Critically ill man is former Russian spy

[Breccia]

Sorry, but their story sounds like made up food poisoning.

I try not to be the "fixed that for you" guy. I apologize if you're offended.

Nobody believes the two Russian agents who get on state-run propaganda television, claim they snaked their way to see a "world famous" cathedral in a route that avoided at least 100 other major tourist destinations in the UK, were there on the same day by coincidence, left the next day due to bad weather -- here is the weather in the UK March 2018, and here's a chart:



Nobody who was in the UK March 1-3 would look at March 4-7, say "the weather was getting worse" and choose to leave because of it. The pair were there from Friday afternoon to Sunday night and visited Salisbury twice.

Also, their claim they went to Salisbury because of the famous 123-meter spire is highly questionable. It is true that's the tallest standing church in the UK. There are seven taller churches in Germany. There are taller churches in France, Poland, Italy (duh), Austria, Estonia, and Latvia. Ducking into Brexit to see #22 on the list, seeing it twice, then leaving is a very specific level of sightseeing not shared by most humans on Earth.

[FeedsOnDevTears]

No tourist would go to Salisbury for the first time and miss Stonehenge. It's not credible. And we're supposed to believe Muscovites were scared off by British bad weather. (That didn't really exist, apparently.)

[Shalcker]

I try not to be the "fixed that for you" guy. I apologize if you're offended.

Nobody believes the two Russian agents who get on state-run propaganda television, claim they snaked their way to see a "world famous" cathedral in a route that avoided at least 100 other major tourist destinations in the UK,

Stonehenge that they mentioned was actually closed to visits due to weather, pretty sure plenty of others were as well.

Entire thing is portrayed as relatively typical weekend tourist trip (Saturday 3rd March, Sunday 4th March) - even if their portrayal of it is unconvincing.

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No tourist would go to Salisbury for the first time and miss Stonehenge. It's not credible. And we're supposed to believe Muscovites were scared off by British bad weather. (That didn't really exist, apparently.)

Stonehenge was closed.

[luc54]

That's probably no lie though....

I don't know if that's true. One of the Litvinenko poisoners got elected to duma. They might just see it as status symbol murdering a traitor or something.

[Cthulhu 2020]

Russian propaganda trolls are in full damage control mode.

Seems both men were confirmed to be Russian ingelligence agents, and there were traces of the same poison used on the victim found in their hotel room. And the Russia propaganda bots are going fucking nuts.
@Shalcker do you get paid a bonus when really important shit like this needs to be twisted away from the truth? Like when I have to work overtime reviewing access logs, I get a nice chunk of extra money for doing so. Just wondering how your bonus system works when a really important propaganda piece needs to be pushed.
@Breccia might know though, he has a pretty good idea of the Russiabot operation.

[Breccia]

@Breccia might know though, he has a pretty good idea of the Russiabot operation.

I dunno man, I think you have it covered. Throw in the word "turnip" and you're golden.

I do like the excuse "lol Stonehenge" with the date March 3rd. As I went out of my way to show, the weather in the UK was getting better and better that week. It's pretty obvious that the Russia propaganda machine, desperate for anything that could possibly deflect from the blatantly obvious, were grasping at straws.

Man, it sure would be embarrassing if Stonehenge was open March 4th. It sure would ruin their lame-ass limp-dick IMPOTUS attempt to deflect if Stonehenge was open the day the assassins, proving that leaving early because of bad weather was a bold-faced lie.

Really FUCKING embarrassing.

Try not to choke on those turnips. You worked real hard for them.

[Setheria]

Russian propaganda trolls are in full damage control mode.

Seems both men were confirmed to be Russian ingelligence agents, and there were traces of the same poison used on the victim found in their hotel room. And the Russia propaganda bots are going fucking nuts.
@Shalcker do you get paid a bonus when really important shit like this needs to be twisted away from the truth? Like when I have to work overtime reviewing access logs, I get a nice chunk of extra money for doing so. Just wondering how your bonus system works when a really important propaganda piece needs to be pushed.
@Breccia might know though, he has a pretty good idea of the Russiabot operation.

I've ignored that guy for some time and it's made the forums better (for me) because of it.

I think threads like this are pretty much open and shut cases as to why certain posters (ie Shalcker) make these forums a worse place.

We're talking about deliberate dis-information, sustained over lengthy time frames.

I mean, it's almost an internet meme to say someone is a paid Russian stooge. And yet here we are. If he's not, the best that can be said is he's doing the same work Pro Bono. There's no believable scenario where this guy is simply misguided.

How this guy continues to not be held to account is mystifying and I would respectfully ask the many valuable posters here to cease responding to him. The mods view is that this guy can continue to post, and so be it. Let's cut the oxygen though.

[yetgdhfgh]

Ive been to stonehedge and trust me they dont close that place except the touristy part cause you can easily see the stones from outside the fence.

Its pointless to even pay to see them cause you cant even get close without permission and the official part is you get to walk around it with a radio telling you in different languages and trust me it aint worth paying.

They could easily have gone to it and seen it through the fence and they would not have miss much.

Lets be real Putin and his assassins have been caught out red handed and had he been as clever as i thought he was he couldve just said nothing but now he has blown it wide open with mistake and inconsistency after inconsistency and nobody believes them now except maybe Trump and most of Russia.

[Shalcker]

Russian propaganda trolls are in full damage control mode.

Seems both men were confirmed to be Russian ingelligence agents, and there were traces of the same poison used on the victim found in their hotel room. And the Russia propaganda bots are going fucking nuts.

Confirmed how exactly?

@Shalcker do you get paid a bonus when really important shit like this needs to be twisted away from the truth? Like when I have to work overtime reviewing access logs, I get a nice chunk of extra money for doing so. Just wondering how your bonus system works when a really important propaganda piece needs to be pushed.

Where do you see propaganda though? If this interview is "propaganda" it is wholly unconvincing.

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I dunno man, I think you have it covered. Throw in the word "turnip" and you're golden.

I do like the excuse "lol Stonehenge" with the date March 3rd. As I went out of my way to show, the weather in the UK was getting better and better that week. It's pretty obvious that the Russia propaganda machine, desperate for anything that could possibly deflect from the blatantly obvious, were grasping at straws.

They only had two days because it was holiday vacation, duh. They couldn't get anything on March 3rd because of weather, they could/decided to at least see something on March 4th and that's why they spent more time in Salisbury on 4th.

We never actually see them on CCTV images any closer then 500 meters from Skripal's house.

Man, it sure would be embarrassing if Stonehenge was open March 4th. It sure would ruin their lame-ass limp-dick IMPOTUS attempt to deflect if Stonehenge was open the day the assassins, proving that leaving early because of bad weather was a bold-faced lie.

They left early on 3rd. They spent more time on 4th.

[Deleted]

"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."

Lul. Sure, Brits are gonna send hit squads after them. Sure. What kind of being high fantasy is this?

The same Brits that claimed a certain Oligarch on their soil who wanted to return to Russia, suddenly decided to do suicide..

[Shalcker]

Here is link to Salisbury snow recovery efforts in March - even though Stonehenge was opened, roads were still in process of being cleared on 4th March.


Wiltshire Council ✔ @WiLtscouncil

If you are driving today in #Wiltshire, be aware of slush and ice, slow down and drive to the conditions. If you're heading out on foot, wear appropriate footwear and take care. Some services are still affected by the weather. Updates: http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/news/art...colder-weather ...
4:31 PM - Mar 4, 2018

SalisburyCityCouncil ✔ @SalisburyCC
Today's Artisan Market is unfortunately cancelled. We apologise for any inconvenience.
12:07 PM - Mar 4, 2018


Old Sarum @EHOldSarum
Old Sarum is still closed today as we clear the last drifts from the Inner Bailey.
3:14 PM - Mar 4, 2018

[Cthulhu 2020]

Confirmed how exactly?

I realize it's tantamount for your job for you to call into question the validity of some of the most skilled and well known investigative agencies in the entire world.

[Shalcker]

I realize it's tantamount for your job for you to call into question the validity of some of the most skilled and well known investigative agencies in the entire world.

If there is no proof of assertion given then it isn't "confirmed", it is simply "stated".

[Cthulhu 2020]

If there is no proof of assertion given then it isn't "confirmed", it is simply "stated".

I wonder who's more trustworthy, the most competent intelligence agencies in the entire world, or an anonymous Russian shill on an MMO gaming forum.

[Deleted]

I wonder who's more trustworthy, the most competent intelligence agencies in the entire world, or an anonymous Russian shill on an MMO gaming forum.

Have they found those iraqi WMDs yet?

[Breccia]

I wonder who's more trustworthy, the most competent intelligence agencies in the entire world, or an anonymous Russian shill on an MMO gaming forum.

Now now, without claims like "Stonehenge was closed the day before so I win" you wouldn't have such hilarious jokes as the TripAdvisor reviews the two Russian agents "left".

[Shalcker]

I wonder who's more trustworthy, the most competent intelligence agencies in the entire world, or an anonymous Russian shill on an MMO gaming forum.

Where there is blind trust, there are always those who want to exploit it to their own ends - and we have seen plenty of that through the years, including in UK.

Trust should only hold if conclusions can be verified. Perhaps not every and each of them, but those with wide-ranging international implication certainly should qualify.

[TwistedSkull]

Too much snow in the UK? and they come from Russia? That whole interview stinks to the high heavens...

[Shalcker]

Now now, without claims like "Stonehenge was closed the day before so I win" you wouldn't have such hilarious jokes as the TripAdvisor reviews the two Russian agents "left".

SIMONYAN: So, you only spent an hour in Salisbury?
PETROV: On March 3? Yes. That’s because it was impossible to get anywhere.
SIMONYAN: What about the next day?
PETROV: On March 4, we went back there, because the snow melted in London, it was warm.
BOSHIROV: It was sunny.
PETROV: And we thought – we really wanted to see Old Sarum and the cathedral. So we decided to give it another try on March 4.
SIMONYAN: Another try to do what?
PETROV: To go sightseeing.
BOSHIROV: To see this famous cathedral. To visit Old Sarum.
SIMONYAN: So, did you see it?
BOSHIROV: Yes, we did.
PETROV: On March 4, we did. But again, by lunchtime, there was heavy sleet.
BOSHIROV: For some reason, nobody talks about this.
PETROV: So we left early.

This part hold completely. Everything was closed on March 3rd; while weather was better there on 4th, indeed, heavy sleet remained and drenched them on March 4th (clearly visible on photos too), and they had no replacement clothes/boots to get through it so they had to abandon idea again.

Russian "resilience" in cold depends on having right gear for the cold, not some innate resistance to it.

And Old Sarum - which was in general direction of Skripal's house from station - was still closed on March 4th.

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Too much snow in the UK? and they come from Russia? That whole interview stinks to the high heavens...

It has more to do with not having right boots to get through suddenly snowy UK weather.

[TwistedSkull]

BTW have they given an explanation to how the substance ended up in their hotel room?