LONDON – One of the men suspected of poisoning a former Russian spy and his daughter in Britain with a nervous agent is a military doctor who works for the Russian intelligence agency GRU, according to the Bellingcat survey website in a new report.

Dr. Alexander Yevgenyevich Mishkin, 39, used the pseudonym "Alexander Petrov" when he went to Salisbury, England in March to attack Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, according to Bellingcat. . The website identified Mishkine through forensic evidence and witness testimony in St. Petersburg and his hometown of Loyga in northern Russia. Mishkin graduated from one of Russia's elite military medicine academies and trained as a doctor for Russian naval forces.

Until 2014, Mishkin's registered home address in Moscow was Khoroshevskoe Shosse 76B, the same address as that of the GRU headquarters, said Bellingcat in his report. He claimed that Mishkin had been recruited to the GRU while he was at the medical school and had made several trips to Ukraine, especially at the height of the violence in 2013.

An earlier investigation by Bellingcat, founded by British journalist Eliot Higgins, had concluded that the other Russian intelligence officer suspected of poisoning the Skripals in Salisbury had used the pseudonym "Ruslan Boshirov". It is actually a decorated Russian agent named Anatoliy Chepiga, according to Bellingcat. Chepiga is a GRU colonel and the recipient of the highest distinction awarded by the Russian government to military service.

Bellingcat stated that it used databases, passport information, facial recognition technology, and the fingerprint of suspects to establish and analyze their identities.

The Skripals were made ill by Novichok, a Soviet-made neurotoxic agent. They survived after a long stay in the hospital. But the nerve agent killed a British woman and sickened her partner. British police believe that the couple was exposed to the substance in June because of traces in the bottle containing the Novichok used to poison the Skripals a few months ago. The British government believes that the attack was probably approved at the highest levels of the Russian government, a claim firmly rejected by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia has also rejected Bellingcat's findings.

The administration of President Donald Trump punished Russia for its alleged role in the case. The White House claimed that by using deadly chemical or biological weapons against its own nationals, Russia had violated the 1991 US law on the control of chemical and biological weapons and the elimination of war. Russia also disputes this assertion.

More: British Security Minister accuses Russian President Vladimir Putin of attacking a nerve agent in Novichok

More: The Trump administration will impose new sanctions on Russia for attempted assassination of a former Russian spy

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