Skripal’s Salisbury home to be partly dismantled by British military

Sergei Skripal’s house in Salisbury is to be dismantled by a British military team. The roof of the 67-year-old’s house and adjoining garage are to be completely removed as part of the deep-clean and deconstruction work.

Dismantling the house will lead to significant disruption for residents on Christie Miller Road in Salisbury, the Telegraph reports.

A letter sent to neighbors of Sergei and daughter Yulia Skripal from Wiltshire Council’s director of public of health, Tracy Daszkiewicz, warns of large-scale work scheduled to take place over the coming months on the former Russian spy’s property.

The letter dated January 4, seen by the Press Association, says that all house materials will be wrapped and sealed on site before being safely removed from the premises. It adds that once the scaffolding frame is in place, “the deconstruction work is expected to take around two weeks. This specialist work will be carried out by the military team.”

A clean-up operation has been taking place ever since the Skripals were found slumped on a bench in Salisbury town center on March 5, but work paused over Christmas. The start of a more extensive phase of the operation was due to begin on January 7.

Detectives believe the pair first came into contact with the poison when it was transferred onto the door handle of their home.

The UK government maintains that the Skripals were hit by a weapons-grade nerve agent ‘Novichok’ that was smuggled into the country by two Russian military intelligence agents, identified as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov.

London was prompt to pin the blame on Moscow, accusing it of ordering a targeted assassination of the former double agent.

Russia denied the UK's allegations, insisting there was no need to target the retired officer. It offered its assistance in investigating the incident, but to no avail.

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