Salisbury novichok attack: GRU chief in 'ill health' after Putin confrontation

Authored by dailymail.co.uk and submitted by xDeadlyPantsx
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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.

Theresa May attacks Putin at the UN for his 'desperate fabrication' over the Salisbury spy poisoning The Prime Minister attacked Russia for its 'desperate fabrication' over the Salisbury spy poisoning as she addressed world leaders in New York in September. Britain has set out detailed evidence about the prime suspects in the nerve agent attack on former spy Sergei Skripal and daughter Yulia while Russia has only sought to 'obfuscate', she said. Theresa May lambasted Russia for its 'desperate fabrication' over the Salisbury poisoning while addressing the General Assembly of the UN on Wednesday Mrs May told the United Nations Security Council: 'We have taken appropriate action, with our allies, and we will continue to take the necessary steps to ensure our collective security. Russia has only sought to obfuscate through desperate fabrication.' Mrs May called on Russia to rejoin the international consensus against the use of chemical weapons and said there should be no doubt of the international community's determination to take action if it did not. She said: 'We cannot let the framework be undermined today by those who reject the values and disregard the rules that have kept us safe. 'It will take collective engagement to reinforce it in the face of today's challenges. And in this, as has always been the case, the UK will play a leading role.'

Calling themselves tourists, they said they were only wandering around Salisbury after failing to get to Stonehenge because of snow, and stumbled on the Skripals' house - as shown on CCTV - because they were looking for Salisbury Cathedral, which has a 400ft spire and is 25 minutes in the other direction.

The pair also refused to say why they booked into an east London hotel 127 miles away - or why it contained traces of Novichok - and failed to explain why they appeared to have no luggage when they hastily travelled home to Russia.

RT even suggested the suspects weren't trained killers - hinting they were gay lovers on a romantic break because they had 'little beards, short hair cuts and tight pants'.

Their claims were dismissed as 'lies and blatant fabrications' by Downing Street, and looked farcical in the light of the revelations about Chepiga's military links.

He was eventually unmasked following a painstaking investigating relying on passport files, leaked address lists and public military information.

Bellingcat is set to reveal how they unmasked Dr Mishkin on Tuesday.

Now looking even more shaky... The 'farcical' RT interview that saw the would-be assassins claim they were innocent civilians Revelations about the military background of Colonel Anatoliy Vladimirovich Chepiga make the interview he gave to RT in September alongside the second suspected assassin Alexander Petrov appear even more farcical. Observers quickly pointed out a number of gaping holes in their story, including: The 'accidental' visit to Skripal's home CCTV released by police places the two suspects at Sergei Skripal's suburban house. Today the men admitted they may have ended up there - but claimed it was an accident. The property, which had Novichok smeared on the door, is 25 minutes away from the city centre and its cathedral - which the men said they were there to see. Ruslan Boshirov said: 'Maybe we passed it, or maybe we didn't. I'd never heard about them before this nightmare started. I'd never heard this name before. I didn't know anything about them'. The hotel 127 miles from Salisbury Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov were guests at the City Stay Hotel in Bow, East London, before poisoning Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. The Metropolitan Police confirmed today that 'low' levels of the nerve agent were found in the two-star £48 a night hotel in May. The men chose a spot some distance from Waterloo - the main rail route to Salisbury - despite making the Wiltshire city the focus of their visit. It is 127 miles from Salisbury. The 'bad' weather Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov claimed that they only stayed in Salisbury because of heavy snow. The pair visited days after the Beast from the East hit Britain bringing unseasonably cold weather. Describing the condition Boshirov said: 'It was impossible to get anywhere because of the snow. We were drenched up to our knees'. But CCTV pictures of the men shows the pavements were largely clear of snow. They also told RT that it snowed in the city that afternoon, but weather maps from that day show sunshine and clear skies. The missing luggage The men went straight from Salisbury to Heathrow for the evening flight. But CCTV suggested that they did not have any luggage with them on their way home.

hotmial on October 9th, 2018 at 12:09 UTC »

Reverse search of vehicle owners with known GRU barracks as home address, has revealed 350 spies' name and passport numbers.

CrackHeadRodeo on October 9th, 2018 at 12:04 UTC »

Personally am loving this new GRU. Keep up the sloppy work guys.

lsThisReaILife on October 9th, 2018 at 11:57 UTC »

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.

Those do seem like basic things you shouldn’t do as a spy.