GRU colonel Chepiga revealed as Skripal suspect’s ‘real identity’

An investigative journalism website has published what it says is the real identity of one of the Russian intelligence officers suspected of the Salisbury nerve agent poisoning.

The Bellingcat group claims the man who was named as Ruslan Boshirov is actually Colonel Anatoliy Chepiga.

British officials have not commented. The BBC understands there is no dispute over the identification.

UK investigators have said Mr Boshirov was a Russian intelligence officer.

It was thought he travelled to the UK on a false passport, under a pseudonym, with another Russian national who used the name Alexander Petrov.

Ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned by Novichok in March. The pair survived but Dawn Sturgess – a woman not connected to the original attack – died in July after being exposed to the same substance.

BBC