Charlie Rowley has called for Vladimir Putin to be put on trial after an inquiry ruled the Russian president was ‘morally responsible’ for the 2018 novichok attack that killed his girlfriend Dawn Sturgess
Charlie Rowley, a survivor of the Salisbury poisoning incident, has demanded that Russian President Vladimir Putin be brought to trial. Rowley, 52, who continues to suffer from the effects of the deadly nerve agent over seven years after the incident, voiced his demand following an inquiry’s conclusion that Putin was “morally responsible” for the death of Dawn Sturgess, a mother of three.
Sturgess, 44, tragically lost her life to novichok contained in a perfume bottle discarded by assassins targeting former double agent Sergei Skripal. In June 2018, Charlie discovered the Premier Jour perfume bottle in a charity bin and presented it to Dawn as a gift, a well-intentioned act that led to heartbreaking consequences and something he still grapples with.
Speaking to the Mirror, he said: “I put a lot of blame on myself. Even to this day it’s still on my mind.”
Commenting on the recent findings of the inquiry, he stated: “I was glad to see Putin and the GRU [Russian military intelligence] officers are the ones to blame. It’s good to hear that said publicly. I have no doubt the attack in Salisbury was ordered by Putin.”
“I want to see him and the officers face a court. It would be amazing to see them actually suffer the consequences for what they’ve done. Ultimately I’d like to see them face convictions.”
Due to his ill health at the time, Charlie was exempted from providing oral evidence to the inquiry. Following the poisoning, he spent 20 days in intensive care and now relies on a three-wheel mobility scooter for movement.
He revealed: “I still have issues with my eyesight related to the strokes I had due to the novichok. It’s frustrating because it causes me to suffer something a bit like double vision to one side. I’ve got problems with my feet. They’re very sensitive – all it takes is for me to tap them and I’m in agony.
“I can’t walk very far. My legs and feet all swell up and hurt and I get out of breath and tired. I believe it’s all because of the novichok poisoning. I was fit as a fiddle before. Doctors say they can’t say what the cause is and that it could be due to the novichok, but it’s new to them.”
Mr Skripal, 66, was imprisoned in Russia in 2006 for 15 years for sharing intelligence with MI6.
He was freed in 2010 through a prisoner exchange and relocated to the UK, settling in Salisbury, Wilts.
He and his daughter Yulia, 33, were taken to hospital in March 2018 after their front door handle was smeared with novichok. Both managed to survive the attack.
An international arrest warrant remains active for three Russian operatives – Alexander Petrov, Ruslan Boshirov, captured on CCTV footage, and Sergey Fedotov – though Russia refuses to hand them over.
In his findings, retired Supreme Court judge Lord Hughes of Ombersley cleared UK authorities of responsibility for failing to prevent the assault.
He stated that following his relocation to the UK, Skripal was given the opportunity to adopt a new identity but turned it down, and also refused suggested CCTV installation at his residence as he didn’t want to make his house “conspicuous or live under surveillance”. During the proceedings, the inquiry discovered that after Colonel Skripal relocated to Salisbury, he made no effort to conceal his identity and was even listed under his real name on the electoral register.
Charlie believes our intelligence services should have compelled the spy to adopt a false identity to keep his location secret from Russia. He is “100%” convinced it would have prevented Dawn’s death.
He stated: “I believe the British authorities should have done more. I think they should have at least changed his name. If they had done it would have made it a lot harder to find him. It’s unreal he was so easy to find.”
Lord Hughes’s report, which has already cost £8million and followed the Russian spy vessel Yantar being detected near British waters last month, has resulted in comprehensive new sanctions against Russia, including asset freezes targeting Kremlin officials.
Charlie remarked: “Since the poisoning in Salisbury, Putin has been causing war in Ukraine and all sorts.
“He lives in a world of his own and needs to be stopped. I think it will take someone in Russia to do something about him, but I realise it’s very hard because he could poison them.”
Seven weeks of testimony included details about three GRU operatives, including Alexander Petrov, Ruslan Boshirov and another individual, Sergey Fedotov, who all journeyed from Russia to Britain to execute the assault on Colonel Skripal.
Police confirm their actual names are Alexander Mishkin, Anatoliy Chepiga and Denis Sergeev. Lord Hughes declared the operatives displayed “considerable recklessness and brazenness” and “greater recklessness still” in their readiness to abandon the Novichok where it could kill or harm an “unaccountable number of innocent people”.
He stated: “Deploying a highly toxic nerve agent in a busy city was an astonishingly reckless act. The risk that others beyond the intended target might be killed or injured was entirely foreseeable”.
He noted the danger was “dramatically magnified” by abandoning the bottle disguised as perfume. Lord Hughes declared the assault on Colonel Skripal represented “a public demonstration of Russian state power for both international and domestic impact”.
He further stated it “amounted to a public statement, for both international and domestic consumption, that Russia will act decisively in what it regards as its own interests.”
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