Discussion: Ex-Spy Hospital: Russian TV Crew Sneaking Into Facility Is 'Appalling'

Besides the “bad show, not cricket!” finger wag, did they take the message on the implications of the fact that they have a man the SVR tried to kill as a patient in their hospital to heart?

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Seems to me that what’s truly appalling is that a TV crew were able to waltz into the hospital to begin with. Is there literally no security?!

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I’m trying to think of someone you wouldn’t want to arrest in that circumstance–prowling around the rooms of internationally famous attempted murder victims. The Queen, maybe?

As a rule, you don’t want to arrest journalists in a free society if you can help it, even when they technically break the law, but if ever there were an exception, this is it.

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Yeah, I don’t think it’s the Russian journalists who are at fault here. Is this amateur hour in the UK? Maybe I’ve seen too many Bond-esque movies, but it seems like that particular hospital should be in a security lockdown.

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“Russia’s embassy in London said it would “demand to meet with Yulia and
Sergei Skripal, whose situation ever more resembles forced captivity or
deprivation of freedom.””

Jeez, for all the methods and techniques of this last few years, this is pretty clumsy and stilted for the Russians. Is this the 60s?

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There are plenty of ways to sneak into most hospitals, for sure. After all, they are there to serve all sorts of people, and it’s not a prison and they generally aren’t built to be secure against either journalists or foreign agents. I’m not sure how big this facility is, but is there any indication that they were anywhere near Skripal’s room or hallway or floor - or even the right building?

Also, journalists? Are we sure? I can’t help but to think of Kislyak bringing his own photographer, or was that “photographer”, into the Oval Office.

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I just want to marvel at the phrase “ex-spy hospital”.

What a world we live in.

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They should try again at trump tower in NYC
Lots of spies living there I hear…

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Oh yes I’m SURE Vlad would like to ‘question’ these two. Tough luck honey…

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And I’m a TV truck … See my bumper sticker ? ? …

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Agree with this. It is remarkably easy to go any damn where you want in most hospitals as long as you move purposefully and like you know what you’re doing.

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How do we know they were legitimately journalists?

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Russia has accused Britain of refusing to share information about the case and has demanded consular access to Yulia Skripal.

Yeah, we want to see if we got the dosage right and if there is a better way to deliver it to the victim.

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I guess we don’t, but even assuming that they were, this is not one of those situations where bending the rules a little is worth it in the pursuit of the public interest. There are lots of situations where a journalist who has technically broken some law in pursuit of a story can legitimately say, “hey, don’t hassle me, there were bigger things at stake here.” This ain’t one of them.

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Captain McCluskey, on the job!