Novichok attack suspects linked to Russian Govt

MOSCOW: Documents uncovered by investigative journalists have provided the first public evidence that the suspects in the Salisbury Novichok attack have formal ties to the Russian Ministry of Defence.

British authorities have charged Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov with conspiracy to murder Sergei and Yulia Skripal and Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey. The former Russian spy and his daughter were found collapsed on March 4 and the police officer fell ill after trying to help them.

Prosecutors say Petrov and Boshirov work for Russian military intelligence, which President Vladimir Putin has denied.

But a passport information dossier for one of the two suspects bears a ‘‘top secret’’ marking and a telephone number with the order ‘‘Do not give information’’. The number, called by the Observer, links to a reception desk at the Russian defence ministry, where a clerk said he would not speak with journalists or provide any information.

The documents were published by Bellingcat, an online platform that began with investigations of attacks in Syria, and the Russian investigative outlet The Insider. Both sites also specialised in uncovering information about Russian soldiers active in Ukraine since 2014.

Other documents published by the two sites included an Aeroflot flight manifest that indicates the two men bought their tickets at the last minute, contradicting their claims the trip to Salisbury had been planned long ago.

An information page for Petrov obtained by the news outlets gives little biographical information and no data about his past before 2009. Experts say that is extremely rare for a 39yearold man, and that the department that issued his passport normally only does so for those working in certain roles for the government.

‘‘Normal people don’t get their passports here,’’ Sergei Kanev, an investigative reporter who participated in the research, told TV Rain.

‘‘I don’t mean businessmen or highranking officials. I mean people who often work undercover, including the intelligence services.’’

A spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry rejected the report, saying she believed Bellingcat had ties to Western intelligence, noting the group’s access to a Russian database that was not publicly available.

In an interview last week, two men who resembled the suspects told Russian statesponsored television they had visited Salisbury twice but denied working for Russian military intelligence, or committing any crime. They said they were just tourists on holiday.

Scotland Yard believed Petrov and Boshirov to be pseudonyms and the men’s real identities had been covered up by the Russian Government. — Guardian News and Media