source: https://ruslanostashko.livejournal.com/160806.html

translated by Scott for the Saker blog

Have you ever wondered why in Sherlock Holmes stories the famous Scotland Yard detective Lastred has been portrait as an idiot? Honestly, I always thought this was a literary technique allowing Holmes’ intelligence to shine brighter and brighter against a backdrop of a policeman’s stupidity. After Skripal’s case, not only I don’t think so any longer, but I’m almost 100% certain that Arthur Conan Doyle was a realist and rather exaggerated than underestimated intelligence of Her Majesty’s detectives. As someone who has never been directly involved with a criminal investigations, I nevertheless noticed that the British authorities, so to speak, give some “confused testimonies,” and that those testimonies and related charges against Russia are changing on daily basis. Let me just remind you a few episodes from this schizophrenic story.

The British claimed that only Russia has the ability to produce poison gas “Novichok.” It’s actually a lie, but that’s not what we’re talking about. At the same time they claim that they were able to identify the poison that was used on  the Skripals. Cool, but then it is unclear what this substance was compared to, because if it was compared with the “Novichok,” it is unclear where the British authorities got it, considering that they claim that only Russia knows how to manufacture it. And if the British do not have “Novichok,” how did they establish that it was a “Novichok, “and, more importantly, that it was “Novichok” manufactured in Russia? There are still no answers. And, most likely, it never will be.

There will be no answers because the British cannot even build a cohesive version of a poisoning, so that it would stand up to scrutiny for at least a few days. Remember the reports in American and British media that the poison was smeared on Skripal’s house door handle? They seemed found on it some traces, and only needed to find someone who smeared poisonous gas on the door handle, directly on the orders of Putin. By now, very few people remember that initially we were told that it was Julia Skripal herself who brought poison from Moscow in a suitcase, and that someone  slipped it into her luggage in Russia. It went through border control without a hitch, no one was poisoned on a flight over Europe, and only later, when either a package,  or a container was opened by the victim at home the poison worked. You can see how quickly the versions change, and it is impossible to say that this is an evolution, or a refinement of some basic version. No! Before our eyes, an entire picture of an alleged crime has changed, and it looks now that the British authorities and media are impervious to a fact that the investigation has turned into farce.

Today the case sustained a new unexpected turn! It turns out, that a culprit is a covert biological weapon of Russia – buckwheat. A facepalm is not big enough gesture to convey our exasperation.

“The ex-officer of GRU Sergey Skripal was poisoned by a nerve agent “Novichok,” which was brought from Russia in a buckwheat package by his daughter. The British edition the Sun made this stamen, referring to a unnamed source inside an investigation of an incident in Salisbury.” Source.

Euronews were more specific: “according to the police, who were quoted by the tabloid, a deadly cereal was brought from Russia by a friend of the daughter of a former Colonel. Julia Skripal, allegedly, was going to buy buckwheat, bay leaf and spices at home, but did not have time to stop at a grocery store before departure. That’s why she asked an unnamed woman to bring at least grains for breakfast. In one of the packs were particles of the nerve agent “Novichok.”

And now comes a question: how, this new development is consistent with statements that the investigators have discovered maximum concentration of toxic substances on Skripal’s door? If you combine all the versions of the British side, it would mean that the victims of the poisoning opened a package with buckwheat right on their doorstep, and began to eat it directly without cooking,  and got immediately poisoned. This is nothing but nonsense, yet the British pretend that that that’s how it should be.

There is lots of this sort of questions to the British authorities, and their number is growing every day. Russia’s Foreign Ministry officially published a list of 41 questions concerning “Skripal’s case,” and now it demands answers from London. the list is far from exhaustive, but even just reading it is enough for an objective observer to get a strong sense that London is lying, and bluntly ignores the truth.

In addition, the MFA has made public two additional sets of questions, one for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which is involved in the investigation of alleged poisoning , and another (surprise!) for France, which the British also got involved in the investigation, without telling anyone. The Russia’s Foreign Ministry has learned about this somehow and demanded explanations, hinting that it already has answers to some if not all of the questions, and that the British side won’t like those answers very much. It has became obvious that not only the Russian diplomats, but also people in uniform, who learned a lot of interesting things when they got down to business.

And don’t think that our questions could be simply ignored. It’s not an option. The British Daily Mail has already published this news of the Russia’s Foreign Ministry’s questions, saying that “Moscow has asked London 41 “cynical” questions and accused of being irresponsible.”

It doesn’t make any difference that they call questions “cynical.” What’s important that they penetrate into consciousness of British society and can be used by anyone, including political opposition of Theresa May. Sooner or later, it will happen, and then no stories about poisoned buckwheat would help her.

And for those who don’t know, there are reports that Julia Skripal, an alleged victim along with her father an ex-GRU Colonel Sergei Skripal, came to her senses, communicating and eating. I recall that they were allegedly poisoned by chemical weapon “Novichok,” 2 grams of which allegedly enough to kill 500 people, but a larger dose is not enough for murder two.

In addition, very few knows that  according to rumors Julia Skripal has already testified in this case. I quote from open sources on the Internet:

“That day my father and I sat on a park bench enjoying the air of British freedom. Here our attention was drawn by a man who slowly approached us from other end of the Avenue. Something about him wasn’t right. Whether it was an inscription “FSB” on his chest, or a gasmask, or a Russian fur hat. In his hands he carried a canister similar to a deodorant labeled “Gas “Novichok”  means for elimination of traitors of the homeland. ” Upon approaching us, he shouted: “Putin sends his regards, you rat!”and sprayed gas from the can right in my father’s face. My father and I began to suffocate, and the man in the gas mask began to sing an anthem of the Russian Federation. However he didn’t finish the song, because a car stopped next to us and someone inside it whistled and shouted:  “Dima, hurry up, I have a meeting today with Trump!” The man in the gasmask replied, “I’m on it, Mr. President,” and headed for the car.”