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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/oct/03/vladimir-putin-calls-sergei-skripal-a-scumbag-and-traitor
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| Vladimir Putin calls Sergei Skripal a scumbag and a traitor | Vladimir Putin calls Sergei Skripal a scumbag and a traitor |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Vladimir Putin called the former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal a “scumbag” and “traitor”, as he angrily denied allegations that the Kremlin had ordered his poisoning with a nerve agent. | |
| Speaking at an energy forum in Moscow, the Russian president accused the West of portraying Skripal, poisoned with novichok in Salisbury in March, as an innocent victim. | |
| “I see that some of your colleagues are pushing the theory that Mr Skripal was almost some kind of human rights activist,” Putin said following a question from a moderator. | |
| “He was simply a spy. A traitor to the motherland. There is such a concept – a traitor to the motherland. He was one of those.” | |
| Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, were found slumped on a park bench in the English city on 4 March. Britain says they were poisoned with a nerve agent administered by Russian intelligence officers. | |
| Putin, a former intelligence officer, has angrily decried traitors before. He has said that he cannot forgive disloyalty and that “traitors will kick the bucket.” | |
| Of Skripal, he said on Wednesday: “He’s simply a scumbag, that’s all.” | |
| A woman later died from what British police say was contact with the poison, which her partner found in a discarded perfume bottle. The novichok poison used was one of a number developed in the late Soviet Union. | |
| Putin’s remarks came on the final day of the Conservative party conference in Birmingham, just hours after Theresa May had called for party unity and pointed to her tough response on the Salisbury poisoning as a sign of her resolve to push back against Russia. | |
| Attention has focused on two Russian men whom British prosecutors say were intelligence agents sent to kill Skripal. | |
| Investigative journalists say they have identified one of the two men as Col Anatoliy Chepiga, a military intelligence officer who strongly resembles one of the two suspects. British police had earlier said the two men traveled under aliases. | |
| The Kremlin has said it will not help secure an interview with the suspects or discuss speculation into their identity, despite the fact that Putin had originally called on the two men to come forward and protest their innocence on television. | |
| Putin’s remarks on Wednesday appeared aimed at returning the discussion to the Skripals, and away from the suspects. | |
| The UK and allies kicked out more than 150 Russian diplomats as a result of the poisoning. Of the political fallout, Putin said on Wednesday: “I think it will pass. The sooner, the better.” | |
| Sergei Skripal | Sergei Skripal |
| Russia | Russia |
| Vladimir Putin | Vladimir Putin |
| Europe | Europe |
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