WTF

Russian Company Sells Board Game Based on Deadly Salisbury Novichok Poisoning

“Our Guys in Salisbury” tasks players with following the route of the agents accused of attempting to poison a former British spy.

A board game commemorating the attempted murder of ex-spy Sergei Skripal, which resulted in the inadvertent death of another woman, is now on sale in Russia, according to a Thursday report from Newsweek. “Our Guys in Salisbury” allows players to retrace the steps of the allegedly Kremlin-backed Russian GRU agents who are believed to have traveled from Moscow to the U.K. with the intent of killing Skripal. The finish line of the game is Salisbury, because the accused agents justified their repeated presence in the area with their desire to see the city’s famous cathedral. Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, survived the alleged attack—but about four months later, a woman died in Salisbury soon after picking up a perfume bottle that was believed to contain the remaining Novichok and applying the contents directly to her wrist. This isn’t the first time Russia has mocked the event: In December, Russian state media sent out a chocolate version of the cathedral as a Christmas gift.

The game’s creator, Mikhail Bober, denied that he was making light of the tragedy, and instead claimed that his intent was to make fun of the Western media for aggressively covering the alleged attack. “In some way, this was an idea of our answer to western media: enough already,” Bober said. “To us it’s not funny anymore. It’s sad. This needs to stop.” When asked if he’d consider making games to commemorate Russia’s relationship with other states, including Ukraine, Bober demurred. “There are victims there,” he said. “It would be stupid to use it in a commercial project.”