Skripal suspects deny murder claim

MOSCOW - Two men accused by the United Kingdom of poisoning former Russian spy Sergei Skripal denied involvement in the murder attempt in an interview on Thursday that London dismissed as "an insult to the public's intelligence".

Speaking with the head of the RT news network, the pair confirmed they were the men whose pictures British authorities released this month, but insisted they were visiting the English city of Salisbury as tourists.

British security services had named the men as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, but said these were likely to be aliases.