New in SpyWeek: Putin Named in UK Hit, Russia Targets Germany, Pipe Bomber Nabbed, Hegseth Creamed, "Americans" Star Resurfaces
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
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Novichok
15 min read
The article mentions this military-grade nerve agent as the poison used in the Skripal assassination attempt. Understanding its development by the Soviet Union, its chemical properties, and why it's considered one of the deadliest nerve agents ever created provides crucial context for the severity of Russia's actions.
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Sergei Skripal
14 min read
While mentioned in the article, readers would benefit from understanding Skripal's full background as a Russian military intelligence officer who became a double agent for Britain's MI6, the circumstances of his exposure and prisoner exchange, and why Russia would target him years after his release.
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Illegals Program
14 min read
The article references 'The Americans' TV show and mentions a real spy resurfacing. The Illegals Program was the actual FBI operation that inspired the show, involving Russian sleeper agents living as Americans for decades. This provides fascinating context for both the TV reference and Russia's ongoing espionage operations discussed in the article.
Putin Did It: A high level British inquiry fingered Vladimir Putin as responsible for the 2018 poisoning of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in 2018 in a “reckless” display of power that led to the death of an innocent woman, Reuters reported Thursday. Skripal was found along with his daughter Yulia slumped unconscious on a public bench in the southern English city of Salisbury in March 2018 after Novichok was applied to the front door handle of his nearby home by Russian agents. About four months later, mother-of-three Dawn Sturgess, 44, died from exposure to the poison after her partner found a counterfeit perfume bottle which Russian spies had used to smuggle the military-grade nerve agent into the country, the inquiry said. “I have concluded that the operation to assassinate Sergei Skripal must have been authorized at the highest level, by President Putin,” U.K. Supreme Court judge Anthony Hughes said in his report. “The evidence that this was a Russian state attack is overwhelming.” (NBC)
Kremlin on the Thames: Russia is smuggling suspected intelligence operatives into the U.K. on cargo ships, the U.K.-based independent i Paper reported. “Two suspected spies used such transport to enter Britain in the spring and summer, based on intelligence we have seen.”
Kremlin on the Oder: Moscow has upped the tempo of drone flights over Germany, especially naval bases, in what appears to be preparations for a land attack on a NATO member in the coming years, German officials are saying.
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