POLICE have identified two Russians they say are responsible for the nerve agent attack on Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the UK town of Salisbury earlier this year.

Scotland Yard has released extraordinary details on the movements of two men, who they believe are operating under the aliases Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, and are both aged about 40.

The Crown Prosecution Service said the men are charged in absentia with conspiracy to murder, attempted murder and use of the nerve agent Novichok.

media_camera This photo issued by the Metropolitan Police shows Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, the two men wanted over the Salisbury attack.

Prosecutor Sue Hemming said the UK is not asking Moscow to extradite the men because Russian law forbids extradition of the country’s citizens.

British Prime Minister Theresa May pinned the blame on the Russian government, telling the House of Commons the men were members of the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence agency.

“Just as the police investigation has enabled the CPS to bring charges against the two suspects, so the security and intelligence agencies have carried out their own investigations into the organisation behind this attack,’’ she said.

“Based on this work, I can today tell the House that, based on a body of intelligence, the Government has concluded that the two individuals named by the police and CPS are officers from the Russian military intelligence service, also known as the GRU.

media_camera Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May told the House of Commons that Russia was to blame for a Novichok attack. Picture: AFP

“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.’’

Prime Minister Scott Morrison today backed May in condemning Russia for the “heinous attack” on the Skripals.

In a joint statement with Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne this morning, he also indicated Australia was considering more measures to punish Moscow for the attempted poisoning.

“Australia shares the UK’s anger and outrage at this dangerous and deliberate act by Russia, which also puts at risk the British public, police and other first responders,” the joint statement said.

“We are in lock step with the UK on the importance of holding Russia to account and reaffirm our support for calls on Russia to fully disclose the extent of its chemical weapons’ program.

“The Australian Government is in close consultation with the UK Government and other partners. We are committed to acting with our allies and partners to deter further Russian violations of international security.”

media_camera CCTV footage shows the two men walking on Fisherton Road in Salisbury, west of London.

Mrs May said 250 detectives had trawled through 11,000 hours of CCTV and taken more than 1400 statements to come to their conclusion.

“This was a sickening and despicable act in which a devastatingly toxic nerve agent - known as Novichok - was used to attack our country,’’ she said.

“It left four people fighting for their lives and one innocent woman dead.’’

media_camera The fake perfume box that was discovered by nerve agent victim Charlie Rowley, who later gave it, and the bottle inside, to his girlfriend Dawn Sturgess. The nerve agent was smuggled in the bottle from Russia, police say.

media_camera A photo released by the British Metropolitan Police Service in London shows a bottle and applicator that was discovered by police at the flat of victim Charlie Rowley.

Six months after Russian double-agent Mr Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with the military-grade nerve agent Novichok, police have produced CCTV of the men’s movements around Salisbury and London.

They also released photographs of a fake perfume bottle they said was used to smuggle the deadly nerve agent into England.

media_camera CCTV footage taken on March 3 at Salisbury train station shows Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov.

While the Skripals were critically injured but ultimately survived the attack, two Salisbury locals who found the perfume bottle in June, Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley, were also badly injured.

Ms Sturgess died several days later.

Police released extraordinary CCTV images of the two men arriving off a Moscow into London’s Gatwick Airport on March 2.

media_camera Alexander Petrov is captured at Gatwick Airport on March 2, 2018.

They also released images of them captured at Salisbury train station on March 3 in what they allege was a reconnaissance mission.

The men stayed at a hotel in London and travelled from Waterloo train station before being captured again on CCTV at Salisbury on March 4, the day the Skripals were attacked on March 4.

media_camera Former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned.

Finally, the police provided CCTV showing the men departing Heathrow Airport at 10.30pm on a Moscow-bound flight on March 4.

Police also produced photographs of a Nina Ricci perfume box, and a false perfume bottle inside with an extended nozzle, which they said had been brought over from Russia to smuggle the nerve agent into the UK.

media_camera Yulia Skripal and her father survived the Novichok attack.

Ms Sturgess and Mr Rowley were affected by the agent when Mr Rowley found it on the street and gave it to his partner Ms Sturgess, who sprayed it on her wrists.

The Sun reports that the 45-year-old Rowley is now totally blind and has lost the use of his limbs after being diagnosed with meningitis just weeks after he survived the attack.

Police also said the men’s hotel room had returned dangerously-high levels of Novichok when police conducted tests for it.

media_camera Dawn Sturgess, who later died, was poisoned alongside her partner Charlie Rowley.

The Crown Prosecution Service said the pair were also wanted for the attempted murder of a first-responder policeman, Nick Bailey, who was also badly injured by the nerve agent, which was sprayed from the perfume bottle onto the front door of Sergei Skripal’s house in Salisbury.

Police also want to lay charges of using a chemical weapon contrary to the Chemical Weapons Act.

But they say the men have never returned to the UK and they will not seek Russia’s help extraditing them as Moscow has denied responsibility and made clear it will not extradite any of its citizens.

Scotland Yard Counter-Terror Commissioner Neil Basu said the charging of the two Russian nationals was “the most significant moment so far in what has been one of the most complex and intensive investigations we have undertaken in counter-terrorism policing.”

Originally published as Poison attack: UK charges Russian spies