The UK newspaper Daily Mail has quoted an intelligence source as saying that a woman may have been at the helm of a six-strong group from Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate who carried out an alleged chemical weapons attack on the Skripals in the British town of Salisbury earlier this year.
"It makes sense that a female officer may have been part of the team, playing a key role," the source said.
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It added that a recent find pertaining to separate alleged poisoning in the UK's Amesbury supports the theory about a key role of a Russian female assassin who "was involved in the initial hit" against the Skripals.
The remarks came after the Metropolitan Police announced they had discovered a "small bottle" containing the nerve agent Novichok, also known as the A-234 agent, which allegedly poisoned Charlie Rowley and Dawn Sturgess in Amesbury located not far from Salisbury.
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The BBC reported that the Novichok found in the house of one of the Amesbury incident victims was contained in a perfume bottle, a claim that has yet to be confirmed by UK police.
On June 30, Rowley and Sturgess were hospitalized after collapsing at their home in Amesbury, just a few miles away from Salisbury, where the Skripals were found in a similar condition on March 4.
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Sturgess died in the hospital on July 8, while Rowley regained consciousness on July 10, with doctors claiming he was no longer in critical condition.
Although the UK counter-terrorism office has repeatedly admitted it had no evidence of a link between the Skripal case and the Amesbury incident, a spate of senior UK officials, including Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson and Security Minister Ben Wallace have pointed the finger at Russia.
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Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, for his part, signaled Moscow's readiness to provide assistance in the probe into the Skripal case, stressing that Russia hadn't been provided with any specific facts proving its involvement in the Skripals' alleged poisoning.
London has refused to cooperate with Russia on the case, or provide samples of the substance allegedly used against the Skripal family.
