The officer known as 'Forthwith' : A dossier

Mr Skripal as a Russian military officer

According to The Times of London, Sergei Skripal was a highly rewarded, highly valued MI6 spy codenamed “Forthwith.”  He provided important information to British intelligence over a ten-year period, including the entire telephone directory of the GRU, Russian military intelligence.



Intelligence sources are of the opinion that Russia may therefore be specifically targeting double agents resident in Britain.  This is especially because of MI6’s success in recruiting Russian spies since the collapse of communism.



Mr Skripal was first targeted during the Yeltsin years when Russian government money was in short supply, and Russian intelligence officers stationed abroad frequently went unpaid for long periods. Paying tribute to the former spy colonel, MI6 sources stressed that as an agent Mr Skripal was highly efficient and one of the most productive spies of the post-Cold War period.