A pair of Russian men suspected of poisoning a former double agent and his daughter in Britain will reportedly be awarded a trademark for the production of chemical compounds and perfume.
British prosecutors accused two Russians they said were operating under aliases — Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov — of attempting to poison Sergei and Yulia Skripal with a military-grade nerve agent in March. Two Russians resembling the men said on television last week that they were innocent tourists who had flown to London for fun and visited the city of Salisbury to see its cathedral at the time of the attack.
Russia’s Golden Brand company has applied to trademark the phrase “Petroff & Boshiroff,” its spokesperson told The Moscow Times on Wednesday.
"After the name gets registered, we will gift it to Boshirov and Petrov, and they can start a company if they want,” a spokesperson for the company said.
"We did it as a marketing tool; it's good for public relations," she added.
The trademark will allow its holders to manufacture and sell industrial chemicals and perfume, as well as operate fitness centers and travel agencies, the Moskva news agency reported.
The men who identified themselves as Petrov and Boshirov on state television last week said they took a leisure trip to Salisbury to see the “world-famous” cathedral and its spire. In an interview the British government labeled “an insult to the public’s intelligence,” the men said they ran a sports nutrition business.
Britain has charged the two men with attempting to murder the Skripals by spraying a chemical weapon on their door on March 4. A woman in a nearby town later died after her partner brought home a discarded counterfeit perfume bottle containing the poison.
In the wake of the Salisbury incident, a Russian entrepreneur attempted to capitalize on the news headlines by releasing a “Novichok” brand of cooking oil in April. The idea to trademark the “Boshiroff & Petroff” brand has been floated online since Britain announced the charges.
Reuters contributed reporting to this article.
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