THE security minister has said lessons must be learned from the nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal, and warned that the attitude of the Russian state “should worry us all”.

Minister of State for Security and Economic Crime Ben Wallace said Russian laws still allow the order of assassination by the Kremlin, adding: “At the moment Russia has not indicated that it has any intention of changing its behaviour, which should therefore worry us all all around the West and the United States with regard to our own security. That’s why we need to learn the lessons of Salisbury and do what we can do to mitigate that.”

Mr Wallace said he could not discuss any individual security arrangements that had been in place to protect the Russian former spy Mr Skripal, who had been living in Salisbury before he was poisoned with Novichok in March.

But he said it could affect security policy for former agents in the future, adding: “Let’s be clear here - he lived under his name in the town. That is something we’re going to have to look at, the lessons to be learned from that event, and whether in future there is more to be done.”

He said another key lesson would be “to be more vigilant on our borders”, and that steps are being taken to give police and border staff extra powers to stop people who they suspect are not travelling under their own names, or under diplomatic cover, as appears to be the case with the two suspects in the Skripal attack, who travelled from Russia using fake names claiming to be tourists.

But he said it was made more difficult as the pair “came on genuine Russian valid passports, with efforts made by the Russian state to give them a credible legend, with names and addresses,” adding: “Those identities have been around for a good few years.”

“That is always going to be a challenge.”

Mr Wallace said expelling 23 Russian intelligence officers earlier this year also made made it “much harder for them [the Russian state] to carry out operations”.

And he praised British police and intelligence services, and said their “depth of experience” had helped to identify the suspects in the case.

“I think we’d hoped that Mr Putin’s intelligence agents were never going to go as far as to use nerve agents on the streets of Salisbury,” he said.

“It’s quite a challenge to anticipate that level of recklessness in any city.”

Mr Wallace added: “We are going to pursue justice and I am confident that one day, and I’m not sure when and it may be years, that justice will catch up with these two suspects.

“The spire will be there long after the memories of the Skripal attack fades.

“I am sure that the Russians have learned a very strong lesson that the people of Britain and Salisbury aren’t going to be cowed by this behaviour and that they will get on with their normal lives.”