Britain indicted third suspect in Skripal poisoning

Britain has indicted a third suspect in the poisoning of a former employee of the Russian GRU Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, reports with the BBC.

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For the first time, the British police officially named the name of the third Russian, who, according to law enforcement agencies, was involved in the poisoning of the former GRU officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

The police are confident that this man’s name is Denis Sergeev - he used the pseudonym “Sergei Fedotov”.

Later, the BBC found out that Denis Sergeev has the rank of Major General and serves in the GRU. Presumably, Sergeev could have directed the actions of other accused of poisoning Skripal.

“This was an extremely daring crime. A shameless and deliberate attack,” Interior Minister Priti Patel commented on the poisoning of the Skripals.

It was previously known that two men who called themselves Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov arrived at Gatwick Airport on March 2, 2018. British police report that the real names of these people are Alexander Mishkin and Anatoly Chepiga.

Denis Sergeev, with documents addressed to “Sergei Fedotov”, flew to another London airport - Heathrow - on the same day at 11 am.

On Sunday, March 4, Chepiga and Mishkin went to Salisbury. On the same day, Sergei and Yulia Skripal were poisoned.

Sergeev did not go to Salisbury - he spent all the time in London. At the last minute, he took a plane ticket from London to Moscow and left Britain on March 4 at 13:45 p.m., police said. The other two suspects boarded the flight at 22:30 p.m.

British police are confident that the three people acted as one mechanism, as one team, meeting several times in London at different locations (where it is not specified).

British police believe that Sergeev, like other suspects, is hiding in Russia. Moscow has always denied any involvement in the “Salisbury incident.”

Chepiga, Mishkin and Sergeev were charged in absentia with conspiracy to murder, attempted murder, causing grievous bodily harm, and the use and storage of chemical weapons. The British authorities will soon forward the information to Interpol.

“We now have evidence linking them to the GRU,” British police said.

In the summer of 2019, Bellingcat and the BBC managed to find out details about Denis Sergeev's trip to London. Sergeev settled near London Paddington Station, while his colleagues rented a room in another part of the city.

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Sergeev has used the Internet hundreds of times over these days via 3G and 4G and avoided public Wi-Fi hotspots. He mainly wrote messages on WhatsApp, Viber and Telegram.

Sergeev called only one telephone number, which, contrary to Russian laws, had no owner for several years. Sergeev himself received a call from this number ten times.

He spent most of his time in the Paddington area, but on the morning of March 3 he reached the Thames embankment. If this information is combined with previously published police information about the whereabouts of other suspects, it can be assumed that it was there that he met "Petrov" and "Boshirov", who shortly thereafter boarded a train to Salisbury.

This was discovered after Bellingcat obtained Sergeev’s mobile phone billing data and shared it with the BBC. Bellingcat data shows that "Sergei Fedotov" has visited Britain twice before - in 2016 and 2017. Moreover, in 2017 he was in the country at the same time as Colonel Alexander Mishkin.

In February 2019, Sergeev’s wife Tatyana, in a telephone conversation with the BBC, called the assumption that her husband was serving in the GRU a “fairy tale.” However, she refused to answer the question of what Sergeev does.

“Fedotov” had previously visited Bulgaria several times, the authorities of this country noted. In April 2015, as Bellingcat investigators previously reported, “Fedotov” flew into the country, but did not show up for the return flight.

It was at this time that local arms businessman Emilian Gebrev was poisoned in Bulgaria. On April 28, 2015, he felt unwell after dinner with business partners. Two more people became ill - son Gebrev and one of the top managers of his company. All three were hospitalized with symptoms of severe poisoning.

Later, Gebrev ordered an examination in the laboratory, and experts came to the conclusion that they tried to kill the entrepreneur with a nerve agent of the Novichok class. The same substance was found on the doorknob of the house where Sergei Skripal lived.

“Fedotov,” according to Prague journalists, has also been to the Czech Republic. The weekly Respekt, which participated in the investigation, writes that at the end of January 2014 he came to the Czech Republic with Alexander Mishkin.

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In October and December of the same year, two explosions of ammunition depots took place in the Czech Republic. Czech investigators said they believed the GRU agents Alexander Mishkina and Anatoly Chepiga were guilty. Both were put on the wanted list.

“Alexander Petrov” and “Ruslan Boshirov” gave an interview once - after the poisoning of the Skripals in Salisbury, they spoke with the editor-in-chief of the RT television channel, Margarina Simonyan. Both claimed to work in the fitness industry, so they often travel to Europe. And the trip to Salisbury was explained by the desire to explore local attractions.

As ForumDaily wrote earlier:

• Former GRU officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious on a bench in Salisbury on March 4. They were taken to hospital in critical condition. The police found that they were poisoned nerve agent. About 20 people were poisoned, including the policeman who first visited the scene and the house of Skripal. On the fact of poisoning a case of attempted murder.
• As a result, the ex-scout and his daughter came to their senses and live in a secret place in Britain in order to protect their safety.
• In Russia, Skripal was convicted in 2006 for spying for British intelligence. In 2010, he was exchanged for Russian intelligence agents uncovered in the United States.
• After investigating, Britain concluded that the nerve agent of the new generation of the group called “Novice” was used for the poisoning. Since no country other than Russia had access to this substance, London declared that Russia was most likely responsible for the attempt.
• Investigation UK accused of attempted murder of Petrov and Boshirov, calling them employees of the GRU.
• Russia denied these allegations, and President Vladimir Putin said that the suspects were civilians.
• Then suspects gave an interview to Russian journalists and stated that they had visited Salisbury to “see the cathedral”.
• After poisoning Scripal USA have introduced a package restrictions against Russia, which entered into force on 27 on August 2018.
• Previously ForumDaily опубликовал full list of sanctions imposed by the US and Europe against Russia
• Some media reported that Skripals secretly moved from Britain to another country.
• Where are Skripali now and who else were trying to kill 'Novice'.
• German authorities said Novichok substance was used for the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in August 2020 of the year.

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