Chemical security

‘Skripal spoke to UK spies about the Russian mafia’ – Seymour Hersh doubles down on Salisbury theory

Legendary journalist Seymour Hersh has thrown doubt on the theory that the Kremlin was behind the Skripal attack, suggesting that the double agent had been briefing British intelligence on ‘Russian organized crime.’

In an interview published in the Independent following the publication of his memoir ‘Reporter,’ Hersh outline his doubts, stating: “The story of Novichok poisoning has not held up very well. [Skripal] was most likely talking to British intelligence services about Russian organized crime.”

Pulitzer-prize winning Hersh, renowned for his investigative work, has previously taken aim at the British government’s narrative that the Russian state is ‘culpable’ for the poisonings.

“There’s bias all the time, this country’s riddled with bias, there’s a great dislike of Russia here, an instinctive dislike,” he said in an interview with BBC Radio 4.

“You saw that mess you had in March, the two Russians that were allegedly killed by nerve gas, which is essentially impossible,” he continued, referring to the poisoning of ex-Soviet double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury.

“If you kill them, you kill half the city with nerve gas,” he added, before saying that interest in reporting on the story has “dwindled away.”