MOSCOW, September 13. /TASS/. The recent RT interview by Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov, whom London sees as suspects in the Skripal affair, does not put a lid on the poisoning incident, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the Rossiya 1 TV channel on Thursday.
"The interview that we saw today does not mean that a full stop has been put to this matter, that there is some kind of ultimate truth. We saw two people who expressed their point of view, and I think that we should… analyze all opinions and listen to all statements that are being made," she said. "From my point of view, we should first of all listen to professionals who are engaged in the investigative procedures. That’s why I would not say that today’s interview dots all the i’s."
Zakharova also criticized the British authorities "who came up with a series of identical evaluations an hour after the interview."
"I have no such evaluations. I give political comments, I represent the agency responsible for political comments, but we are not an investigative agency to say whether something is it is true or not," she added.
On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin, while answering questions at the plenary meeting of the 4th Eastern Economic Forum said that the identities of both men London suspected of involvement in the Skripal case were known to the Russian authorities and that both were civilians.
On September 5, British Prime Minister Theresa May briefed the British parliament on progress in the investigation of the Salisbury incident, saying that two Russians were suspected of an attempt on the lives of the Skripals and that British special services suspected they were GRU agents. Scotland Yard published a series of photographs of two men who, according to the investigation, were travelling about the country with passports issued in the names of Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov.
If the British version of the affair is to be believed, on March 4 former GRU Colonel Sergei Skripal, convicted in Russia of spying for Britain, and his daughter Yulia were affected by a Novichok class nerve agent in Salisbury. London argued that Moscow was highly likely involved in the incident. Russia strongly dismissed all speculations on that score, saying that no programs for developing such chemicals had ever existed in the Soviet Union or Russia.