Originally Posted by
Flightmech
Somebody still died as a result.
Sadly true, but not anyone of even remote interest to Russia.
To me, that suggests some spy community cock up, rather than a Russian assassination attempt, which I would have expected to be more direct.
Skripal had been under the wing of the British spy community for quite a while, so he had zero intelligence value, plus he was quiet, so no publicity benefit.
To claim the Russians would mount a murder campaign against him and then screw it up seems a stretch, given their track record elsewhere.