Skripal’s Persian Cat put down – Something fishy?

The Daily Mail reports the following:

• A cat belonging to poisoned ex-spy Sergei Skripal was put down by the government in the wake of the nerve agent attack.
• The black Persian cat Nash Van Drake was found in a ‘distressed state’ at his home in Salisbury, the Mail can reveal.
• A veterinary surgeon made a decision to euthanise the animal to ‘alleviate its suffering’, it was said.
• Mr Skripal’s two guinea pigs were also found dead in his home when a vet gained access to the property.

Their report continues with “When a vet was able to access the property, two guinea pigs had sadly died. A cat was also found in a distressed state and a decision was taken by a veterinary surgeon to euthanise the animal to alleviate its suffering. ‘This decision was taken in the best interests of the animal and its welfare.’

Russian spokesman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday: ‘Where are the pets? What’s their condition?’The MoD refused to comment on whether the animals had been tested at Porton Down science laboratory.

 

We are led to believe that vehicles have been impounded, park benches cut out and removed, mass areas hosed down by the fire brigade amongst many of the other activities undertaken by the police, authorities and intelligence services in an attempt to rid Salisbury of the deadly Novichok nerve agent.

One Twitter user @GrahamWP manages to conclude from this article “And yet a detailed Police search of the Skripal’s house was so thorough …. that in a month they couldn’t find his cat and 2 guinea pigs.” Or indeed, that these animals were somehow less important to be tested than say, – a doorknob (that had been exposed to the rain for several days).

As the Mirror reported in direct quotes of the “security source”

“It amounts to Russia’s tradecraft manual on applying poison to door handles. It’s the smoking gun. It is strong proof that in the last ten years Russia has researched methods to apply poisons, including by using door handles. The significant detail is that these were the facts that helped persuade allies it could only be Russia that did this.”

We are also led to believe that the British government have in their possession a Russian ‘secret’ training manual for using Novichok agents.

This story gets more like an Agatha Christie ‘whodunnit’ novel every day.

 

Alternative, you could read -“Mainstream Media: The Spies Who Choked Me” for another angle on what is going on. Just one sentence from that article says a lot – “MI5 and MI6 came out of the cold war and “needed the media to trumpet its continued usefulness, lest the Treasury respond to the vanishing of the Soviet threat by slashing its budget” wrote NewStatesman reporter of the time, David Rose.”

Hmm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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