The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Second Salisbury suspect ‘Russian Federation hero’
Both men accused of nerve agent attack were decorated in GRU
The second suspect in the Salisbury nerve agent attack was also a highly decorated officer in Russian military intelligence, it has been claimed.
The suspect was named on Monday by the Bellingcat investigative website as Alexander Mishkin, a military doctor in the GRU intelligence agency.
At a news conference in the Houses of Parliament yesterday, Bellingcat investigator Cristo Grozev said Mishkin had received the Hero of the Russian Federation award from President Putin.
Mr Grozev said the reporters from the Russian website The Insider had managed to reach Mishkin’s home village of Loyga, where they spoke to seven people who confirmed his identity.
“They confirmed... Alexander Mishkin was the person who moved on to military school and then became a famous military doctor and who received the award of Hero of the Russian Federation,” he said.
“His grandmother, with whom he grew up... has a photograph... that has been seen by everybody in the village, of President Putin shaking Mishkin’s hand and giving him the award.”
According to Bellingcat, Mishkin – previously identified as Alexander Petrov – graduated from the Military Medical Academy in St Petersburg in 2003 where he was recruited by the GRU.
Prior to the attempted assassination of ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in Salisbury in March, he was said to have taken part in numerous undercover operations in Ukraine and Transnistria.
He is believed to have received the award of Hero of the Russian Federation either for his role in the annexation of Crimea in 2014 or the exfiltration of the pro-Moscow former president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych.
Last month Bellingcat identified his fellow Salisbury suspect – previously named as Ruslan Boshirov – as highlydecorated colonel Anatoliy Chepiga.
Mr Grozev said that while Mishkin had a “very sparse digital footprint” compared to Chepiga they had been able to piece together his identity using various databases, including telephone and car insurance records.
Eventually they had been able to use the information they had assembled to obtain copies of his passport and his driving licence.
They then used social media to contact people who had been at the military academy with Mishkin. Around 30 replies said they did not know, but two respondents recognised him.
When they asked one of the respondents why nobody else recognised him, Mr Grozev said: “That person told us everybody from his class, his department, was contacted two weeks ago and told not to talk to the media.”