Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov, the two Russian men suspected of poisoning former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in England on March 4th, went on RT earlier this month to claim they were in the fitness industry and tourists in Salisbury on holiday the weekend in question.
In fact, Boshirov is really Colonel Anatoliy Chepiga, a Russian military intelligence (GRU) officer.
Online investigative outlet Bellingcat and The Insider uncovered the truth:
The suspect using the cover identity of “Ruslan Boshirov” is in fact Colonel Anatoliy Chepiga, a highly decorated GRU officer bestowed with Russia’s highest state award, Hero of the Russian Federation. Following Bellingcat’s own identification, multiple sources familiar with the person and/or the investigation have confirmed the suspect’s identity.
This finding eliminates any remaining doubt that the two suspects in the Novichok poisonings were in fact Russian officers operating on a clandestine government mission.
While civilians in Russia can generally own more than one passport, no civilian – or even an intelligence service officer on a personal trip – can cross the state border under a fake identity. The discovery also highlights the extent of the effort – and public diplomacy risk – Russia has taken to protect the identities of the officers. President Putin publicly vouched that “Boshirov” and “Petrov” are civilians. As it is established practice that the awards Hero of the Russian Federation are handed out by the Russian president personally, it is highly likely that Vladimir Putin would have been familiar with the identity of Colonel Chepiga, given that only a handful of officers receive this award each year.
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Bellingcat has contacted confidentially a former Russian military officer of similar rank as Colonel Chepiga, in order to receive a reaction to what we found. The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, expressed surprise that at least one of the operatives engaged in the operation in Salisbury had the rank of colonel. Even more surprising was the suspects’ prior award of the highest military recognition.
In our source’s words, an operation of this sort would have typically required a lower-ranked, “field operative” with a military rank of “no higher than captain.” The source further surmised that to send a highly decorated colonel back to a field job would be highly extraordinary, and would imply that “the job was ordered at the highest level.”
The true identity of his accomplice Alexander Petrov remains unclear, but The Telegraph has established that he was travelling under his real first name and had only changed his surname to an alias.
Counter-terrorism police and the security services are understood to know his real name.
Skripal Suspect Boshirov Identified as GRU Colonel Anatoliy Chepiga (Bellingcat)
Skripal 'hitman' unmasked as GRU colonel awarded Russia's highest military honour by Vladimir Putin (The Telegraph)