The second man alleged to have been dispatched to Britain to carry out the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia has been named as Dr Alexander Yevgenyevich Mishkin.
Investigative organisation Bellingcat said on Monday the man travelling under the alias “Alexander Petrov” and posing as a tourist is really Dr Mishkin, a graduate of one of Russia’s most elite medical academies.
His alleged accomplice in the plot to assassinate the Skripals in Salisbury, Wiltshire, using the deadly nerve agent novichok – one “Ruslan Boshirov” – was previously named by Bellingcat as Colonel Anatoliy Chepiga.
Dr Mishkin is understood to have been born in a village in the Arkhangelsk District in northern Russia.
His precise rank is unknown but he is believed to be a military doctor and a graduate of one of Russia’s most prestigious medical training complexes.
He would have graduated with at least the rank of senior lieutenant and is likely to have become a lieutenant colonel or full colonel in the 15 years since leaving medical school.
He was reportedly recruited by Russia’s intelligence agency the GRU while still a student and was given the Petrov alias – including an identity card and a passport – in 2010.
Between 2011 and 2018 he travelled extensively under his new identity, Bellingcat said, including making frequent trips to Ukraine.
The last of these visits was reportedly in December 2013, just ahead of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution that led to Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
For his cover identity, he used most of his own details, including his date of birth and first name and the real first names of his parents.
Until September 2014, his home address was registered as the Moscow headquarters of the GRU.
He then moved to an apartment shared with Colonel Chepiga.
Bellingcat said it had interviewed multiple sources familiar with Dr Mishkin, both in St Petersburg and his native Loyga.
At present this is all that is known about his past but the investigators are set to release a fuller report on his background on Tuesday afternoon.
PA contributed to this report
