Salisbury attack suspects ‘are members of Russian military intelligence’

Two Russian military intelligence officers are accused of carrying out the Salisbury nerve agent attack.

Police and prosecutors announced they had enough evidence to charge the men named as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov over the poisoning in March.

Theresa May told MPs investigations have concluded that the two suspects are members of the GRU, Russia's military intelligence service.

In a statement that will deepen the diplomatic crisis between the two countries, the Prime Minister said: "The GRU is a highly-disciplined organisation with a well-established chain of command. So this was not a rogue operation.

"It was almost certainly also approved outside the GRU at a senior level of the Russian state."