Third Russian is identified in Salisbury attack
A third Russian military intelligence officer carried out reconnaissance before the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, The Daily Telegraph understands. It is believed the agent, who visited Salisbury to plan the attack, has been identified by anti-terrorism police and security services.
A THIRD Russian military intelligence officer who carried out a reconnaissance mission before the poisoning of Sergei Skripal has been identified by counter terrorism police and the security services.
The Daily Telegraph understands the GRU agent is believed to have visited Salisbury to help plan the attack before two of his colleagues brought a weapons-grade nerve agent into the UK.
It is understood the man has been identified by those investigating the planned assassination of Col Skripal and his daughter in March, which inadvertently led to the death of Dawn Sturgess,
‘I understand it was timed for Yulia’s arrival, as they wanted to be sure that their target would be in Salisbury’
a local woman. Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, said he believed the Russians made the attempt to kill the former spy because they felt they had “got away” with the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006.
“That’s why Theresa May’s reaction this time has been very different,” Mr Hunt said. He said the Kremlin would not have expected 28 countries to expel more than 150 Russian diplomats.
It follows the unmasking of Ruslan Boshirov, one of the would-be assassins, as Anatoliy Vladimirovich Chepiga, a highly decorated GRU colonel. The true identity of Alexander Petrov remains unclear, though The Telegraph has established he did use his real first name, but with an alias for a surname.
Now a third agent has been tracked in Salisbury and it is thought that he fed information back to Chepiga and Petrov. It comes after it was revealed by the investigative journalism group Bellingcat that the numbers on passports issued in fake names were part of a series to be linked to other GRU officers. This apparent blunder is thought to have led to their movements being traced and their identities exposed.
Reconnaissance would have been seen as essential, as an attack in which nerve agent was smeared on a door handle would not have been decided without extensive planning, security experts say.
The GRU officer is expected to have reported back on details such as the layout of cul-de-sac where Col Skripal lived and which door he would have used to enter and leave the property.
Sergei Migdal, a security expert and former police and intelligence officer, said: “I understand it was timed for Yulia’s arrival, as they wanted to be sure that their target would be in Salisbury. It would have been too much trouble to watch him all the time and that may have aroused suspicion.
“We now know that there is a link between GRU officers and a series of passport numbers, and I would imagine that law enforcement has already looked at the border control records to establish where operatives have been.”
Philip Ingram, a former intelligence and security officer, added: “They wouldn’t have turned up at the house and put it on the door handle on a whim.” Mr Skripal and his daughter both survived the attack and are currently in hiding.
The furore over the poisoning was reignited on Wednesday when Boshirov was unmasked as Chepiga, 39, who was made a Hero of the Russian Federation by decree of the president, Vladimir Putin.
The Metropolitan Police, which is leading the investigation, has refused to comment on the matter.