Skripal passed data on Russian corruption to British intelligence

BBC journalist Mark Urban's book The Skripal Files is out

Sergei Skripal, who was assassinated in Britain's Salisbury in March, was passing on information to British intelligence about a 1990s corruption scheme that led to Nikolai Patrushev, the head of the Russian intelligence service and a close associate of Putin.

Skripal spoke about this to BBC journalist Mark Urban for his recently published book The Skripal Files, reports The New York Times (translated by Inopressa ).

According to Skripal, information about high-level corruption was sensitive. One officer who worked with him for Russian military intelligence and, like him, caught passing information to Western intelligence agencies, was found dead - apparently strangled - in a military hospital in 2004 after being questioned by Russian intelligence officers. British intelligence concluded that Skripal avoided the same fate because, during interrogations, he did not mention the web of corruption leading to the head of the FSB, Patrushev.

During an interview with Urban, Skripal said he was afraid of drawing attention if he was quoted in a book. “This is because of Putin. You see, we are afraid of Putin,” Skripal said.

Skripal did not believe at first that the Russian authorities were trying to kill him and, although he sold secrets to MI6, was "an unabashed Russian nationalist," according to The Guardian , (translated by Inopressa ).

According to Urban's book, after coming out of a coma after the attack, Skripal faced "difficulties of psychological adjustment." Among other things, he initially refused to admit that he was the victim of the Kremlin's "plan to kill." Urban found that Skripal spends a lot of time watching Russian television. He began to adhere to the Kremlin's line on many issues, including the annexation of Crimea.

The Skripal Files book published this week. In it, the author recalls a series of meetings with Sergei Skripal in the summer of 2017.