Putin: Russia has found novichok suspects but they are ‘not criminal’

This month the UK's counter-terror police said it had identified two Russian men as the only suspects in the Salisbury poisoning

President Putin says the two men suspected of poisoning Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury have been identified by the Russian state. "We know who they are, we have found them," the premier said at an economic forum in Vladivostock. "They are civilians, of course," before adding there is "nothing criminal" about Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov. Putin said he wants the suspects to come forward and talk to the media. Theresa May previously announced the pair were Russian military intelligence officials, there was "hard evidence" against them and "this was not a rogue operation ... almost certainly" approved at a "senior level of the Russian state." https://twitter.com/TerrorismPolice/status/1037292492402708480 The policing operation involved more than 250 detectives, looking through 11,000 hours of CCTV footage and 1,500 statements. Petrov and Boshirov entered the country on Russian passports and it's believed that those names are likely aliases. They have been charged with use and possession of novichok contrary to the Chemical Weapons Act and causing grievous bodily harm.