Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that the two Russian citizens charged by British authorities with attempted murder of Sergey Skripal have been identified, and stated that both of them are civilians. He added that there is "nothing criminal" about these individuals and called on them to present themselves to the media.
Putin was speaking at a panel discussion at the Eastern Economic Forum held in Vladivostok, in the country's Far East.
Earlier, the investigation by the United Kingdom found "sufficient evidence" that the two Russian citizens charged with the attempted murder, Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, belong to Russian military intelligence, previously abbreviated as the GRU. Moscow's initial reaction to the charges, however, was that the names of people indicted "don't mean anything" to Russian authorities.
UK's Security Minister Ben Wallace even went as far to accuse Putin personally of being responsible for the nerve agent attack that occurred in March, as "it is his government that controls, funds and directs the military intelligence."
