We are sorry, you need to be a subscriber to watch this video

We are sorry, you need to be a subscriber to watch this video

Theresa May upped the ante against Russia today when she named the two suspects in the Salisbury nerve agent attack as active agents in the GRU, the country’s military intelligence service.

The prime minister said that Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov were “almost certainly” given approval at a senior level of the Russian state when they allegedly poisoned Sergei and Yulia Skripal with novichok and that it was not a rogue operation.

The two men, whose names are believed to be aliases, travelled on passports issued by the Russian government during the three-day trip in March. Mrs May said the British authorities had gathered “hard evidence” against them meaning that charges had been authorised for conspiracy to murder Mr Skripal, a former Russian double agent,…