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A group of investigative journalists from Britain and Russia on Wednesday named a highly decorated colonel of Russian military intelligence as one of the men accused of poisoning a former Russian spy and his daughter in Britain.
A report by the investigative group Bellingcat and the Russian press organ Insider described the suspect as Colonel Anatoly V. Chepiga, a 2014 recipient of the title of Hero of the Russian Federation, probably in service in the Russian Federation. is from Ukraine. The prize, awarded annually to a handful of officers, is personally awarded by President Vladimir V. Putin.
Police in Britain would not comment on the report and Russia has not responded.
Moscow has denied any involvement in the attack on the former spy, Sergei V. Skripal, who was living in the English city of Salisbury after being released from a Russian prison under the auspices of the USSR. an exchange of espionage.
The two men that Britain identified as the main suspects told the Russian media that they were only sports nutritionists who had gone to Salisbury to see and search for new products. nutritional.
But the report of the Insider and Bellingcat – a group that also conducted research on the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine – seems to support Britain's claim that Moscow was the source of the poisoning.
The journalists provided a detailed account of their methodology by identifying Colonel Chepiga as one of the suspects.
After the British authorities released security camera images of the two main suspects this month, Bellingcat and Insider journalists tried to find out who they were. The British authorities have described the men as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov on the basis of their Russian passports, but the authorities have hinted that they were pseudonyms.
Mr. Boshirov, says the new report, is actually Colonel Chepiga.
The reporters began by looking in the directories of the military command schools of the Russian Far East, who frequently prepared the officers for clandestine operations abroad.
This honor is usually awarded at a public ceremony and accompanied by a presidential decree, except in cases where the underlying act is part of a secret mission. Although the Kremlin website does not mention the price of Colonel Chepiga, a website devoted to graduates of the Academy of Military Command of the Far East says to have received for having "conducted a mission to maintain the peace".
Earlier this month, the British authorities released images of two members of a group of passengers on an Aeroflot flight destined for poisoning, near the victim's home and back in Moscow. Investigators also reported that traces of the Novichok nerve agent, used during the attack, had been found in the hotel room where the two men had remained.
Several days later, the two suspects were interviewed by RT, a state-funded Russian network, claiming that they had no connection with the attack on Mr. Skripal. Rather, they said they were tourists who had traveled to the "wonderful" English city of Salisbury to see its cathedral spire and 14th century clock.
The British Crown Prosecution Service accused the men of Mr. Skripal's assassination attempt; his daughter, Yulia S. Skripal; and a policeman, Det. Sgt. Nick Bailey, who had fallen ill while investigating the case. The men were also charged with conspiracy to murder Mr. Skripal; use and possession of the nerve agent; and cause serious bodily harm. Authorities issued national and European arrest warrants against the two men.
Prime Minister Theresa May, quoting British intelligence services, said the suspects were officers from a branch of Russian military intelligence known as G.R.U., the same group. accused of disrupting the 2016 US presidential election.
Ms. May also said that the Salisbury attack "was almost certainly approved outside of the G.R.U. at a higher level of the Russian state."
Russia jailed Mr Skripal in 2004 for selling secrets to Britain and released him 2010 as part of an espionage exchange with western countries. He settled in Salisbury but continued to work in the field of intelligence, offering insight into Russian spying practices.
On March 4, the Skripals became seriously ill with what was diagnosed as nerve agent poisoning, resulting in blockage of parts of Salisbury. Residents were terrified as hundreds of workers in combinations of hazardous materials were wanted for contamination.
Doctors did not expect that they would survive, but the Skripals, who were deemed unresponsive in a Salisbury Park, were released from a hospital after weeks of treatment.
Months later, two Britons, Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley, became ill after being exposed to poison. Mrs. Sturgess is dead.
After the Skripal attack, Western countries imposed new economic sanctions on Russia and expelled about 150 Russian diplomats and other officials, many of whom were presumably intelligence agents. Russia reacted by expelling a similar number of officials from these countries.
On Wednesday at the United Nations General Assembly, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov said that Britain had not provided any evidence of Russia's guilt in the poisoning.
