EXACTLY six months after Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned in Salisbury, two Russian military intelligence officers have been accused of carrying out the Novichok attack.

Police and the prosecutors announced in a dramatic press conference yesterday that they had enough evidence to charge the men, named as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, over the military grade nerve agent poisoning.

It was also confirmed that officers have now linked the attack on the Skripals to events in Amesbury four months later which killed Dawn Sturgess, 44, and made her 48-year-old partner, Charlie Rowley, seriously ill.

Theresa May told MPs investigations have concluded that the two suspects are members of the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence service.

In a statement that will increase diplomatic tension between the two countries, the Prime Minister said: “The GRU is a highly-disciplined organisation with a well-established chain of command. So this was not a rogue operation. It was almost certainly also approved outside the GRU at a senior level of the Russian state.”

Detectives believe it is likely the pair, thought to be aged around 40, travelled under aliases and that Petrov and Boshirov are not their real names.

Prosecutors will not be applying to Russia for the extradition of the two men, but a European Arrest Warrant has been obtained.

Detectives believe the front door of Skripal’s Salisbury home was contaminated with Novichok on Sunday March 4. Police said CCTV shows the two suspects in the vicinity of the property on that date.

Hours later, the men left the UK on a flight from Heathrow to Moscow – two days after they had arrived at Gatwick.

Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said there is no suggestion that they have since returned to the UK.

The charges announced yesterday relate to the first incident, but Basu said officers continue to liaise with the CPS regarding the poisoning of Rowley and Sturgess.

Basu said: “We do not believe Dawn and Charlie were deliberately targeted, but became victims as a result of the recklessness in which such a toxic nerve agent was disposed of.

“We know that Novichok was applied to the Skripals’ front door in an area that is accessible to the public, which also endangered the lives of members of the public and emergency service responders.”

Police also released an image of a counterfeit perfume bottle after tests found it contained a “significant amount” of Novichok.

Rowley told officers he found a box he thought contained perfume in a charity bin on June 27.

Three days later he got some of the contents on himself, while Sturgess applied some of the substance to her wrists.

Basu said the manner in which the bottle and packaging was adapted makes it a “perfect cover” for smuggling the weapon into the country.

But he added: “We don’t yet know where the suspects disposed of the Novichok they used to attack the door, where Dawn and Charlie got the bottle that poisoned them, or if it is the same bottle used in both poisonings.”

Providing an in-depth update on an investigation he described as one of the most complex and intensive ever undertaken by counter-terror policing, Basu also published a detailed account of the movements of the two men over the three days.

This included spending two nights at a hotel in east London and making a suspected “reconnaissance” trip to Salisbury the day before the Skripals were poisoned.

Counter terrorism prosecutors said that the pair could be charged with conspiring to murder Sergei Skripal and the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal, Yulia Skripal and Nick Bailey.

Other offences include the use and possession of Novichok contrary to the Chemical Weapons Act, and causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Yulia Skripal and Nick Bailey.