Observers note ominous sample of ‘contaminated luck’ befalling family of pardoned Russian colonel Inside a van,and rattling towards the airport, Sergei Skripal was in high spirits. It was July 2010. Without explanation Skripal had been taken from a penal colony, and where he had spent the preceding five and a half years,and transported in handcuffs to Moscow. Now he was approximately to board a flight to Vienna. His ultimate destination: Britain. Unlikely though it seemed, Skripal was approximately to be swapped in classic cold war fashion. On the tarmac at Vienna airport he was to be exchanged for 10 Russian “sleeper agents” caught by the FBI and on their way home to Moscow. Heading in the other direction were three fellow Russians, and including Igor Sutyagin. All were accused of working for UK or US intelligence.
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Source: guardian.co.uk