Russian spy: Ministers to be updated on investigation

The government's emergency committee Cobra is to be updated on the police probe into the suspected poisoning of a former Russian double agent.

Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, have spent a third night in a critical condition in hospital after being found unconscious in Salisbury.

Scientists at the UK's military research facility at Porton Down are examining an "unknown substance".

Met Police counter terrorism officers extended cordons in the city overnight.

A bridge was shut on Tuesday evening, while Salisbury's Zizzi restaurant and The Bishop's Mill pub remain sealed off.

Mr Skripal and his daughter were found slumped and unconscious on a bench outside the Maltings shopping centre on Sunday afternoon.


The Cobra meeting, due to begin shortly, will be chaired by Home Secretary Amber Rudd. The cross-departmental committee meets to examine government responses to national emergencies.

Scotland Yard, which took over the investigation from Wiltshire Police on Tuesday, said it was keeping an "open mind" and the case had not been declared a terrorist incident.

Source: bbc