MPS to learn identity of other Novichok suspect

The true identity of the second suspect in the Salisbury nerve agent attack is to be revealed in the Houses of Parliament.

The Bellingcat investigative website is set to name the Russian GRU military intelligence officer at a meeting on Tuesday in a Commons committee room hosted by Tory MP Bob Seely.

The two suspects in the attemptedpoisoningofformer spy Sergei Skripal were originally named by the government as Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov, although it was made clear the names were aliases. Last month, Bellingcat, working with Russian website The Insider, identified Boshirov as Colonel Anatoliy Chepiga – a highly-decorated officer in the GRU.

Mr Seeley tweeted a link to an advert for the meeting, entitled “Announcement of the identity of the second Skripal suspect”, adding the comment “looks interesting”.

The disclosure of Petrov’s true identity will come as a further embarrassment for the GRU following disclosure of its failed attempt to hack the computers of the global chemical weapons watchdog.

British and Dutch authorities disclosed on Thursday that a four-man GRU teamw was sent back to Moscow after it tried to target the headquarters of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague. At the time of the operation in April, its scientists were working to identify the deadly Novichok nerve agent used in the attack on Mr Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, the previous month.