Second Skripal poisoning suspect a ‘military doctor’

MOSCOW: A group of investigative journalists and researchers on Monday identified a military doctor employed by a Russian intelligence agency as one of two men suspected by British authorities of trying to kill a former Russian spy with a potent nerve agent in Britain this year.

The group, which named the other suspect in the poisoning about two weeks ago, identified the doctor as Alexander Yevgenyevich Mishkin. It said he was a graduate of an elite military medical academy who was recruited by the GRU.

Last month, British prosecutors filed criminal charges against two Russian men they say travelled in March to Salisbury and poisoned the former spy, Sergei Skripal, by smearing the nerve agent on a door handle at his home. Mr Skripal’s daughter, Yulia, was also poisoned.

British authorities said the men, who were captured on surveillance video near Mr Skripal’s home, had travelled to Britain using the aliases Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov. While the men were identified as GRU officers, their true names were not disclosed.

The Russian authorities have denied any involvement in the poisoning, and days after the charges were filed, the two suspects gave an interview to Russian state television in which they claimed to be sports nutritionists. They said they had travelled to Salisbury to admire its Gothic cathedral.

But in a series of reports over the past month, researchers from the investigative group Bellingcat and a Russian news outlet, The Insider, have tried to uncover details about the suspects. They said they had discovered passport information linked to the men’s aliases that showed extensive travel, as well as ties to the Russian security services. And they released the names.

They reported that Mr Boshirov’s real name is Col. Anatoly V Chepiga, a 2014 recipient of the title Hero of the Russian Federation, most likely for service in Ukraine’s civil war.

In its report on Monday, the group said Mr Petrov was really Mr Mishkin. It published a copy of his passport, which was issued in 2001 in the Arkhangelsk region.

“Bellingcat’s identification process included multiple open sources, testimony from people familiar with the person, as well as copies of personally identifying documents,” the group said.

Mr Mishkin received his alias, Alexander Petrov, upon moving to Moscow in 2010, Bellingcat reported.

The group also said that until 2014, Mr Mishkin’s registered home address in Moscow was the same as the GRU’s headquarters.