UK names two Russians for attempted murder of Skripals

LONDON: British prosecutors on Wednesday identified two Russians who they said tried to murder former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with a military-grade nerve agent in England.

Skripal, a former colonel in Russian military intelligence who betrayed dozens of agents to Britain's MI6 foreign spy service, and his daughter Yulia, were found unconscious on a public bench in the English city of Salisbury on March 4.Britain blamed Russia for the poisonings and identified the poison as Novichok, a deadly group of nerve agents developed by the Soviet military in the 1970s and 1980s. Russia has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attack.

A European arrest warrant has been issued for the two Russians, who were named as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, the prosecutors said.