Skripal didn't fled the country. He was caught, trialed, jailed and then exchanged. That whole incident makes absolutely zero sense as explained by the UK government.
Right, that’s an important correction. It casts even more doubt on his poisoning being state ordered.
The smoking gun is that the nerve agent came from a USSR factory decades ago. It’s not hard to imagine that ended up in who-knows-whose hands since then.
Plus, it didn’t even do the job. Skirpal was released from the hospital. Seems pretty amateur...
This says "you should not do spy exchanges with us". Moreover, let's shoot this poor shmuck with an exotic bullet stamped with "Made in Russia" on its side AND let's also just wound the guy.
The bottom line is that this gives Russia nothing. It proves no point, it doesn't serve as a deterrent to anyone (which is what makes it different from the Litvinenko case), but it's just happens to be overflowing with signs that it was done by Russia. If Russians went to such great lengths to make sure it was obvious it was done by them, then it should be even more obvious why they did that. And it's not. So the simplest explanation is that it's a frame-up.
Except nations do it anyway, regardless of the message it sends to potential exchange partners. Mazen Faqha was released by Israel in a prisoner exchange, and was later assassinated.
It serves as a deterrent if it sends the message to your own people that treason will never be forgiven, regardless of a pardon and exchange. And that is a philosophy to which Putin subscribes – he once said, "Enemies are right in front of you, you are at war with them, then you make an armistice with them, and all is clear. A traitor must be destroyed, crushed."
The smoking gun is that the nerve agent came from a USSR factory decades ago. It’s not hard to imagine that ended up in who-knows-whose hands since then.
Plus, it didn’t even do the job. Skirpal was released from the hospital. Seems pretty amateur...