An interview on Russian television with suspects in the Salisbury poisonings was “shocking” and “welcome”, a senior police officer has said.
During a tv interview on Russian channel RT in September 2018, suspects Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov denied being the culprits behind the Salisbury poisonings, stating that they had come to Salisbury as tourists.
Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command, was asked at the inquiry on Wednesday by the lead counsel to the Dawn Sturgess Inquiry if the interview “came as something of a surprise”.
Mr Murphy said: “Surprise is probably quite an understatement.
“It was quite a shocking thing to see actually, and unexpected, but equally for various reasons quite welcome for them to go on TV like that. To firstly strongly indicate it was them in those photographs is helpful, because clearly it demonstrates that the photos we have of them are the same.
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“So unexpected and surprising in that respect to see them do that.”
He added that the account they gave of their visit to the UK was Mr "very different from the movements we actually saw” and “not at all” consistent with those of a tourist in Salisbury, with the pair spending most of their time in residential areas.
Mr Murphy said Boshirov’s real identity was believed to be Anatoliy Vladimirovich Chepiga.
This was based on visa applications and financial documents, open source information from the website of a Russian military school, and images from a wedding showing a likeness between Boshirov and Chepiga.
The officer said an image of Chepiga bearing “a strong resemblance to Boshirov” was pictured on a “wall of heroes” at a military school in the town of Blagoveshchensk, in the far east of Russia.
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Mr Murphy said: “I understand it’s [the award] appointed by the president of Russia and is one of Russia’s highest awards for its citizens, particularly in the military.”
Mr Murphy said Boshirov was also believed to have been identified in photos from the wedding of the daughter of Russian military intelligence (GRU) leader Andrei Averyanov, at Lake Senezh near a military base north of Moscow in July 2017.
He told the inquiry that the seating plan of the wedding included the name “Aleksei Chepiga”, adding it was likely a “shortened name” or “nickname”.
Mr Murphy said: “Importantly, whilst the individual that appears to be Boshirov is at the wedding, the Boshirov name does not feature in the table plan.”
The officer said Boshirov and Petrov had replicated details, including account numbers and bank balances, on separate visa applications.
Mr Murphy said the suspects tried to use as much original detail as possible in applications “so they’re able to remember it”.
The officer said Petrov’s real identity was believed to be Alexander Mishkin, who worked as a doctor for the GRU.
The inquiry was shown images of passports in the name of Petrov and Mishkin which both had the same date of birth, July 13 1979, and the same place of birth, Arkhangelsk.
Discussing GRU unit 29155, of which Petrov and Boshirov are believed to be members, Mr Murphy said it was “frequently reported to have been involved in operations across the world”.
He added: “Either destabilising operations and in some cases widely reported other poisonings or attacks, or other covert information activity on behalf of the Russian government.”
Mr Murphy said reporting by the investigative group Bellingcat “helped us to understand who Chepiga really was”.
The inquiry heard that the name of third suspect Sergey Fedotov was an alias for GRU officer Denis Sergeev.
Mr Murphy said mobile phone data showed Fedotov spent “significant periods of time” in Moscow near premises used by GRU unit 29155.
The inquiry was shown a map of the three suspects’ travels in 2014 which detailed them frequently flying from Moscow to Milan and then travelling to Geneva before flying back to Russia.
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