THE second of the prime suspects in the Salisbury nerve agent attack is a spy with Russian military intelligence who trained as a military doctor, an online investigative group has said.
Bellingcat reports the would-be assassin, who travelled under the false name of Alexander Petrov, is actually 39-year-old Alexander Mishkin.
It comes after the same website, in collaboration with the Daily Telegraph, last month revealed the first of the suspects – who was named as Ruslan Boshirov– was actually Colonel Anatoliy Chepiga, a top-level officer in the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence service.
It emerged he even received the hero of the Russian federation award by the decree of President Vladimir Putin.
Britain accused Russia of “lies and blatant fabrications” after the pair claimed they visited the UK as tourists.
The men told Russian state-funded news channel RT they travelled to the “wonderful” city in Wiltshire after recommendations from friends.
Mr Boshirov said the pair were drawn to Salisbury to see the cathedral’s “123-metre spire”.
But UK authorities believe they smeared the highly toxic Novichok chemical on a door handle at the Wiltshire home of former GRU officer Sergei Skripal, leaving Mr Skripal and his daughter Yulia critically ill on March 4.
On June 30, in nearby Amesbury, Dawn Sturgess, 44, and her partner Charlie Rowley, 45, were exposed to the same nerve agent from a discarded glass bottle. Ms Sturgess died in hospital a week after the pair fell ill.
Bellingcat said Mishkin not only used the same first name for his fake identity but also kept the same date of birth – July 13, 1979 – in his fake passport, issued by the Russian state.
Mr Mishkin is also believed to be the more junior officer of the duo sent by GRU to kill Mr Skripal.
Bellingcat said Mr Mishkin trained as a military doctor in the navy before being recruited by the GRU and was in Ukraine during the 2013 protests that ousted the pro-Russian government in Kiev.
Mr Mishkin was registered to the GRU headquarters address in Moscow until 2014.
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