Novichok Attack: Russian suspect 'was sent to kill Trump enemy'
NOVICHOK suspect Alexander Petrov may have visited the UK a year before the Skripal attack to try to assassinate the ex-British spy who compiled an infamous "dodgy dossier" on President Trump, former Russian agent Boris Karpichkov has claimed, writes Jon Austin.
Novichok poisoning: Police name two Russian suspects
Christopher Steele, 54, the former MI6 Russia Desk head, was hired, initially with money from Hillary Clinton's Democrats, to produce a report on Trump's links to Russia and its alleged meddling in the 2016 presidential race.
His report alleged collusion between Trump and the Russian state to interfere in the election process and discredit Clinton.
It even alleged that Russia might be able to blackmail Trump as its secret services had compromising video footage of him involved in sex acts with prostitutes.
The unverified claims have been strenuously denied by Trump.
On Thursday I was contacted by one of my sources who sent a message saying he understood Petrov came here, with others, to kill Christopher Steele - but for unknown reasons it never went ahead.
However, Karpichkov said an insider had told him that Russian president Vladimir Putin was so enraged by the dossier he wanted Mr Steele dead.
Salisbury suspect Petrov is believed to have visited London between February 28 and March 5, 2017.
Mr Karpichkov said: "On Thursday I was contacted by one of my sources who sent a message saying he understood Petrov came here, with others, to kill Christopher Steele - but for unknown reasons it never went ahead."
It is not known if Steele, who spends time in the US, was in the UK then.