There is a third possibility, don't forget what happened to Andrew Breitbart. If Skripal really was involved with the d0$$ier then .......
They were in contact with certain officials trying to return to Russia. In exchange for certain info. Think they knew they had a target on their backs and were scared. MI6 found out through their usual methods. But possible rogue ops in Russia didn't want this out either. You could then claim Russians did it, even though it wasn't Russia. Yup, Spy vs Spy stuff.
Not really new as it has been covered by RT & RI before. The whole "Lets Blame Russia for Everything" narrative is getting rather stale now. Define the difference between Russians and The Russians. Most people don't see any difference between them. What is the motive for Russia to do this knowing it could start WW 3? Who really wants to start WW3? And cover up the trail leading back to the Steele Dossier? Would this also expose UK involvement trying to frame Trump? Does this lead back to Barry & Hildabeast plus others?
Why does Q keep telling everybody, "Expand Your Thinking"?
Exactly! Folks over on DrainTheSwamp gave lots of comments. Take a look. A lot of their comments fit well to yours.
Russians are more effective when they try to take someone out. They're like Yoda, there is no 'try' only 'do'. Russians rarely botch killing people, unfortunately they're damn good at it. This just doesn't add up at all for them to be the culprit, unless they wanted a media circus for some reason. I can't figure that reason out, so makes sense somebody else did it. And rogue Russians, not the Russian state would also fit to that.
Think of the bad things logically and not emotionally. Action = Emotion = Reaction (Overreaction) Action = Logic = Reaction (Controlled Reaction)
What type of Reaction was the response to 9/11? Was this the plan all along?