It wasn’t enough that Vladimir Putin probably tried to kill former Russian spy Sergei Skripal with a super-secret nerve agent—he had to smack-talk him, too. Putin told reporters Wednesday that Skripal was a “scumbag” and a “traitor to the motherland.” Why is the Kremlin offering comment on Skripal after staying relatively quiet on the subject other than to deny responsibility? It could have something to do with the fact that the alleged Russian assassins’ cover story is coming apart at the seams.
Welcome to Rabbit Hole.
The cover: When British Prime Minister Theresa May accused two Russian men of being a Russian military intelligence hit team responsible for the failed assassination of Skripal, a double agent living in Salisbury, Russian television dragged the two accused men on TV for a clumsy denial session. The men, using the names Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, said they were mere tourists on a business trip, drawn like moths to the irresistible flame of Salisbury cathedral’s 123-meter spire and not covert operatives exacting revenge on a traitor to Russia.