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Series Code: TIJ
Program Code: TIJ005106S
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00:25 This is Salisbury famous for its Medieval Cathedral
00:29 with the tallest spire in England reaching 123 meters 00:34 into the sky. 00:35 Salisbury also has the oldest working clock from the 00:38 14th century and an original copy of the Magna Carta. 00:43 Salisbury is a picturesque cathedral city nestled 00:47 at the junction of five rivers in Wiltshire, England. 00:50 Usually, the city is a hive of tourist activity and is 00:54 best known for its many historic landmarks. 00:57 But on a cold midwinter's day in March 2018 Salisbury became 01:04 the scene of the most intriguing and terrifying crimes 01:08 of the past decade. On the 4th of March, 2018 01:12 Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia drove into the town center 01:18 and parked in the upper level car park in The Maltings. 01:21 They then made their way to the Bishop's Mill Pub 01:24 for a drink before dining at Zizzi's Pizza Restaurant. 01:28 After their meal, they left the restaurant walking the 01:32 short distance around the corner and through an arcade 01:36 to an open area by the river Avon. 01:38 They were a curious duo and their behavior soon began 01:44 to draw attention. Sergei was irate and restless despite the 01:49 biting weather and the patches of snow that lay on the ground. 01:52 He began to sweat profusely, they managed to make it to a 01:57 bench at the waterfront where Yulia began to exhibit the same 02:01 symptoms as her father. Before long their vision was 02:06 impaired and they had lost control of their bodily 02:10 functions. Unable to sit up Yulia keeled over and laid 02:15 her head in her father's lap, their breathing became labored 02:19 and they began to weave in and out of consciousness. 02:22 At first, passersby speared them with a cursory glance 02:27 before hurrying on their way. They assumed that they were 02:31 junkies, drug addicts who were reeling from their latest hit. 02:36 But then their behavior began to draw concerned stares. 02:40 Maybe they had overdosed, they looked like they were both 02:45 terribly ill. An onlooker made a call to Emergency Services 02:49 and requested an ambulance. Then an army nurse who 02:53 who happened to be passing by stepped over to check on them. 02:56 She was joined by another woman, a local doctor 03:00 and they began a quick assessment of the duo. 03:03 By now a little group had gathered around them murmuring 03:08 and gawking. Sergei and Yulia were worsening by the minute 03:13 the doctor and nurse struggled to find a pulse and their faces 03:17 were draining of color. 03:19 They feared that hypoxia, brain damage due to the lack of oxygen 03:24 would set in at any time, minutes later paramedics and 03:29 police officers arrived on the scene carving a path through 03:33 the concerned onlookers to get to Sergei and Yulia. 03:37 The paramedics joined the nurse and doctor already on the scene 03:41 and began to work on the two would-be junkies. 03:44 The medical professionals certain that this was a case of 03:49 Opioid overdose began administering appropriate 03:52 treatment in an attempt to stabilize them so that they 03:56 could be moved to hospital. 03:58 But even as the ambulances loaded up their patients 04:02 and sped toward the hospitals sirens blaring, police were 04:06 discovering that this was not a routine case of Opioid 04:10 overdose. Police identified the two individuals on the bench 04:14 as Sergei and Yulia Skripal. 04:17 A few phone calls later they found out that Sergei Skripal 04:23 was a retired Russian-double agent who had been recruited 04:27 to work for MI-6 the Secret Intelligence Service 04:31 of the United Kingdom. 04:32 For years Skripal had leaked Russian intelligence to the 04:37 British. Meanwhile, medical staff at the hospital began 04:42 to realize that they were not dealing with a routine case 04:45 of drug overdose, they suspected poisoning but they couldn't 04:49 determine the source. By 10:00 a.m. the next day 04:53 the chief executive of the hospital declared a major 04:57 incident which allowed for the deployment of greater 05:00 resources to deal with the situation at hand. 05:04 And just like that, what seemed to be like two junkies 05:08 tripping out on a bench on a cold March day turned into a 05:12 terrifying labyrinth of chemical warfare, geopolitics, 05:17 global intelligence gathering, and a race against time 05:21 to save two lives. 05:23 Join us as we take a look at the remarkable stories of 05:29 two former Russian spies and the diametrically opposing 05:33 outcomes of their narratives. 05:55 Sergei Skripal' s journey as a Russian defective began on a 05:59 sweltering day in Madrid in the summer of 1996. 06:04 Skripal was taking a walk with a friend a Gibralten businessman 06:08 he had met during his stay in the city, Skripal had been sent 06:13 to Madrid as an undercover agent by the GIU, the Russian Military 06:17 Intelligence Agency. 06:19 Skripal' s cover in Madrid was as the first secretary scientific 06:24 and technical for the Russian Embassy, on this particular 06:28 summers day Sergei's friend made him a proposition. 06:32 The man who is actually a deep cover agent for MI-6 the British 06:37 Secret Intelligence Service asked Sergei if he would be 06:41 would be willing to provide Russian Intelligence to the 06:44 British. Without hesitation Sergei agreed to the proposition. 06:49 Since the collapse of the Soviet Union Sergei, like many others 06:54 had been disillusioned and frustrated with the changes 06:58 taking place around him. The upheaval planted seeds of 07:02 defection in his mind which matured over the years. 07:06 When the MI-6 agent approached him in Madrid Sergei was ready 07:11 to sell state secrets to the British. Speaking to a BBC 07:15 journalist years later, he confided that he didn't accept 07:19 Russian democracy and was unwilling to serve the new 07:23 government. From that point forward Skripal' s journey 07:28 with MI-6 was fairly uneventful and traveled a predictable 07:32 trajectory. He found ingenious ways of slipping the British 07:38 Spooks, classified information, primarily using invisible ink 07:43 and casual drop-offs through his wife overseas. 07:47 Then in 2006 everything fell apart when he was arrested 07:53 and taken to Lefortovo a prison in Moscow used for prisoners 07:58 who were accused of political crimes like dissidence, 08:02 espionage, and treason. 08:04 At Lefortovo Sergei was charged with espionage and treason 08:10 and relentlessly questioned for hours on end. He was tried 08:15 and sentenced to 13 years of hard labor in a high security 08:19 detention center. But Skripal' s journey was not to end 08:25 in the obscurity of a Russian Gulag. In 2010 he was released 08:30 to the British as a part of a prisoner swap and was resettled 08:34 in the UK by MI-6 which is how he came to be living in Salisbury 08:39 at the time of the poisoning. 08:41 In March 2018 Russian Assassins made their way to Skripal' s 08:48 modest home in Salisbury where they laced his doorknob 08:52 with a nerve agent, both Skripal and his daughter Yulia 08:56 who was visiting him from Russia were exposed to the poison 09:00 which began to produce symptoms a few hours later. 09:04 As Skripal and Yulia lay in a critical condition at the 09:09 Salisbury hospital, government and law enforcement officials 09:12 in the UK scrambled to piece together what had happened 09:16 to them. Their minds kept going another strikingly similar 09:21 incident, the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko 09:25 more than a decade before. 09:28 Alexander Litvinenko was a former Russian FSB agent 09:33 working for the Russian Secret Service tackling Organized Crime. 09:37 During his time as an agent Litvinenko openly accused the 09:43 FSB of the assignation of the Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky, 09:49 he was arrested several times and charged with exceeding the 09:54 authority of his role before being dismissed by the FSB 09:58 in the year 2000. Fearing for his safety he fled to the UK 10:03 with his family where he became a journalist, writer, 10:07 and consultant for MI-6, the British Secret Service. 10:11 In November 2006 Litvinenko entered the Millennium Hotel 10:17 in London's Mayfair where he was scheduled to meet an old 10:21 colleague, another former Russian Secret Agent 10:24 named Andre Lugavoi, he had another man Dimitri Kovtun 10:30 in tow. The men settled down in the Hotel's Pine Bar 10:35 where they exchanged pleasantries and chatted 10:38 knowing that Litvinenko was not a big drinker, Lugavoi 10:43 ordered a pot of Green Tea. Towards the end of the meeting 10:47 Lugavoi gestured towards the untouched pot of tea 10:50 and encouraged Litvinenko to have some, 10:53 Litvinenko obliged but he only took a few sips of the drink. 10:58 After wrapping up the meeting the men parted ways and 11:03 Litvinenko headed home. That night around 11:00 p.m. 11:07 Litvinenko began to feel very sick, staggering to the bathroom 11:14 he vomited violently and from then on began to throw up 11:18 convulsively every 20 minutes. He was soon frothing 11:22 at the mouth and in terrible pain, he, however, did not contact 11:27 emergency services or make his way down to the hospital. 11:32 Almost 48 hours later when his condition began to deteriorate 11:36 rapidly, his wife called an ambulance and he was taken 11:40 to the local hospital. His condition only worsened 11:44 until almost a week after his meeting with Lugavoi. 11:48 His wife admitted to the hospital staff that he may 11:51 have been poisoned. 11:53 When detectives interviewed Litvinenko, he confirmed 11:56 his wife's suspicions that he had been poisoned. 11:59 He also eluded to his connection with the British 12:02 Secret Service, quietly mentioning that he had a 12:06 contact in MI-6. Two weeks after his admission to the 12:11 hospital, Litvinenko was transferred to a hospital 12:15 in Central London. By then he was exhibiting 12:18 symptoms that was similar to patients who had undergone 12:22 intensive radiotherapy. His doctor made a note to 12:26 radiology to check for radio- active sources of poisoning. 12:31 A Giger Counter was used to check for radioactivity but 12:35 picked up nothing, then on the 21st of November 12:39 three weeks after he had first met Lugavoi, a pharmacist 12:43 at the hospital suggested that a radioactive isotope 12:47 may have been used to poison him. Blood and urine samples 12:52 were then sent to the British Atomic Weapons institute 12:55 at Aldermaston. Tests revealed the presence of a rare 13:00 radioactive isotope, Polonium- 210. A second test was conducted 13:06 to confirm the findings before the results were released. 13:11 The confirmed results showed that Litvinenko had been 13:15 poisoned using Polonium-210. 13:19 Six hours after the results were released Litvinenko 13:23 died in hospital after suffering from cardiac arrest. 13:28 A post-mortem autopsy showed that Litvinenko had ingested 13:32 Polonium-210 twice. 13:35 The first dose was 100 times smaller than the second dose 13:41 which ultimately killed him. Police tracked Litvinenko's 13:45 movements back at the Pine Bar at the Millennium Hotel 13:49 where they found heavy Polonium- 210 contamination. 13:54 As investigators began to dig into the case, they discovered 13:59 that Lugovoi had put Polonium into the Green Tea that he had 14:03 given to Litvinenko on that faithful November day. 14:07 Unfortunately for Litvinenko his assassins Lugevoi and 14:13 Kovtun used the perfect poison. 14:15 Polonium is difficult to identify and extremely 14:20 destructive, decimating cells inside the body and shutting 14:25 down vital organs. It's a ruthless killer which lacks an 14:29 antidote and makes short work of its victim. 14:33 After almost 12 years after Litvinenko's murder Sergei 14:39 Skripal lay in a hospital bed fighting for his life. 14:43 As investigators and medical staff work feverishly to 14:48 unravel the mystery surrounding Skripal's illness they began to 14:52 piece together a grim picture. Several days after the incident 14:57 British Prime Minister Theresa May announced that the agent 15:02 used to poison the Skripals was Novichok 15:06 The three standard drugs used in this type of poisoning 15:09 scenario are Atropine, Poly- Dioxide Chloride, and Diazepam. 15:15 Of these three, Atropine is the most important when 15:20 dealing with patients dealing with nerve agents. 15:23 In order for Atropine to work most effectively, 15:27 it needs to be administered quickly. 15:29 When paramedics reached the Skripal on the 4th of March 15:34 they initially suspected an Opioid overdose, 15:37 they noticed that both Sergei and Yulia had very weak 15:42 heartbeats and immediately administered Atropine 15:46 which is routinely used is such cases. 15:49 The dose given at the scene was small but significant 15:55 and could very well have made the difference between life 15:59 and death. Once they had a positive diagnosis of Novichok, 16:04 doctors then began to flood their systems with Atropine. 16:09 Yulia Skripal was discharged from the hospital on the 9th of 16:13 April and her father Sergei was released on the 18th of May. 16:19 A few days after Sergei was discharged from the hospital 16:23 Yulia Skripal released a video in which she stated that she 16:28 was lucky to be alive and thanked staff at the Salisbury 16:32 Hospital for their care. 16:34 The case of Alexander Litvinenko and Sergei Skripal bear many 16:40 similarities, they were both Russian Intelligence Agents, 16:44 Litvinenko worked for the FSB while Skripal worked for the GIU 16:50 the military arm of the Russian Intelligence. 16:53 They were both defectives, Litvinenko fled to the UK in the 16:58 year 2000 after several arrests. When he arrived a Heathrow Airport 17:03 he walked up to the first police officer he saw and said 17:07 he was a Russian FSB Agent seeking Political Asylum 17:11 in the UK. Skripal was recruited by MI-6 as a double agent in 17:18 1996 when he was assigned with a code name Forthwith. 17:23 Litvinenko and Skripal were also poisoned on British soil 17:27 in apparent assassination attempts authorized by the 17:31 highest levels of Russian Government 17:34 but the similarities between their cases ends here. 17:38 While Litvinenko was poisoned by a radioactive isotope 17:43 which had no antidote, Skripal was poisoned by a nerve agent 17:48 that had an easily accessible antidote, Litvininko died 17:52 because his assassins used a perfect weapon, a poison 17:57 that had no cure. Skripal lived because his assassins 18:02 for whatever reasons chose not to use such a deadly weapon. 18:10 The Bible talks about an insidious poison weaponized 18:14 to ensure the maximum level of devastation on all who come 18:19 in contact with it. It's called sin, a debilitating agent 18:24 that sinks into the deepest recesses of the human mind. 18:27 making us incapable of thinking clearly. 18:31 The Bible describes sin in various ways 18:35 but perhaps the most striking illustration of sin is found in 18:40 Isaiah 14:12 and 13, where the Bible describes Satan 18:45 or Lucifer the author and originator of sin. 18:49 Before he was Satan, Lucifer was a magnificent angel in 18:55 heaven revered by all the heavenly hosts and honored by 18:59 God, but Isaiah 14 verses 12-14 describes the reason behind his 19:07 fall. 19:32 The key element that makes sin such a debilitating and 19:36 destructive poison is selfishness. 19:39 A relentless knawing self-interest 19:42 that drives all those who are affected by it to think their 19:46 own exaltation at the expense of everyone else. 19:51 The destructive effect of sin on the human psyche 19:55 can be seen in the results of various different studies 19:59 conducted in the areas of Social Psychology and Behavioral 20:03 Economics in recent years. 20:06 For example in a fascinating paper on psychological 20:11 moral licensing Stanford University researchers 20:15 Daniel Ephron and Dale Miller made some interesting assertions. 20:19 Their research focuses on the theory that people often give 20:24 themselves permission to exhibit morally questionable behavior 20:28 such as lying or expressing racist attitudes if they feel 20:32 that they can do so without discrediting themselves. 20:36 In other words, people are prone to do the wrong thing 20:40 if they can justify it or get away with it without being 20:44 caught. This theory is also explored by behavioral economist 20:49 Dan O'Reilly, O'Riely's research shows that human beings 20:54 generally make choices that are influenced by self-interest 20:59 rather than what is morally right or wrong. 21:02 Much of this research exposes the inconsistencies and 21:07 eccentricities within the human mind. 21:10 The Bible calls this self- Interest, sin, and makes 21:14 a startling statement about it In Jeremiah 17:9. 21:26 This verse highlights three key points that summarize 21:30 the biggest problems associated with sin. Firstly, 21:34 it tells us that Secondly, it tells us that... And Thirdly, 21:51 the Bible tells us that... 21:54 Much-like the radio-active Polonium 210 Isotope that 21:58 was given to Alexander Litvininko, but unlike Polonium 22:03 sin has an antidote that can completely transform our hearts 22:08 and minds and set us on the road to complete recovery. 22:12 Now, while the Bible tells us in Romans 3:23 that all have 22:20 that all have sinned and in Romans 6:23 that the wages 22:24 of sin is death, it also gives us hope. 22:27 In John 3:16 the Bible tells us... 22:43 Jesus is the antidote to the insidious poison of sin 22:47 at His death and power can save us from its devastating effects. 22:53 He can bring physical, mental and emotional healing 22:57 where sin has ravaged a trail of disease. He can bring hope 23:02 where sin has brought despair and death. 23:05 The Bible tells us that the poison of sin has many facets 23:10 two of the most important facets are the penalty of sin 23:15 and the power of sin. Jesus is able to deliver us from 23:20 both of these facets and give us complete freedom. 23:23 Hebrews 2:14 tells us this... 23:46 Jesus became a man so that He might deliver us from the 23:49 penalty of sin which is eternal death. Through Jesus we have 23:55 assurance that the power of death can have no hold on us 23:59 and we can look forward with hope to an eternity with Him. 24:04 Notice what the Bible says later in Hebrews Chapter 2:18... 24:16 You see, Jesus knows what we have to deal with when we 24:20 battle against sin and not only does He know? 24:24 He is also able to help us with our struggles and give us the 24:28 grace to overcome. 24:30 While Sergei Skripal and Alexander Litvinenko 24:34 both battled against deadly poisons that ravaged their 24:38 bodies, only one of them survived, only one of them 24:42 was able to overcome. Skripal was saved because he was given 24:49 and antidote. That was the only delineating feature 24:53 in their stories, one of them had an antidote and the other 24:56 didn't both Novichok and Polonium were deadly poisons 25:01 damaging cells and shutting down vital organs. 25:06 But while Novichok was countered by the effects of 25:09 Atropine, there wasn't a sufficiently strong agent 25:13 to counteract the devastating effects of Polonium. 25:16 Alexander Litvininko died without an antidote and the 25:22 Bible tells us that each of us has been infected by the poison 25:27 of sin. It's a debilitating agent that can bring us to 25:31 our knees and blot out any hope that we may have 25:35 of eternal life. But the good news is that God has provided 25:41 us with an antidote through the life, death, and resurrection 25:46 of His Son Jesus. God offers us the antidote that we 25:50 so desperately need and with it the amazing hope of eternal life 25:55 all we need to do is reach out and grab hold of it. 26:00 So what are we waiting for? Jesus tell us this in 26:05 Revelation 3:20... 26:19 Jesus is knocking on the door of your heart, why don't you 26:23 choose to let Him today? 26:25 If you'd like to accept the gift that Jesus offers, 26:30 If you'd like to experience the real hope and happiness 26:33 it brings, then I'd like to recommend the Free Gift 26:36 we have for all our Incredible Journey viewers today. 26:40 It's the booklet Atonement. I'm sure you'll want to read 26:45 this booklet that explores how Jesus has the power over 26:49 strife in our world today and in our own hearts. 26:53 This is our gift to you and it's absolutely Free. 26:57 I guarantee there are no costs or obligations whatsoever. 27:01 So make the most of this wonderful opportunity to 27:06 receive the gift we have for you today. 27:08 Phone or text us at 0436.333.555 in Australia or 020.422.2042 27:18 in New Zealand or visit our website at TIJ.tv. 27:23 Or simply scan the QR code on your screen and we'll send 27:27 you today's free offer totally free of charge and with no 27:32 obligation. Write to us at GPO Box 274, Sydney NSW 2001, 27:38 Australia, or PO Box 76673 Manukau, Auckland 2241 27:45 New Zealand. Don't delay, call or text us now. 27:48 Be sure to join us again next week when we will share another 27:54 of Life's Journeys together. Until then, I wish you God's 27:58 Richest Blessings and invite you to join me as we pray. 28:03 Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for the offer of 28:06 salvation that you give us, thank you for the precious gift 28:09 of eternal life. We reach out to you today and accept your offer 28:14 we want to give you our lives and we ask these things in 28:18 in Jesus' name Amen. |
Revised 2022-10-13