Opinions

How Russia Kills Abroad



British authorities on Wednesday indicted two men for the March chemical-weapons attack on a former Russian double agent on British soil. The new details add to the evidence that Vladimir Putin’s regime is responsible, but its reckless methods are the real stunner.

Police and prosecutors allege the men they identify as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov—almost certainly pseudonyms—arrived at London’s Gatwick airport on Friday, March 2, smuggling the weapons-grade nerve agent Novichok in a small counterfeit perfume bottle. They ferried the chemical on suburban trains and the Tube through central London to a hotel, where nonfatal quantities of Novichok were found two months later.

On Sunday, March 4, they again carried the Novichok alongside hundreds of other people on public transport—they couldn’t have rented a car?—to Salisbury, where they sprayed the chemical on the front door of the home of their intended target, Sergei Skripal. He and his daughter Yulia fell seriously ill later that day, as did police officer Nick Bailey after he tried to examine the house. All three spent weeks in the hospital.

The alleged assassins then disposed of their fake perfume bottle, which was discovered almost four months later by Charlie Rowley and his partner, Dawn Sturgess, in a bin for charity donations. He fell seriously ill. She died of the poisoning.

Nothing will come of these indictments. Since Russia refuses to extradite its nationals, Britain isn’t even asking. The most effective response is what Britain and its allies are already doing: sustained financial sanctions against Mr. Putin’s corrupt regime.

These new details show the public why those sanctions are important. The Kremlin was more than criminally ruthless toward a former spy. It was also reckless about the safety of innocents who might get in the way—including the police officer and two members of the public who did. Anyone on those trains with the Russian assassins, or anyone who might ride near Mr. Putin’s henchmen in the future, has a stake in seeing the sanctions continue.



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