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Author's right of the image
Bellingcat / PA
Passport Photo of Anatoliy Chepiga 2003 and (right) photo of Ruslan Boshirov, released by the police
An investigative journalism website has published what it says is the true identity of one of the Russian intelligence agents suspected of being intoxicated by the neurotoxic agent of Salisbury.
The Bellingcat group claims that the man named Ruslan Boshirov is actually Colonel Anatoli Chepiga.
British officials have not commented. The BBC understands that there is no litigation on identification.
British investigators said Mr Boshirov was a Russian intelligence agent.
It was thought that he had traveled to the UK with a fake passport, under a pseudonym, with another Russian national who was using the name of Alexander Petrov.
Ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned by Novichok in March. The couple survived but Dawn Sturgess – a woman not related to the original attack – died in July after being exposed to the same substance.
The British government has accused Mr Petrov and Mr Boshirov of this attack. He stated that they were undercover agents for Russian military intelligence, the GRU.
Russia has always denied the allegations and President Vladimir Putin said the suspects were civilians.
The two men then appeared on Russian state television, claiming to be tourists, and traveling to Salisbury to see his cathedral.
Bellingcat says that Colonel Chepiga was a soldier who served in Chechnya and received the highest award from the state – hero of the Russian Federation, usually personally awarded by President Vladimir Putin.
Author's right of the image
Bellingcat
Colonel Chepiga is the family name on the gold star's honor list on the memorial wall of the Far East Military Command School.
Bellingcat obtained excerpts from the passport file of Anatoliy Vladimirovich Chepiga. A photo of Mr. Chepiga dating from 2003 seems to look like a younger version of the man who used the identity Ruslan Bushirov.
