LONDON — One of the men suspected of poisoning a former Russian spy and his daughter in Britain with a nerve agent is a military doctor who works for Russia's intelligence agency GRU, the Bellingcat investigative website claimed in a new report. Dr. Alexander Yevgenyevich Mishkin, 39, used the alias "Alexander Petrov" when he traveled to Salisbury, England, in March for an attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, according to Bellingcat. The website identified Mishkin through forensic evidence and witness testimony in St. Petersburg and in his home village of Loyga, in northern Russia. Mishkin graduated from one of Russia’s elite military medical academies and trained as a doctor for the Russian naval armed forces. Until 2014, Mishkin’s registered home address in Moscow was Khoroshevskoe Shosse 76B, the same address as GRU headquarters, Bellingcat said in its report. It claimed that Mishkin was recruited into the GRU while at medical school and went on to make several trips to Ukraine, including during the height of violent unrest there in 2013. A previous investigation by Bellingcat, founded by British citizen journalist Eliot Higgins, concluded the other undercover Russian intelligence officer suspected of poisoning the Skripals in Salisbury used the alias "Ruslan Boshirov." He is in fact a decorated Russian agent named Anatoliy Chepiga, according to Bellingcat. Chepiga is a GRU colonel and the recipient of Russia’s highest state award for military service. Bellingcat said it used databases, passport information, facial recognition technology and the suspects' digital footprints to establish and analyze their identities. The Skripals were sickened by Novichok, a Soviet-made nerve agent. They survived after a lengthy hospital stay. But the nerve agent killed a British woman and sickened her partner. British police think the couple was exposed to the substance in June from traces in the bottle that had contained the Novichok that was used to poison the Skripals months earlier. The British government believes the attack was likely approved at the highest levels of the Russia government, an allegation strongly rejected by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia has also rejected Bellingcat's findings. President Donald Trump's administration has sanctioned Russia over its alleged role in the affair. The White House has claimed that by using lethal chemical or biological weapons against its own nationals, Russia violated the U.S. Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991. Russia disputes this, too. More:UK security minister blames Russian President Vladimir Putin for Novichok nerve agent attack More:Trump administration to impose new sanctions on Russia for attempted assassination of ex-Russian spy<doc-sep>THE second of two Russians who Britain says was responsible for the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter was named by investigative website Bellingcat as a military doctor for Russia’s GRU military intelligence. Bellingcat, which covers intelligence matters, on Monday named him as Alexander Yevgenyevich Mishkin, aged 39, who was charged by Britain last month under the name of Alexander Petrov. British prosecutors charged Petrov and another man they named as Ruslan Boshirov with attempted murder for the Novichok nerve agent attack on the Skripals in the English city of Salisbury in March but said they believed the suspects had used aliases to enter Britain. Bellingcat last month identified Boshirov as a colonel in the GRU whose real name was Anatoliy Chepiga. London police would not comment on speculation about the real identities of the two men facing charges, in response to a query about the latest Bellingcat report and repeated they believed the men had used aliases. Mishkin was born in July 1979 in the village of Loyga in the Archangelsk district of northern Russia and until September 2014 his registered home address in Moscow was the same as the headquarters of the GRU, Bellingcat said. “Bellingcat’s identification process included multiple open sources, testimony from people familiar with the person, as well as copies of personally identifying documents, including a scanned copy of his passport,” the website said. His GRU rank was unknown, it said. Russia denies any involvement in the poisoning and the two men have said publicly they were tourists who had flown to London for fun and visited Salisbury to see its cathedral.<doc-sep>President Vladimir Putin personally gave a dressing down to the head of Russian spy agency GRU over 'deep incompetence' shown in the Salisbury poisonings and other international operations. GRU chief Col-Gen Igor Korobov, 62, reportedly emerged shaken and in sudden 'ill health' after his confrontation with the furious Russian president. Korobov's telling off came as the second Salisbury suspect was named as a GRU doctor, who gave himself away by using his first name and real date of birth on his fake identity passport. Dr Alexander Mishkin's false identification papers also listed GRU headquarters in Moscow as his home address. Telling off: The head of GRU, Col-Gen Igor Korobov, 62, reportedly emerged shaken and in sudden 'ill health' after being given a dressing down by the President himself Bellingcat has revealed the second suspect in the Sergei and Yulia Skripal poisoning case, naming Dr Alexander Yevgenyevich Mishkin. The website reports Mishkin travelled to Salisbury under the alias Alexander Petrov The identification of the novichok poisoning spook came as Russian Defence Ministry officials reportedly met with senior GRU staff to blast them over the agency's recent foreign operations. The secret meeting on Saturday reportedly heard furious accusations over the 'morons' behind missions in Britain, the Netherlands and the US. Those in charge of the catastrophic blunders were denounced for their 'deep incompetence' and 'infinite carelessness'. They were taunted: 'Why didn't you just wear Budenovka hats?' referring to the hats emblazoned with the Red star which were part of the Communist military uniform after the Russian Revolution. Yesterday, investigative website Bellingcat, who also outed the first Salisbury suspect Ruslan Boshirov as Colonel Anatoliy Chepiga, revealed the true identity of the second suspect. Fuming: President Vladimir Putin is said to be fuming over the way his spy agency have been handling foreign operations, including the novichok poisoning in the UK GRU chiefs were reportedly told the operations were so 'incompetent and careless' the agents might as well have carried them out wearing Soviet military hats Alexander Petrov (pictured right) has now been revealed as Dr Alexander Mishkin. Ruslan Boshirov (pictured left) was revealed two weeks ago as Colonel Anatoliy Chepiga Russian documents including and facial recognition experts have been used to confirm that Alexander Petrov is actually Dr Alexander Yevgenyevich Mishkin, a trained military doctor in the GRU intelligence services. Bungling Dr Mishkin even used his own birth date and first names of his parents as part of his undercover identity as Alexander Petrov, and registered his home address as Khoroshevskoe Shosse 76B in Moscow - the headquarters of Putin's elite military intelligence services. Dr Mishkin was born in northern European Russia and graduated from the elite Military Medical Academies. He trained as a doctor for the Russian naval armed forces before being recruited by GRU, moving to Moscow in 2010, and assuming his undercover identity of Alexander Petrov. Mishkin is said to have travelled extensively under his new identity, including making multiple trips to Ukraine. The website said: 'Bellingcat's identification process included multiple open sources, testimony from people familiar with the person, as well as copies of personally identifying documents, including a scanned copy of his passport.' Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned by the chemical agent called novichok in Salisbury in March, leaving them critically ill in hospital. Dawn Sturgess, 44, was inadvertently poisoned when she discovered a perfume bottle filled with the deadly novichok nerve agent used on the Skripals, she later died. Further details of Bellingcat's investigation are set to be revealed on Tuesday. The passport of Dr Alexander Yevgenyevich Mishkin. Dr Mishkin travelled to Salisbury with Anatoliy Chepiga CCTV image of Russian nationals Dr Alexander Mishkin (right) and Anatoliy Chepiga (left), pictured in Salisbury Sergey Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned by the chemical agent called novichok in Salisbury in March, leaving them critically ill in hospital Conservative MP and Russia analyst Bob Seely said: 'This is yet another remarkable investigation by the Bellingcat team of digital detectives. 'It is appalling that a medical doctor appears to have been part of a team of GRU operatives that attempted to deliver a lethal poison to their target - and accidentally killed another person by mistake. 'Whilst this operation has been a botched embarrassment for the Kremlin from beginning to end, it worth remembering that we may not know about the GRU's successful operations and therefore shouldn't judge the GRU alone by their failures. 'The Government has shown strong resolve thus far, but it is yet more evidence that the UK needs to develop a long-term plan to understand and expose Russian subversion, as well as identifying the steps needed to protect our democracy.' The Skripal case and last week's revelations that the GRU also allegedly tried to hack into the world's chemical weapons watchdog in the Netherlands have further tattered Moscow's strained ties with the West. Dawn Sturgess died following exposure to the nerve agent Novichok in southwest England, four months after the same type of chemical was used against Sergei Skripal and his daughter Last week Vladimir Putin lashed out at Sergei Skripal branding him a 'scumbag' and a 'traitor'. The Kremlin has continued to denied it was behind the nerve agent attack on Skripal, a former double agent who sold Russian secrets to the British. But former KGB agent Putin reaffirmed his views on those who betray Russia last week in a furious outburst about Mr Skripal. Putin told an energy forum in Moscow: 'He is just a spy, a traitor to the motherland... He is just a scumbag.' Bellingcat last month revealed Boshirov was actually Colonel Anatoliy Chepiga. It was also revealed he was made a Hero of the Russian Federation by decree of the president during a secret ceremony in 2014. The disclosure, uncovered by Bellingcat in conjunction with The Telegraph, exposed Putin's claims that the Skripals' would-be killers were innocent 'civilians'. Col Chepiga and Dr Mishkin were charged over the March poisonings by the Crown Prosecution Service, but later appeared on Kremlin-funded news channel RT to reveal their bizarre cover story, prompting worldwide derision.<doc-sep>A London-based investigative journalism group said it has learned that one of the men accused of poisoning a former Russian spy in Britain earlier this year is a medical doctor and veteran of Russia’s military intelligence service. The group, Bellingcat, reported on its website Monday evening that the man identified and charged by U.K. authorities as Alexander Petrov is actually Alexander Mishkin, a highly decorated member of Russia’s military intelligence service, commonly known as the GRU. Bellingcat used documents including a passport to identify Mr. Mishkin, it said. Photo: /Associated Press The announcement came two weeks after Bellingcat and investigative website Insider reported that Ruslan Boshirov, identified by U.K. authorities as Petrov’s partner in the alleged assassination attempt, was actually Anatoliy Chepiga, a GRU colonel. Bellingcat said it used “multiple open sources, testimony from people familiar with the person, as well as copies of personally identifying documents,” including a scanned copy of Mr. Mishkin’s passport, to prove that he wasn’t in fact named Petrov. Last month, British prosecutors charged two Russian men—named in court proceedings as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov—with four offenses related to the poisoning of 67-year-old defected Russian spy Sergei Skripal, who has lived in Britain since a 2010 spy swap with Moscow. His daughter Yulia was also poisoned, and like her father, left critically ill following the attack. Western allies expelled dozens of Russian diplomats as punishment for Moscow’s alleged role in the Skripals’ poisoning. In August, the U.S. announced a new series of sanctions and threatened additional stronger measures in November if Moscow fails to comply with certain criteria. According to Bellingcat’s reporting, Mr. Mishkin, 39, was born in Loyga, a village in the district of Arkhangelsk Oblast in northwestern Russia. He graduated from one of Russia’s elite military medical academies and “was trained as a military doctor for the Russian naval armed forces,” the investigative group reported. Two Russians suspected of poisoning a former Russian spy in the English city of Salisbury said they were visiting the cathedral there and not acting as agents of Russian military intelligence. Image: Russia Today While pursuing his studies, Bellingcat said, Mr. Mishkin was recruited by the GRU and assigned an undercover identity, “including a second national ID and travel passport—under the alias Alexander Petrov.” His assignments under his new alias included multiple trips to Ukraine and the nearby breakaway region of Transnistria, according to Bellingcat. The investigative website said that unlike Boshirov, who it says is a pseudonym for Col. Chepiga, Mr. Mishkin’s alter-ego Petrov shared most of his biographical details “such as the exact birth date, first and patronymic name, and first names of his parents.” Bellingcat also noted that until early September 2014, Mr. Mishkin’s registered home address in Moscow was the same as the address for the GRU headquarters. Presidential spokesman Dmitri Peskov said Tuesday the Kremlin had no further comment on media reports regarding the identity of the two men. The Kremlin has insisted the men are civilians and Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied his government’s involvement in the Skripals’ poisoning. When Bellingcat and Insider identified the first poisoning suspect as being a GRU recipient of a Hero of the Russian Federation award—an honor bestowed personally by the president of Russia—Russian officials denied that he was a military agent. Last month, men identifying themselves as Boshirov and Petrov told a Kremlin-backed television station they had been in the U.K. to visit the famous cathedral in Salisbury, the southern English city where the attack occurred.<doc-sep>
LONDON — One of the two suspects in the poisoning of an ex-spy in England is a doctor who works for Russian military intelligence and traveled to Britain under an alias, investigative group Bellingcat reported Monday. Bellingcat said on its website that the man British authorities identified as Alexander Petrov is actually Alexander Mishkin, a doctor working for the Russian military intelligence unit known as GRU. British officials said when they charged two Russians last month in the March nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter that they believed Petrov was an assumed name. The other suspect also traveled to Salisbury, England, under an alias — Ruslan Boshirov — but is a decorated Russian agent named Anatoliy Chepiga, Bellingcat reported last month. The group said it would provide forensic evidence and other information it used to conclude Petrov was Mishkin on Tuesday. There was no immediate comment on the Bellingcat report by either the Russian or British governments. The poisoning of Skripal, a former Russian agent who was convicted of spying for Britain, became a major international incident. British authorities said the former spy and his daughter, Yulia, were sickened by a Soviet-made nerve agent. British Prime Minister Theresa May said the attack was likely ordered at the highest levels of the Russia government, an allegation vehemently rejected by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Bellingcat’s latest investigation said Mishkin was born in 1979 in the Archangelsk District in northern Russia and graduated from the elite Military Medical Academies, where he was trained for medical work in the Russian navy. He was recruited by the secretive GRU, given the undercover identity of Alexander Petrov when he was stationed in Moscow and made multiple trips to Ukraine, the investigative group said. After Britain charged the two Russians with trying to kill the Skripals, the suspects appeared on Russian TV to deny a role in the Salisbury poisonings. They said they went to the city to visit its cathedral. see also Russians charged in poisoning say they visited UK as tourists The two men suspected of using a nerve agent to... The father and daughter survived after a lengthy hospital stay in intensive care. But the nerve agent killed a British woman, Dawn Sturgess, and seriously sickened her partner. British police have said they think the couple was exposed to the substance in June from traces in the bottle that had contained the Novichok used to poison the Skripals months earlier. The use of a banned nerve agent produced by the Soviet Union during the Cold War in a small English city has focused attention on the GRU, a Russian military intelligence unit that Western officials say is linked to a number of recent computer security hacks. British, Dutch and US officials have accused the GRU of trying to hack the computers of international agencies, masterminding a devastating 2017 cyberattack on Ukraine and being behind stolen emails that roiled the 2016 US presidential election. Last week, authorities in the Netherlands alleged the GRU tried and failed to hack into the world’s chemical weapons watchdog, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. The US Justice Department also charged seven GRU officers in an alleged international hacking rampage that targeted more than 250 athletes, a Pennsylvania-based nuclear energy company, a Swiss chemical laboratory and the chemical weapons watchdog.