Just an embarrassing farce from beginning to end. Michealantony and Paul X appear to have it covered? Their explanations hold far more truth than the spluttering and muttering of Maybot and the Buffoon. Fact is two useless drug addled addicts were chosen at random to be the latest ‘victims,’ It was of no importance if they lived or died… Problem – the guy suddenly realised he could get some compensation… So he is now ‘in a critical’ condition and expected to die any time. Why would the British Establishment perpetrate such an obvious false flag? Because they have been instructed to by Saudi, the US government and Israel. To keep all eyes focussed on Russia as the bogy man, because they have prevented the Oil and Banking Cartels from taking… Read more »
Yes, Maggie, that’s all Britain can contribute to “punching above our weight” these days. Those spoilsport Russkies put a damper on The Coalition of the Killing lark, so what else can we do to oblige our Saudi, U$ and Israeli mates?
The question all this begs is when will the British present the Skripals and DC Bailey [a Public Servant] for a public interview by a journalist or better still press conference?? With the British story so far being so full of holes all the appearance of these two Russians proves is that the narrative has taken over in the minds of the news-hounds. No questions about the British story but loads about the flakiness of this Russian interview. Lots of pictures of this pair moving around in the UK. But none of Yulia arriving in the UK none of the Skripals movements around Salisbury itself. On the face of it the edited version of the RT looks a bit disjointed but if you read and watch the full transcript and film you see that the whole purpose is that of public disclosure by private individuals, which is often uncomfortable for… Read more »
They have good reason to be worried. The evil, psychopathic, May regime has issued arrest warrants for these men, who can now be delivered to the UK, if they travel abroad, for a sham show trial and lengthy imprisonment. I’d be worried, too.
Yes do take care to see the full-length interview (around 25 minutes). The cut-about versions don’t give the right feel.
One thing I’m pretty certain of:
It wasn’t their idea to be interviewed, nor was it Putin’s. They looked far too uncomfortable to have wanted it, and Putin is far too smart to use such bad actors for our entertainment.
Whoever did come up with the idea, the desired effect was achieved: Utter confusion among the general public.
A sketch worthy of Monty Python.
Or Putin knew exactly what he was doing blowing the whistle on these two shifty and gormless characters who are very unlikely to be part of the intelligence community. They appear to be patsies paid by one side or the other to muddy the waters on such a crucial day. The fact Putin did blow the whistle suggests they were paid by an opposition group or British intelligence. Ironically they may be the last ones to discover who employed them but if they did know it’s hardly surprising they appear terrified. A Russian prison beckons rather than a trial in the UK.
We have learned that Russian assassins travel under their own real names, pose for as many CCTV cameras as possible undisguised and smuggle military grade poisons that scream Russian origin in their carry-on despite the high level of scrutiny Russians are subjected to when traveling to notoriously anti-Russian UK. Then they request to appear on international TV with their identities exposed and with their passports in hand, one of them wearing the same jacket he wore in CCTV footage.
All of this operation controlled by from the highest levels of a government that has arguably more espionage experience than any other country in the world.
Raise your hand if you believe in Santa Claus.
I was chatting to some Russian facebook ‘freinds’ last night. In Russia nobody believes a word of the UK’s story of course. The people I was talking to reckon that the pair are looking uncomfortable because they are gay. Being ‘outed’ in Russia is no celebratory matter, apparently and that in the interview, they are asked why they only rented one room/bed. One said that the pair were probably low level smugglers.
There are so many ways you could interpret this whole performance.For me, it’s probably about drugs and money. Perhaps Skripal was a node on some import/export network but got greedy and the stuff that killed the drug-addict woman was part of a batch. I have no evidence – but neither it seems does Teresa May….
Is it possible that the visit to Salisbury is part of a new age enthusiasm? Stonehenge, Salisbury, buying nutriceuticals in Europe, being super cagey about their business: it seems possible that they are gay fitness buffs who make their living marketing New Age woo and when suddenly finding themselves on national TV they are simply flustered about it as I imagine gay New Age woo is pretty disfavored in Russia. Particularly if they are as unsophisticated as they seem, this really might be their first concern — not to expose themselves or friends.
If this is the case, Russian journalists should be able to figure it out quickly — the gay New Age woo body building community can’t be huge.
These guys come across as straightforward in what they are saying, in that they had a weekend break to have some fun, and it was disrupted by the extreme weather which we all experienced… They’re obviously a bit anxious having been plucked out by the Uk authorities as the ‘main suspects’ in the latest round of ‘we have absolute proof of what happened’ just because they happen to be Russian and they were in Salisbury on the day of the alleged crime. How many threads of absurd and insubstantial claims are we going to get from the Uk authorities…. ? There’s not a single thread of evidence to suggest that these men were responsible for a failed assassination attempt and that they unleashed a deadly nerve agent, and yet all i heard on news bulletins whilst driving, was empty words from security experts and ministers, attempting to paint a picture… Read more »