Papers show Novichok duo’s links to security services

A PASSPORT used by one of the Kremlin assassins who attempted to poison Sergei Skripal in Salisbury directly links him to the Russian security services.

Travel documents used by a Russian agent using the identity of Alexander Petrov are marked ‘top secret’ and include a phone number for the Russian defence ministry.

The finding by the respected investigative website Bellingcat directly contradicts Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claims that Petrov and his accomplice Ruslan Boshirov were merely civilians who travelled to Salisbury to see its cathedral and nearby Stonehenge.

When the number was rung by journalists yesterday an office clerk refused to give information about Petrov’s passports or comment on his apparent links to the Russian government. It has also emerged that Petrov and Boshirov’s passports, issued in 2009, provide almost no biographical data about either man before that year, such as any residential addresses. There are also no records of either Petrov or Boshirov having a passport before 2009.