Salisbury Novichok attack: vile Russian board game lets players retrace steps of suspects

The game is for sale online
Twitter
Bonnie Christian23 January 2019

A board game based on the Salisbury nerve agent attack has been condemned for its "shocking disregard" for the victims.

Russian businessman Mikhail Bober created the game which sees players assume the role of the suspects as they race from Moscow to the Wiltshire cathedral city.

Last year's attack left former Russian double-agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia fighting for life and another woman dead.

Former Mayor of Salisbury Jo Broom has blasted the game, telling the BBC it is a “kick in the teeth.”

The game is being advertised by Mr Bober for about £1 online.

The brother of Novichok victim Charlie Rowley said he was "disgusted" by the toy.

He told BBC Wiltshire that it should be "taken off the shelves".

Ms Broom added: "I think it's extremely sad, shows a shocking disregard really for all those that have been involved in the tragedy last year,” she said.

Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia

"I think it's bad taste …to do something like this, especially when we're trying to move on and inject some positivity back into the city and this sort of smacks of a bit of a kick in the teeth really."

The makers of the game were “inspired to take a lighter tone by the media fallout and British ‘Russophobia’ that followed the Novichok incident", according to Russian outlet RT.

Mr Bober told reporters: "We decided to make our humourous answer for our Western neighbours by creating a board game."

Reuters Russia correspondent Polina Ivanova tweeted a picture of the game, and said it featured “guys in hazmat suits at the finish line.”

Investigators believe the Skripals first came into contact with the poison when it was sprayed on the door handle of their home.

Dawn Sturgess fell ill in Amesbury months later and died in hospital in July.

Mr Rowley was also exposed to the same nerve agent but was treated and discharged.

Suspects Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov were spotted on CCTV in Salisbury before the attack.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in