British police said on Tuesday a third Russian had been charged in absentia with the 2018 Novichok murder attempt on former double agent Sergei Skripal, saying they could also now confirm the three suspects were military intelligence operatives.
Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious, slumped on a public bench in the southern English city of Salisbury in March 2018, and they, along with a police officer who went to his house, were left critically ill in hospital from exposure to the military-grade nerve agent.
Britain charged two Russians with conspiracy to murder and attempted murder in September 2018, and said they had now charged another Russian with the same offenses.
British police said all three were members of Russian's military intelligence service GRU, naming them as Alexander Mishkin, Anatoliy Chepiga, and Denis Sergeev.