As the Cold War clash between Russia and the West continues, former double spy Sergei Skripal is recovering from poisoning. What is known about this man who once betrayed Russia for money and then was lucky enough to get out of prison?
Sergei Viktorovich Skripal (66) first caught the eye of the British secret service while working in Madrid in the office of the military attaché of the Russian military intelligence service GRU. He was born in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad in 1951. He joined the army early, after which he transferred to the GRU. He first proved himself as a dynamic and capable agent in Malta, after which he was sent to a promising position in Madrid.
There, the Spanish secret service already had him in the notebook as a potential collaborator, but in the end he was recruited by the famous British MI6. It was during the Boris Yeltsin era, when Russia was first and foremost short of money. Agents who worked abroad were often not paid for months. This, according to an article on the Russian portal L!fe, was the reason why Skripal was looking for a Western employer.
A Spanish agent under the (code?) name Luis, the article says, was the first to reach Skripal and befriend him. He asked the Russian agent to find partners who would support the export of Spanish wine to Russia, while he, Skripal, would receive a commission for it. That's how he met the MI6 agent. Again Skripal allegedly identified himself as a GRU agent before anyone asked him.
According to the British newspaper The Times, MI6 gave him the code name Forthwith, which can be translated as "immediately" or "without delay". The Times writes that Skripal first provided the British with information about the meetings and locations of Russian agents, on the basis of which a large number of agents were expelled from European countries.
"You beat me"
Sergej Srkipalj, however, had health problems at the same time, due to which he was returned to the GRU headquarters in Moscow. There he was diagnosed with diabetes. He left the GRU in 2000, but continued to work for local authorities in Moscow and to send classified information to foreign employers.
It is written that Skripal was most careful to be paid regularly and well. He flew regularly from Moscow to Malaga where he would stay in a house provided by MI6. There he waited for the payments. If he was ever prevented, his wife Ljudmila did it for him.
He was arrested in Moscow in 2004 shortly after a visit to Great Britain. Russia's domestic FSB service claimed that Skripal had been working for the British since 1995. "You outplayed me," he allegedly told FSB agents. The moment of the arrest, when Skripal was taken to a dark van, was recorded by cameras.
It is believed that Srkipalje's double game was reported by Spanish intelligence officer Roberto Florez Garcia, who was convicted of treason in his country.
Great exchange
Skripal was also indicted two years later - "high treason in the form of espionage" - for which he was sentenced to 13 years in a high-security prison. Photos of him in a prisoner's uniform remained from the courtroom. He was stripped of his rank and all privileges. But the sentence, it was interpreted at the time, was relatively mild because Skripal cooperated with the Russian prosecution authorities.
He got lucky when the Americans exposed a network of ten Russian spies in 2010, including the famous Anna Chapman. They were exchanged for four Western spies held by Russia – Skripal was among them. The then Russian President Dimitriy Medvedev officially pardoned him.
The Americans chose Skripal for the account of the Government in London and he chose to live in England, in the southern city of Salisbury. He bought a house there, but suffered a series of family tragedies in the following years.
His wife Ljudmila died in 2012 from uterine cancer. His son died last July, aged 43, during a trip to Saint Petersburg. The cause of death is unknown. Skripal lost his brother Valery (68) exactly two years before he and his daughter Julia (33) were found poisoned on a park bench in Salisbury.
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