"The choice remains for the Skripals"

A former employee of British military intelligence-about how the program for protecting ex-agents works and whether the victims of poisoning in Salisbury have a chance of a normal life

Since the poisoning of the former intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Julia in British Salisbury has passed for almost a year; And if the circumstances of the investigation periodically appear in the British media, even with varying degrees of reliability, then very little is still known about the fate of the Skripals themselves.

In January, the press sources in the special services said that after discharge from the hospital in Salisbury Sergey and Julia, they took the former agents under the program of protection, and now they were most likely to live in the south of England under the supervision of special services and doctors. According to The Telegraph, the British special services help Julia Skripal to integrate into society:

The girl could provide a remote work in which she has the opportunity to use the Russian language, and this summer she was visited by friends from Russia and Great Britain.

Unlike his daughter, Sergey Skripal has never appeared in public since the poisoning, which still gives the Russian authorities the opportunity to say that Russians are forcibly held in the UK.

About how the program of protection of former agents is arranged and why the creaks are hiding from the public’s eyes, “New” spoke with a former British military intelligence officer with 25 years of experience, chemical weapons expert, Colonel Philip Ingrem .

- After poisoning in March last year, the creaks are under a special program that ensures the safety of former agents. What is she representing and who is responsible for her?

- This is the responsibility of the MI5 ( Security Service of the United Kingdom. - Yu. M. ). The implementation of Resettlement Programme is engaged in a special department of this service: they look after agents who were moved to a new place - both in the UK and outside the country. Part of this program can be different people, whether it is security officers (MI5), secret service (MI6), military intelligence or law enforcement officers. How many people are currently under this protection program, no one knows except the employees of this department, the information is of a high level of secrecy. But we are not talking about a very large number.

Exactly just as it is not known how much money is spent annually on the implementation of this program. It is impossible to find out the exact amount, because it is simply laid in the budget for all secret services, which then distribute money to each other. But again - I do not think that they spend large amounts on it.

-It is clear that the purpose of relocation is to ensure security and at the same time give ex-agents the opportunity to live a more or less normal life. But if they were in the field of view of the media before, they will still recognize them on the street? Is there a condition that you need to radically change the appearance?

- It is not necessary to change appearance, but here the factor that affects the adoption of this decision is the seriousness of the threat.

Usually all this looks like this: the Mi5 department officer sits down and, together with the former agent, discusses the whole range of measures that are necessary to protect this person, and they find a solution together.

If you look at Sergei Skripal as a classic example of a participant in this program, then for the first time - when he was moved to Salisbury - he did not change his appearance, walked freely along the street, his relatives visited him. They precisely discussed whether he wanted to use any additional technical means, whether he is aware of all the risks that he can be subjected to, choosing a particular lifestyle. The task of the MI5 employee in this case was to observe the balance between what Skripal himself wanted, and what was needed to protect him from an additional threat. The peculiarity is that the ex-agent is fully involved in the decision-making process, and special services always discuss measures that will be taken with their wards.

- And in the current situation, they allow Sergei Skripal to go outside and, for example, go to the store or for dinner? Is it possible?

- Well, now it will be problematic to go to the cafe,

Including because a little time has passed after poisoning. I suspect that he still undergoes examinations and intensive treatment, because he had serious health problems, including psychological terms. There is a lot of evidence that such poisoning is greatly reflected in the psyche, because the nerve endings in the whole body and brain are affected.

I believe that according to this program, Sergei and Julia should be placed in a place where they can lead a normal life, at the same time, receiving the necessary level of medical care. At the same time, special services will carefully monitor possible threats, since here they investigate not only the attempt to kill the Skripals, but also the death of a citizen of Great Britain Don Straz, whose boyfriend accidentally found an abandoned bottle from the “newcomer” a few months after the poisoning of the colonel.

- Moscow constantly says that the creaks do not get in touch with their Russian relatives, because they are forbidden by the British special services. How do people subscenely maintain their relatives? For some protected channels?

-This is always discussed with the ex-agents themselves and depends on their desire. If you look at Sergey Skripal, he had no problems with communication with his family and Julia, when she was in Russia, but I must say that the British departments were seriously aware of his communication. Exactly just like the Russian special services that monitored his calls and correspondence to understand what is happening in his life.

This is the problem: as soon as you start leading public life, you increase the chances of success to those who want to harm you

Or understand where you are. Therefore, this time it will be separately discussed with him and Julia: do they want to communicate with the outside world and how often they want to do this - weekly or even daily. There are many ways: if it is impossible to do this in the usual form for security reasons, Mi5 may offer to use disposable phones or e-mail. If this is something particularly important or urgent, then a third party through which this message will be given can be used. But all this is more dependent on the desire of the person who is under the protection program in this regard

British special services do not impose anything.

-What is the likelihood that Skripli once can return to normal public life? And do they have any agreements on this subject with British special services or departments?

- This is a difficult question. Again, it all depends on themselves. We saw that Julia Skripal entered the public in May last year and made a statement that was her personal choice. Before that, of course, she consulted, and she was told about the pros and cons of such a decision. She publicly abandoned the help of the Russian side, and the further development of events here also completely depends on her: the British authorities can offer her the opportunity to stay here, get a British passport or even change her name and personal data. The choice will remain with her.

Similarly, with Sergey Skripal ( unlike his daughter, Sergey is a subject of Great Britain. - Yu. M. ) - the British authorities will tell you what they would recommend to do to him in such a situation, explain what level of security they are able to provide him and how to make the potential threat as much as possible. If he refuses or wants something more than the special services can offer him, this will also be discussed. But here it is important to understand that the financial resources of the British special services are not at all unlimited.