Russian state media sends chocolate models of Salisbury Cathedral as ‘sick’ gift referencing novichok attack

Apparent joke condemned months after mother killed by nerve agent

A state-funded Russian television channel has sent out chocolate models of Salisbury Cathedral as a festive gift.

Independent news outlet Dozhd, which has cast doubt on the Kremlin’s shifting narrative on the poisonings, shared a photo showing the detailed model wrapped in an RT-branded ribbon and colour-coded box.

“Come for tea, we're afraid to eat it alone,” Dozhd tweeted to RT’s official Russian account.

A spokesperson for RT confirmed the photo was genuine and told The Independent that the outlet had sent the chocolate models to “multiple recipients”.

An independent Russian news outlet shared a photo of the gift on 27 December (@tvrain/Twitter)

It came days before Christmas celebrations in the Russian Orthodox calendar, while gifts are also given at new year.

Observers branded the apparent joke “sick”, months after a mother died as a result of the novichok attack on Sergei Skripal.

Jo Broom, a councillor in Salisbury, said the community would be “sad and angry” over RT’s stunt.

“They would consider it in very poor taste and rather disrespectful to the people caught up on the attack,” she told The Independent.

“It’s very unfortunate that someone would begin thinking that was amusing. Someone lost their life and some people are still very ill. That makes me very sad that it’s been done and the community would be the same. They will be sad and angry.”

Paula Chertok, a lawyer who analyses pro-Russian propaganda, said seeing a photo of the chocolate cathedral made her “gag”.

“There's trolling and there's Russian propaganda infowar trolling – sick, dark, menacing,” she wrote on Twitter.

After British police announced charges against two GRU agents accused of launching the attempted assassination in March, Vladimir Putin claimed the suspects were “civilians” and called on them to speak to the media.

The following day, RT broadcast a widely ridiculed interview where – still using their cover names – the men claimed they were sports supplement salesmen on a three-day holiday.

“Alexander Petrov” and “Ruslan Boshirov” claimed they returned to Salisbury two days in a row because friends suggested visiting its “internationally famous” cathedral, known “for its 123m spire”.

The Kremlin has denied any involvement in the plot, which Theresa May said must have been approved “at a senior level of the Russian state”.

RT and other Russian state-funded media outlets have aired several conspiracy theories over the poisonings, with British officials hitting out at “contradictory and changing fantasies” used to deny involvement.

Last week Ofcom announced potential “statutory sanctions” over RT’s repeated breaches of impartiality rules while covering the Salisbury attack, and wars in Syria and Ukraine.

One programme saw a former FSB secret service officer call the poisoning of Mr Skripal a “provocation” and in another, a pundit presented it as a plot to “punish Russia”.

Former double agent Mr Skripal, his daughter Yulia and a police officer were left in a serious condition in March, before a local man unwittingly picked up a discarded bottle of novichok that was disguised as perfume.

Charlie Rowley gave it to his partner Dawn Sturgess, who had three children, and she died days after applying the nerve agent directly onto her wrists.

Mr Rowley survived being poisoned but has been readmitted to hospital several times.

Public safety fears following the poisonings have severely dented the local economy, with shops and restaurants closed for several months and visitor numbers yet to return to former levels.

The UK’s most senior police officer has said security forces will “never give up” trying to bring the Russian agents responsible to justice.

Metropolitan Police commissioner Cressida Dick said there was “absolutely” more to do in the ongoing investigation.

But officials have conceded the “brutal truth” that if the suspects do not enter an allied country and get caught, the UK will be powerless to bring them to trial, mirroring thwarted efforts to prosecute those responsible for assassinating Alexander Litvinenko.

Scotland Yard only gave Anatoliy Chepiga and Dr Alexander Mishkin’s cover identities when announcing criminal charges in September, but their true names were already known by British security services.

The Independent understands that intelligence agencies decided to reveal only part of their knowledge to protect their sources in Russia, and see what the Kremlin would do.

Their gamble paid off when Chepiga and Boshirov gave the RT interview that generated global ridicule.

The men’s assertion that they travelled to Salisbury two days in a row because of its “internationally famous” cathedral is believed to have generated scepticism even among Mr Putin’s most ardent supporters, while sparking domestic speculation that they were covering up a gay relationship.