Salisbury Novichok attack board game 'beggars belief'
- Published
A board game based on the Salisbury Novichok attack has been panned for its "shocking disregard" for the victims.
The "bad taste" toy - named Our People in Salisbury - sees players assume the role of would-be assassins racing from Moscow to the Wiltshire cathedral city.
Last year's nerve agent attack left former Russian double-agent Sergei Skripal and daughter Yulia fighting for their lives, and another woman dead.
Former mayor of Salisbury Jo Broom said the game was "a kick in the teeth".
Businessman Mikhail Bober is selling the toy for about £1 online.
Players compete to evade police and be the fastest to travel through Europe to Wiltshire.
Stops along the way including Minsk, Amsterdam and London.
In a tweet, Reuters reporter Polina Ivanova said the game featured "guys in Hazmat suits at the finish line".
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Ms Broom said: "I think it's extremely sad, shows a shocking disregard really for all those that have been involved in the tragedy last year.
"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 board game went on sale less than a month after the Russian broadcaster RT sent chocolate models of Salisbury Cathedral to a number of its contacts by way of festive greetings.
Former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found collapsed on a bench on 5 March in an attack that also left a Wiltshire policeman, Det Sgt Nick Bailey, critically ill. Det Sgt Bailey has since recovered.
Investigators believe the Skripals first came into contact with the poison when it was sprayed on the door handle of their home.
Dawn Sturgess, 44, fell ill in Amesbury months later and died in hospital in July after coming into contact with a perfume bottle believed to have been used in the attack.
Her partner, Charlie Rowley, 45, was also exposed to the same nerve agent but was treated and discharged.
Two Russian nationals are accused of travelling to the UK in an attempt to murder Mr Skripal with Novichok.
The suspects - known by their aliases Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov - were spotted on CCTV in Salisbury the day before the attack.
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