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UK Wants Skripal Hysteria to Soften Public Before Attacks in Syria - Scholar

Two men suspected by London of poisoning ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury were interviewed by RT, and said they had visited Salisbury as tourists. Sputnik discussed the issue with Dr. George Szamuely, political analyst and author of "Bombs for Peace: NATO's Humanitarian War on Yugoslavia".
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Sputnik: What is your take on London's allegations that the Skripal attack was approved at a senior level of the Russian state? What would Russia gain from this?

Dr. George Szamuely: Well it's very hard to tell what's been going on behind the scenes, there's obviously some attempt on the British authorities' part to keep the Skripal hysteria going.

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I think it is connected with the events taking place in Syria and the expectation that the United States, Britain and France are set to launch missile attacks on Syria, and I think that this is part of softening up the public in anticipation of these attacks.

So at the very time that Russia is in the headlines associated with chemical weapons, lo and behold, chemical weapons are supposedly being used by the Syrian government, which itself is being backed by Russia. So I think this latest disclosure, if we can call it that, is really tied up with what's going on in Syria.

READ MORE: 5 Things We've Learned From Interview With Skripal Poisoning "Suspects"

Sputnik: What do you make of the fact that the Russians have not been allowed to be involved in the investigation, the Russian side was not given the information that they had on the perpetrators, they were not given their passport numbers, is that normal or do you see anything strange in that?

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Dr. George Szamuely: No, I don't think it's at all normal, I think Russia had every reason to be rather upset about this.

First of all, it isn't normal for them not to have access to the two victims of the poisoning, certainly Yulia Skripal is a Russian citizen and, therefore, they have every need to talk to her, there's been an attempted murder on her, and they've been denied that, and they've been denied all of the investigatory material on which the Russians can actually be able to provide their own assesment, their own analysis, to have their own input.

The British attitude towards Russia seems to be: just admit your guilt! You have to admit your guilt! — any other response is unacceptable, but in the meantime we're not going to even show you any evidence upon which you can make any inferences, any evidence upon which you can conduct your own investigation.

Views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.

 

 

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