Ukraine minister says Skripal suspect helped former leader flee
The Russian agent suspected of poisoning double agent Sergei Skripal took charge of the operation to smuggle a former Ukrainian president into exile in Russia, according to the Ukrainian government.
Colonel Anatoliy Chepiga was given the Hero of Russia award for his role in protecting the former president as unrest broke out in Ukraine over demands for closer integration with the European Union, Ukraine’s interior minister said.
“One of the participants in the attack in Salisbury, an officer of the GRU of the Russian Federation, had been recognised in Ukraine as a person who had been involved in transporting ex-president [Viktor] Yanukovich from Ukraine,” Arsen Avakov said in a statement.
Col Chepiga is one of two Russian foreign intelligence agents who flew into Britain in March on a mission to assassinate the double agent with the nerve agent novichock. Mr Skripal was living in Salisbury, southern England at the time.
Mr Skripal was convicted in Russia of spying for the British and was later swapped for Russian intelligence officers and given asylum in the UK. Russian President Vladimir Putin called him a traitor and a “scumbag” yesterday, while responding to questions about sanctions on Russia triggered by the attack. It was the first time the Russian president condemned Mr Skripal.
He and his daughter Yulia survived the attack, but a local woman unconnected with the Skripals later died after picking up a contaminated bottle.
The events led to a diplomatic row between Russia and Britain. On September 5, British Prime Minister Theresa May informed the UK parliament that the assassination bid was approved at “a senior level of the Russian state”.
The Kremlin said it had no record of Col Chepiga receiving the award, but his name is on a wall of honour at his former military academy in Russia. He served with a special forces unit under the GRU – Russia’s military intelligence service.