Novichok hitman is Russian colonel decorated by Putin
Would-be Skripal assassin unmasked as special forces veteran of Moscow’s wars in Chechnya and Ukraine
ONE of the trained assassins wanted for poisoning Sergei Skripal is a decorated colonel in Russian military intelligence who was given the country’s highest award by Vladimir Putin.
The real identity of the man named by British counter-terrorism police as Ruslan Boshirov can be revealed as Colonel Anatoliy Vladimirovich Chepiga. The 39-year-old, who has served in wars in Chechnya and Ukraine, was made a Hero of the Russian Federation by decree of the president in 2014, in a ceremony shrouded in secrecy.
The disclosure, uncovered by investigative journalism organisation Bellingcat in conjunction with The Daily
Telegraph, exposes as lies Mr Putin’s claims that Col Skripal’s would-be killers were innocent civilians.
Chepiga, posing as Boshirov, and a second agent identified as Alexander Petrov, have insisted they were on holiday in Salisbury and had no connection with the attack on former spy Skripal and his daughter Yulia, using weaponsgrade Novichok nerve agent.
The true identity of Petrov remains unclear, but The Telegraph has established that he was travelling under his real first name, having only changed his surname to an alias. Counterterrorism police and security services are understood to know his real name.
A former senior Russian military officer said Col Chepiga’s high rank in the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence agency, and experience strongly suggested “the job was ordered at the highest level”.
The source claimed an attempted assassination of less importance would have been carried out by a lower ranking officer.
A Tory minister said: “This is further embarrassment for Putin and Russia. This is the latest in a series of cock-ups by the GRU. It will have the opposite effect he will have wanted. It shows an inept capability that has been exposed. There is no doubt that the Salisbury poisoning was part of a wider plan of Putin reaffirming Russia as a superpower and letting people know what Russia is capable of.
“This was a message to the West and his own people – cross me and there are consequences.
“He has learnt that he simply won’t get away with it.”
Boris Johnson, the former foreign secretary, said: “Utterly predictable news that GRU behind Skripal atrocity. What have you got to say, Putin? And I hope we hear real condemnation from Corbyn.”
The disclosure comes as Theresa May told the UN Security Council that Russia should not “be in any doubt”
that if it did not “rejoin the international consensus against the use of chemical weapons” then the UK and its allies would be forced to take action.
European arrest warrants and Interpol red notices have been issued for the two men, who are accused of the murder of Dawn Sturgess, a Salisbury woman inadvertently poisoned by a discarded Novichok bottle, and the attempted murder of Col Skripal, 67, and Yulia Skripal, 33.
Both men – under the aliases Boshirov and Petrov – have been charged with the poisoning of the Skripals by the Crown Prosecution Service.
After Scotland Yard released its evidence – including CCTV showing the men close to Col Skripal’s home on the day he was poisoned – the pair appeared on Russian TV, on the order of Mr Putin, to claim that they worked in the fitness industry and their sole reason for visiting the UK was to see the historic sites of “wonderful” Salisbury.
Mrs May had publicly accused them of being members of the GRU.
Col Chepiga has been fighting in an elite special forces unit – Spetsnaz – under the command of the GRU for 17 years and working undercover for at least nine years. He has been given more than 20 awards and a Hero of the Russian Federation medal, though unlike most of the other recipients there is little public information available about him. The medals are normally awarded by the Russian president personally, and are given to only a handful of people each year.
The website of the Far-eastern Military Command Academy, where Col Chepiga studied, lists all of their alumni who have received the award with a detailed description of the acts for which they were recognised.
In Col Chepiga’s case, it simply says: “Anatoly Vladimirovich Chepiga was awarded the honorary title of Hero of the Russian Federation by order of the president of the Russian Federation.”
His name also appears on a statue in honour of the alumni of the Far-eastern Military Command who have received the Hero medal at its base on the border with China.
The secretive nature of Col Chepiga’s award, combined with the timing in 2014, suggests that it was for actions in Ukraine. Involvement in Ukraine would explain the secrecy around Col Chepiga’s award. It is referred to on the website of a veterans’ group, with the comment: “You can become a hero even in our seemingly peaceful times”.
It states: “Anatoly Vladimirovich Chepiga, a native of the village of Nikolayevka and 2001 graduate of the Far-eastern Military Command Academy, was deployed to Chechnya three times and has more than 20 awards and medals. In December 2014, Colonel Chepiga was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation for carrying out a peacekeeping mission.”
Col Chepiga was born in Nikolayevka, a small village with only 300 residents near Russia’s border with China, in 1979. At the age of 18 he enrolled in the Far-eastern Military Command Academy in Blagoveshchensk. The academy is an elite training ground for marine commandos and officers in the Spetsnaz. At the time, it was known for training officers involved in overseas clandestine operations.
Bellingcat and the Insider Russia website have uncovered a passport file from 2003 in which Col Chepiga applies for a passport in his real name. His address is given as the military unit in Khabarovsk, which is on the Russiachina border, east of Blagoveshchensk.
Experts believe that because of his rank, and the nature of his work, he may have studied at the Military Diplomatic Academy.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova last night dismissed the claims, saying they are part of an “information campaign”.