Col Skripal was a high value MI6 asset while working for the GRU (military intelligence) in the late 90s, early 2000s. He's believed to have run their personnel Ops in Moscow & was in a position to have given MI6 the whole GRU order of battle
After reaching the UK, Col Skripal was given an MI6 pension. In return he would speak to military academies and allied intelligence services about the GRU, its methods & leading personalities. People who heard him talk describe a bulldog of a man, v tough ex-para
Col Skripal's wife died in the UK in 2012 and his son, while on holiday in Russia last year. His son had been very ill, ppl tell me they did not regard it as suspicious, his body was brought to the UK. Of his close family only his daughter survives
