Helen Martin: Does UK kill its double agents too?

THOSE of us old enough to remember the Cold War and the threat of nuclear attack are justifiably worried about the growing hostilities with Russia.

As a double-agent, Sergei Skripal must have known he was a target. Picture: AFP

The background is so politically complex and global it even affects Edinburgh with a base of Sputnik UK media in the Exchange Tower.

One crucial factor was the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury. Well actually, the poisoning of Skripal wasn’t that surprising.

He’d been a double-agent. He must have known he was a target.

It was the method that mattered – the Russian-produced military nerve agent Novichok which posed a risk to UK citizens. Wrong and terrifying, yes.

And understandably, it’s triggered the expulsion of 23 diplomats/spies and racked up the risks of conflict.

I suspect we’d all like to know though how the UK intelligence and secret service would deal with a British double agent in Russia – presumably a gun, dagger or “ordinary” poison?