Third Salisbury poisoning suspect identified
Russian who flew on same return flight as suspects in the Skripal attack is named as Sergey Fedotov
A SUSPECTED third member of the Kremlin hit squad behind the Salisbury nerve agent attack has been named by a respected Russian news website. Sergey Fedotov, 45, travelled to the UK on the same day as the two assassins already charged by British authorities – and boarded the same flight home.
The Daily Telegraph had previously reported the existence of a third member of the Russian hit squad and a trawl of flight records by the Fontanka news agency matched it to Fedotov.
Fontanka said Fedotov flew to the UK on a passport whose number differs by only a few digits from those used by the two GRU agents officially wanted for the nerve agent attack.
It is almost certain Fedotov is not the passenger’s real name but an alias. No traces of Sergey Fedotov have been found in documentary databases or on social media. He has no property, vehicles or phone numbers registered to his name in Russia, says Fontanka.
The site had also previously obtained flight details for Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov, the aliases of two GRU agents.
It is now known that Boshirov is actually Anatoliy Chepiga, a colonel in the GRU, and Petrov is Alexander Mishkin, a medical doctor inside the GRU, probably also with the rank of colonel. Both men were awarded the Hero of the Russian Federation. Col Skripal, 67, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were exposed to Novichok, but both survived the assassination attempt, while Dawn Sturgess, a Salisbury resident, died after spraying herself with the nerve agent that had been disguised in a perfume bottle and discarded by Chepiga and Mishkin.
The role of Fedotov is not clear. CCTV images released by British counter-terrorism police show only Chepiga and Mishkin in Salisbury on the day of the attack as well as the day before.
It is possible Fedotov formed part of a reconnaissance team to scope Col Skripal’s home. Fedotov’s travel itinerary, according to Fontanka, shows him arriving in London on a separate flight on March 2 – the day the two other agents arrived – but leaving on the same flight on March 4, the day of the attack.
Fedotov’s passport number differs by only a few digits. It is of the same “64 series” linked to not only Chepiga and Mishkin but also to other suspected agents such as Col Eduard Shishmakov, who is accused of the failed plot to assassinate the prime minister of Montenegro before its referendum to join Nato.
According to Fontanka, Fedotov previously travelled to the UK in March 2016 and March 2017 and again this year.
It also said Fedotov flew to the Czech Republic with Mishkin in January and February 2014 ahead of an apparent operation to monitor the movements of Col Skripal, who at the time was said to be briefing Czech secret services.
It raises the prospect that Col Skripal, who had been living in the UK since a spy swap in 2010, had been a GRU target for at least four years. Chepiga and Mishkin returned to the Czech Republic in October 2014, the same month that Col Skripal travelled to the country.