I’m a little late to the party here, but:
“The two Russian men … were never seen anywhere near the Skripals” can be disputed insofar as CCTV footage shows them at the intersection of Fisherton and Summerlock at 13:08 (and with a backpack on one of them), looking north as if considering walking north to the Sainsbury parking lot a few minutes walk, where the Skripals arrived at 13.40. There is an apparent coincidental but curious intersection between the walking tour of these fellows and the movements of the Skripals about the same time; the Russians seem to do a loop, walking too far along Fisherton (13:05), returning and then heading north on Summerlock at 13:08, then later proceeding west, with CCTV of them looking in the window of the coin shop at 13:48 while on the way to the train station. The Skripals were in the Avon playground at about 13:45, feeding ducks, not far away (verified by witnesses, police reports, the boys that helped feeding the ducks, and unreleased but alleged CCTV) – the coin shop is only a couple of minutes walk from there. Both parties could have been in the playground at the same moment.
This is not to infer that the Russian fellows had anything to do with the ‘attack’ which took effect some two hours later, about 16:00, while the Russians were at the train station (CCTV 13:50, and still with the backpack) and after the Skripals had done many things, (eating, visiting a tavern, etc) ; after all, many dozens of people were also in the same area. Just an unfortunate set of coincidences for all present.
As a side note, it would be interesting to know where the Skripals are. They’ve been ‘disappeared’ coming on two years.