The Spy Who Provoked Putin

The Daily

The New York Times

Daily News, News

4.4 • 102.8K Ratings

🗓️ 12 September 2018

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The attack was brazen and exotic, but the target was a low-level former spy. Why did Russia risk so much in the Sergei Skripal case? Guest: Michael Schwirtz, an investigative reporter for The New York Times who recently returned from covering this story in Moscow. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From the New York Times on Michael Barrow, this is the Daily.
0:04.0	Today, the attack was brazen and exotic, but the target was a low-level spy living in
0:19.1	retirement.
0:20.6	My Russia may have risked so much to try to assassinate Sergei Scrippall.
0:33.0	It's Wednesday, September 12.
0:39.0	On March 4, Sergei Scrippall, a former Russian spy, was found on a park bench, foaming at the
0:45.2	mouth.
0:46.2	His daughter, Julia, was slumped next to him.
0:54.4	The nerve agent used to attack the former double agent and his daughter was developed decades
0:58.9	ago in the Soviet Union.
1:00.9	Now investigators have been dealing with this for more than a week, and yet they still don't
1:05.0	have a lot of answers as to why a former Russian spy in his daughter were poisoned and
1:09.9	how exactly it happened.
1:11.7	Why would Russia potentially target Scrippall now after all these years?
1:15.6	Why would he be targeted now?
1:17.2	Why did the attack, these two, when they did?
1:20.5	Why target Scrippall?
1:21.5	I did the attack on Scrippall.
1:23.5	I did the attack on Scrippall did come from Russia.
1:25.6	Why?
1:30.8	Ever since Scrippall was poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent in the center of a small English
1:36.3	town, we've been struggling with the question of why.
	...

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