Interviewer Margarita Simonyan RT said Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov have gone off the radar as she waits for evidence of their tourist trip to Britain
Russia's novichok assassins have vanished and jettisoned their mobiles within 24 hours of their widely-ridiculed and brazen interview with state TV.
Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov told RT they were only in Salisbury to see the cathedral's magnificent '123-metre spire' but have already reneged on a promise to provide sightseeing photos outside the 13th century church.
This is because they walked in the opposite direction and smeared nerve agent on Sergei Skripal's suburban front door on March 4 this year, police and MI5 say.
Today the Bishop of Salisbury said their story 'doesn't add up' and confirmed the men don't appear on church CCTV cameras on the day of the attack.
Britain's most wanted men were interviewed Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of Russian state-sponsored network RT, who last night admitted they have gone off the radar.
She told the BBC in an ill-tempered interview where she later hung up: 'I tried to call them on the phone on which they called me but it has been out of coverage.
Ms Simonyan said the two men had agreed to send her images of their visit to Salisbury Cathedral - a landmark Boshirov had mentioned was one of the main draws for their visit to the Wiltshire city - but had since failed to do so.
She said: 'They told me that if they found those pictures, they would send them to me on WhatsApp. I'm still waiting. They didn't have them on them.
'They said if they found the pictures they would send them to me but I am still waiting'.
Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov (left to right) promised to send tourist pictures of their trip to Salisbury but they haven't materialised
Alexander Petrov (left) and Ruslan Boshirov (right) have been accused by British police of being two Russian spies (pictured in their passport photos) and lying about their trip
Sergei Skripal and Yulia Skripal were lucky to survive the attack - but the Russians say it was just a coincidence they were in Salisbury that day
She also revealed the men, who deny they are GRU spies, demanded no questions about their 'sports nutrition' business and said it was their 'final interview'.
She said: 'We had a conversation before the interview and they said that they had several conditions on which they were ready to give an interview.
Bishop of Salisbury Nicholas Holtam said today claims the men came to see its cathedral 'doesn't seem to add up'
'And one of the conditions was that no questions would be allowed that would allow the media to track their acquaintances or their business partners or their relatives or their classmates or whomever.
'As they said - and this is their words not mine - that this is their first and last interview to the media ever.
'They want this story to be over, and they don't want to give any hints or extra information to the media.
Bishop of Salisbury Nicholas Holtam said he was not aware of any evidence linking Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov to the cathedral, and suggested that the Russian men might have benefited from a visit to the building and a viewing of its copy of Magna Carta.
Responding to the men's claims, the bishop told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'It doesn't really add up, does it?'
Asked whether there was CCTV footage of them at the cathedral, he said: 'There's nothing to link (them with) the cathedral that we have got, or I think anybody has got. There's no way of proving that.'
One of the spies admitted they may have got lost and accidentally ended up near Skripal's house and said their trip to Salisbury as tourists was hampered by snow so they 'left early' on March 4 - the day the Skripals fell ill
The bishop said that his response to the men's TV interview was to think 'What a pity that they didn't spend longer in that city, where they could have explored the cathedral and seen a building that is committed to the love of God, where there is regular worship to lift our hearts, the tallest spire and a copy of Magna Carta about the rule of law and of justice. They didn't seem to see any of that, did they?'
The Kremlin assassins were ridiculed yesterday as they extraordinary story was full of holes.
The insisted they were humble tourists desperate to see the Salisbury Cathedral's magnificent '123-metre spire'.
The burly pair admitted they were in the city on the day Sergei Skripal was poisoned, but insisted they only went to visit its 'famous cathedral' and nearby Stonehenge.
Their unlikely story was branded 'lies and blatant fabrication' by Theresa May last night, who said it 'insulted the public's intelligence' and was deeply offensive to the victims of the chemical attack. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt added: 'The last time Russian military claimed to be on holiday was when they invaded Ukraine in 2014.'
The men broke cover eight days after their mugshots were issued by Scotland Yard – which has accused them of attempted murder – and Mrs May told the Commons they were intelligence agents from Russia's feared GRU.
The men told Kremlin-funded state broadcaster Russia Today yesterday they had been on a two-day holiday to Salisbury.
In the stage-managed interview, they admitted 'maybe' they ended up at former double agent Mr Skripal's suburban home by accident while looking for the cathedral, which has a 400ft spire and is a 25-minute walk in the opposite direction.
They insisted their real names were Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov. The Yard says these are the aliases the GRU hitmen used to travel to Britain on March 2 for their assassination mission.
They were interviewed on camera for 25 minutes by RT's editor-in-chief, who says she offered them cognac to quell their nerves.
The men claimed their lives had been 'turned upside down' since being named as suspects.
But the interview shed no light on their backgrounds and they were not asked to explain why traces of novichok were found in their east London hotel room –127 miles from the Skripals' home.
Instead, to global mockery, they told how they flew to Britain because friends had urged them to visit 'wonderful' Salisbury.
In praising their destination, Boshirov sounded like he was reciting a Wikipedia page, stating: 'It's famous for its 123-metre spire. It's famous for its clock. It's the oldest working clock in the world.'
A body-language expert said the men appeared to be reciting 'guide book monologues' about Salisbury.
Even prominent Russians were openly ridiculing the pair's insistence they were not trained killers.
In London, the Prime Minister was scathing of Moscow's 'contempt' for the novichok episode, which nearly killed Mr Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, and claimed the life of Dawn Sturgess, 44, whose partner Charlie Rowley, 45, had unwittingly given her the fake bottle of perfume used to carry the nerve agent.
Anti-terror police are understood to 'stand by everything' they have said about the two suspects. Intelligence officers know the men's real names, and sources said they concluded they were GRU hitmen based on solid intelligence which has not been made public.
Mrs May said: 'The lies and blatant fabrications in this interview … are an insult to the public's intelligence. More importantly, they are deeply offensive to the victims and loved ones of this horrific attack. Sadly, it is what we have come to expect. An illegal chemical weapon has been used on the streets of this country. We have seen four people left seriously ill in hospital and an innocent woman has died. Russia has responded with contempt.'
As relations with Moscow worsened, the Russian embassy claimed its diplomats had been 'banned' from attending a Conservative Party event for the first time.
Ministers say Vladimir Putin personally ordered the assassination attempt, but the Russian President has denied all involvement.
In their interview, Petrov and Boshirov told RT they fear the British secret service has a 'bounty on our heads'.
Boshirov denied the Kremlin had forced them to speak out, and said: 'We're afraid of going out, we fear for ourselves, our lives and lives of our loved ones.' They described themselves as 'decent lads' working in the 'sports nutrition business'.
They said they went to Salisbury twice in two days to try to get to Stonehenge but were thwarted each time by snow. They said they got 'drenched' and 'freezing' and on both days stayed for a short period, before heading back to London on the train.
Boshirov confessed: 'Maybe we did [approach] Skripal's house, but we don't know where it was located.'
Police say the hitmen went on Saturday March 3 as a dry run before the murder attempt on the Sunday and travelling back to Heathrow and a flight to Moscow that evening.
In Moscow, Sergey Dorenko, of Govorit Moskva radio, said he was ashamed at the 'clumsy' interview.
Journalist Oleg Kashin said it had the opposite effect to what Mr Putin had hoped for – and amounted to a 'confession' that Britain was right.
Novichok in their hotel room, no photos of them at the cathedral... and where's all that snow? Ten GLARING flaws that blow a huge hole in Russian hitmen's bizarre account of their trip to Salisbury
The ten glaring flaws blowing a huge hole in their version of events.
1. What about the Novichok found in hotel room?
The assassins made no attempts to answer why novichok traces were found in a room inside their east London hotel (pictured)
The most glaring problem with their story is the fact that traces of novichok were found in their hotel room in East London. They were not asked, and did not explain, how this could possibly be the case.
2. Why stay in East London anyway?
The men chose a hotel 127 miles from Salisbury despite heading to the city twice in three days
The pair say they flew from Moscow to visit Salisbury insisting: 'Our friends have been suggesting for quite a long time that we visit this wonderful city.' But if they had truly wanted to experience the Wiltshire gem, why not stay in one of more than 60 hotels and guesthouses in the city? Instead, they wasted hours going back and forth on trains.
3. Their complaints about the snowy weather
The Russians, who are used to cold and snow, talked about being hot with bad weather despite enjoying sunshine and clear pavements
Ruslan Boshirov claimed: 'It was impossible to get anywhere because of the snow. We were drenched up to our knees.' And his accomplice complained that on their Sunday visit, 'there was heavy rain with snow'. Salisbury had indeed been transformed into a stunning winter wonderland with a blanket of snow in the days before they arrived. But the temperatures were already easing on Saturday March 3, the first day they visited. By Sunday it was a relatively balmy 9C and occasionally sunny. There were no reports of 'heavy rain'. CCTV images of the pair on Sunday showed it was damp but there was not a snowflake in sight. And a photo taken of Salisbury Cathedral on March 3 shows the snow had already melted from its roof.
4. Wrong direction for visiting cathedral
CCTV shows how the two Russians set off in completely the opposite direction if they wanted to visit the cathedral
Boshirov and Petrov insist they wanted to witness the magnificent spire of Salisbury Cathedral. This can be seen from the railway station – yet CCTV shows how the two Russians set off in completely the opposite direction. Instead of heading south-east from the station to the cathedral, they walked north-west and were captured on CCTV walking past a Shell garage on the way to the Skripal family home.
5. No pictures of them visiting cathedral
The men made Salisbury Cathedral the focus of their trip but took no photos and didn't get captured by CCTV outside
The unlikely sightseers were spotted in many places in Salisbury – yet not at the cathedral, despite it being the city's main attraction. They claim to have been there on the Sunday, saying: 'The cathedral is very beautiful.
They have lots of tourists, lots of Russian tourists.' If CCTV exists of them visiting the 800-year-old treasure, it has not been made public. The two men do claim to have their own snaps of their visit however, but have failed to release them. The pair also claim they also 'went to a park, we had some coffee. We went to a coffee shop and drank coffee'. So far, no CCTV has been released to back this up.
The claim by two suspects in the Skripal case that they visited Salisbury to see its cathedral 'doesn't seem to add up', the Wiltshire city's bishop has said.
Bishop of Salisbury Nicholas Holtam said he was not aware of any evidence linking Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov to the cathedral, and suggested that the Russian men might have benefited from a visit to the building and a viewing of its copy of Magna Carta.
Responding to the men's claims, the bishop told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'It doesn't really add up, does it?'
Asked whether there was CCTV footage of them at the cathedral, he said: 'There's nothing to link (them with) the cathedral that we have got, or I think anybody has got. There's no way of proving that.'
The bishop said that his response to the men's TV interview was to think 'What a pity that they didn't spend longer in that city, where they could have explored the cathedral and seen a building that is committed to the love of God, where there is regular worship to lift our hearts, the tallest spire and a copy of Magna Carta about the rule of law and of justice. They didn't seem to see any of that, did they?'
6. Bus tours to Stonehenge were NOT cancelled
Snow stopped them getting to the world famous prehistoric monument - but the bus was running that day
Petrov said the pair had also wanted to see nearby Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain, 'but it didn't work out because of the slush'. Visitors to the prehistoric monument, nine miles north of Salisbury, can catch a bus directly from the station forecourt.
Asked if snow or anything else had affected services, a spokesman for bus operator Salisbury Reds told the Mail yesterday: 'The tour buses ran as normal on Sunday 4 March.'
7. Airport entry photo
Boshirov saod this image was faked - but British police have debunked that myth
Boshirov suggests CCTV photos of them walking through Gatwick arrivals must have been faked, because they appear to show the two men walking through the same customs channel with precisely the same timestamp. But British police have already explained that there are two parallel channels.
8. 'Fake photos' proved real
As they walk around Salisbury on the day of the attack, they are seen on CCTV in Fisherton Road shortly after 1pm - Russian sources tried to claim it was not them but the suspects yesterday confirmed it was
The pair's confessions they were indeed the men in the photos wrecks one of Russia's favourite conspiracy theories – that the British authorities faked the images.
9. Bad timing
Former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia (pictured together in Salisbury) were poisoned with Novichok after it was smeared on his front door when the agents were in the city
A major flaw in their account was the very fact that the Skripals were indeed poisoned on the day they visited Salisbury.
10. Two return flights and the missing luggage
Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov at Heathrow airport security before their flight home - but they had also tickets for the following morning
The pair also failed to explain why they had booked two alternative return flights from London to Moscow – giving them the option of fleeing on Sunday or Monday. The men went straight from Salisbury to Heathrow for the evening flight. But CCTV suggested that they did not have any luggage with them on their way home.
Assassins claim they are 'decent lads' who were on a day trip to admire Salisbury not to kill ex-spy Skripal
Ruslan Boshirov, left, and Alexander Petrov, right, claim they are the victims of a smear and suggested Britain was plotting to kill them
Europe's most wanted men spoke out for the first time today and insisted they are the victims of a smear campaign.
Here is a transcript
RT's editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan: You called my cell phone, saying that you were Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov. You're Alexander Petrov, and you're Ruslan Boshirov. You do look like the people we saw in those pictures and videos from the UK. So who are you in reality?
Alexander Petrov: We are the people you saw.
Ruslan Boshirov: I'm Ruslan Boshirov.
AP: And I'm Alexander Petrov.
MS: These are your real names?
RB: Yes, these are our real names.
MS: But even now, frankly, you look very tense.
AP: What would you look like if you were in our shoes?
RB: When your whole life is turned upside down all of a sudden, overnight, and torn down.
MS: The guys we all saw in those videos from London and Salisbury, wearing those jackets and sneakers, these are you?
AP: Yes, it's us.
MS: What were you doing there?
AP: Our friends have been suggesting for quite a long time that we visit this wonderful city.
MS: Salisbury? A wonderful city?
AP: Yes.
MS: What makes it so wonderful?
RB: It's a tourist city. They have a famous cathedral there, Salisbury Cathedral. It's famous throughout Europe and, in fact, throughout the world, I think. It's famous for its 123-meter spire. It's famous for its clock. It's the oldest working clock in the world.
MS: So, you traveled to Salisbury to see the clock?
AP: No, initially we planned to go to London and have some fun there. This time, it wasn't a business trip. Our plan was to spend some time in London and then to visit Salisbury. Of course, we wanted to do it all in one day. But when we got there, even our plane could not land on the first approach. That's because of all the havoc they had with transport in the UK on March 2 and 3. Because of heavy snowfall, nearly all the cities were paralyzed. We were unable to go anywhere.
RB: It was in all the news. Railroads did not work on March 2 and 3. Highways were closed. Police cars and ambulances blocked off highways. There was no traffic at all – no trains, nothing. Why is it that nobody talks about any of this?
MS: Can you give the timeline? Minute by minute, or at least hour by hour, or as much as you can remember. You arrived in the UK – like you said, to have some fun and to see the cathedral, to see a clock in Salisbury. Can you tell us what you did in the UK? You spent two days there, right?
AP: Actually, three.
MS: OK, three. What did you do those three days?
AP: We arrived on March 2. We went to the train station to check the schedule, to see where we could go.
RB: The initial plan was to go there and return that day. Just take a look and return the same day.
AP: To Salisbury, that is. One day in Salisbury is enough. There's not much you can do there.
RB: It's a regular city. A regular tourist city.
MS: OK, I get that. That was your plan. But what did you actually do? You arrived. There was heavy snowfall. No trains, nothing. So, what did you do?
AP: No, we arrived in Salisbury on March 3. We wanted to walk around the city but since the whole city was covered with snow, we spent only 30 minutes there. We were all wet.
RB: There are no pictures. The media, television – nobody talks about the fact that the transport system was paralyzed that day. It was impossible to get anywhere because of the snow. We were drenched up to our knees.
MS: Alright. You went for a walk for 30 minutes, you got wet. What next?
AP: We traveled there to see Stonehenge, Old Sarum, and the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary. But it didn't work out because of the slush. The whole city was covered with slush. We got wet, so we went back to the train station and took the first train to go back. We spent about 40 minutes in a coffee shop at the train station.
RB: Drinking coffee. Drinking hot coffee because we were drenched.
AP: Maybe a little over an hour. That's because of the large intervals between trains. I think this was because of the snowfall. We went back to London and continued with our journey.
RB: We walked around London…
MS: So, you only spent an hour in Salisbury?
AP: On March 3? Yes. That's because it was impossible to get anywhere.
MS: What about the next day?
AP: On March 4, we went back there, because the snow melted in London, it was warm.
RB: It was sunny.
AP: And we thought, we really wanted to see Old Sarum and the cathedral. So we decided to give it another try on March 4.
MS: Another try to do what?
AP: To go sightseeing.
RB: To see this famous cathedral. To visit Old Sarum.
MS: So, did you see it?
RT editor Margarita Simonyan tweeted today that she spent the evening with the suspects and suggested that they will deny any part in the plot
RB: Yes, we did.
AP: On March 4, we did. But again, by lunchtime, there was heavy rain with snow.
RB: For some reason, nobody talks about this fact.
AP: So we left early.
MS: Is it beautiful?
RB: The cathedral is very beautiful. They have lots of tourists, lots of Russian tourists, lots of Russian-speaking tourists.
AP: By the way, they should have a lot of pictures from the cathedral.
MS: Your pictures, you mean?
AP: They should show them.
MS: I assume you took some pictures while at the cathedral?
RB: Of course.
AP: Sure, we did.
RB: We went to a park, we had some coffee. We went to a coffee shop and drank coffee. We walked around, enjoying those beautiful English Gothic buildings.
AP: For some reason, they don't show this. They only show how we went to the train station.
MS: If you give us your pictures, we can show them. So, while you were in Salisbury, did you go anywhere near the house of the Skripals?
AP: Maybe. We don't know.
RB: What about you? Do you know where their house is?
MS: I don't. Do you?
RB: We don't either.
AP: I wish somebody would tell us where it is.
RB: Maybe we passed it, or maybe we didn't. I'd never heard about them before this nightmare started. I'd never heard this name before. I didn't know anything about them.
MS: When you arrived in the UK, when you were in London or in Salisbury, throughout your whole trip, did you have any Novichok or some other poisonous agent or dangerous substance?
RB: No.
AP: It's absurd.
MS: Did you have the bottle of Nina Ricci perfume which the UK presents as evidence of your alleged crime?
RB: Don't you think that it's kind of stupid for two straight men to carry perfume for ladies? When you go through customs, they check all your belongings. So, if we had anything suspicious, they would definitely have questions. Why would a man have perfume for women in his luggage?
AP: Even an ordinary person would have questions. Why would a man need perfume for women?
MS: Where would an ordinary person see that you have a perfume bottle?
RB: I mean, when you go through customs…
MS: Long story short, did you have that Nina Ricci bottle or not?
RB: No.
AP: No, of course not.
MS: Speaking of straight men, all footage features you two together. You spent time together, you lived together, you went for a walk together. What do you have in common that you spend so much time together?
RB: You know, let's not breach anyone's privacy. We came to you for protection, but this is turning into some kind of interrogation. We are going too far. We came to you for protection. You're not interrogating us.
MS: We are journalists, we don't protect. We aren't lawyers. In fact, this was my next question. Why did you decide to go to the media? Your photos were published some time ago together with your names, but you were keeping silent. Today, you called me because you wanted to talk to the media. Why?
RB: To ask for protection.
AP: You say we kept silent. After our lives turned into a nightmare, we didn't know what to do, where to go. Police? Investigative Committee? UK Embassy?
RB: Or FSB. We didn't know.
MS: Why would you go to the UK Embassy?
AP: We really didn't know what to do. Where to go? Hello?
RB: You know, when your life is turned upside down, you don't really understand what to do and where to go. And many say, why don't you go to the UK Embassy and explain everything?
MS: And you know what they are saying about you, right?
AP: Of course we do.
RB: Yes, of course. We can't go out on the street because we are scared. We're afraid.
MS: What are you afraid of?
RB: We fear for our lives. And for the lives of our families and friends.
MS: So, you fear that the UK secret service will kill you or what?
RB: We just don't know.
AP: Simply read what they write there. They even offer a reward.
MS: What do you mean? There's a bounty on your head?
RB: Dmitry Gudkov, if I am not mistaken, promised a trip to the UK to anybody who brings us to him. Do you think it's OK? And you think we can feel just fine, walking around all smiling, talking to people? Any sensible person would be afraid'.
Link hienalouca.com
https://hienalouca.com/2018/09/14/novichok-killers-vanish-and-their-phones-go-out-of-service/
Main photo article
Interviewer Margarita Simonyan RT said Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov have gone off the radar as she waits for evidence of their tourist trip to Britain
Russia‘s novichok assassins have vanished and jettisoned their mobiles within 24 hours of their widely-ridiculed and brazen ...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves US News HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/09/14/08/502583FD00000578-6167255-Interviewer_Margarita_Simonyan_of_Russia_Today_conducted_the_int-m-2_1536911960015.jpg
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