MOSCOW — Two Russians named by Britain as the prime suspects in a nerve agent attack that nearly killed a former Soviet spy popped up on Russian television on Thursday to deny any involvement in the assault, claiming they were in the fitness industry and not working as hit men. In an interview with RT, a state-funded network formerly known as Russia Today, the men identified themselves as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, names that Britain released last week but said were probably aliases. They insisted they were simple tourists who had traveled to the “wonderful” English city of Salisbury to look at its cathedral spire and 14th-century clock. The two men, who told RT the names were real, resembled the suspects shown in pictures released by British investigators trying to unravel the March 4 attack on Sergei V. Skripal and his daughter, Yulia. British prosecutors formally charged Mr. Petrov and Mr. Boshirov last week with the attempted murder of the Skripals and of a police officer who fell ill while investigating the case.

Source: New York Times September 13, 2018 14:54 UTC