MOSCOW: Moscow has scoffed at a report by a respected investigative group claiming that one of the suspects in the poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal was a highly decorated colonel in Russian military intelligence.
Bellingcat, the British based investigative group, said Wednesday that the real name of Ruslan Boshirov is Anatoly Chepiga, a military intelligence colonel decorated with the country’s top award, the Hero of Russia.
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova dismissed the report, saying it was timed to coincide with the address at the UN Security Council of British Prime Minister Theresa May.
“There is no proof — so they are continuing their information campaign whose main task is to divert attention from the main question: WHAT HAPPENED IN SALISBURY?” Zakharova wrote on Facebook late Wednesday.
“The question remains: when will any proof be provided of involvement of anyone in the Salisbury poisoning, as London calls it?“
Speaking on Wednesday, May attacked Moscow over the poisoning Skripal and his daughter Yulia with Novichok, a nerve agent designed in the Soviet era, in March.
“Russia has only sought to obfuscate through desperate fabrication,” she said.
Bellingcat said Chepiga, 39, graduated from the Far-Eastern Military Command Academy in the far eastern city of Blagoveshchensk, one of the country’s top training grounds for marine commandos and special forces.
He fought in Chechnya and possibly Ukraine and was bestowed the Hero of Russia award in 2014 for “conducting a peace-keeping mission,” a likely reference to the Ukraine conflict.
Bellingcat said it was “highly likely” that Russian President Vladimir Putin knows Chepiga because he personally hands out these awards.
Only a handful of such awards are given each year, often posthumously.
Citing a former Russian military officer, Bellingcat said it was very surprising that a highly decorated officer holding the rank of colonel was sent into the field.
It “would imply that ‘the job was ordered at the highest level,’” the group quoted its source as saying.
This month Putin said that the two men suspected by Britain of poisoning the Skripals were “civilians.”
In an eyebrow-raising interview with the Kremlin-backed RT channel, Boshirov and Alexander Petrov said they went to Salisbury as tourists, sparking ridicule in Russia and abroad.
Some observers have speculated the two intelligence agents have been effectively thrown under the bus by their superiors for failing in their mission.
“From hero to zero,” Bellingcat said on Twitter as it released its report.
Moscow dismisses report publishing identity of Skripal suspect
Moscow dismisses report publishing identity of Skripal suspect
- May attacked Moscow over the poisoning Skripal and his daughter Yulia with Novichok
- This month Putin said that the two men suspected by Britain of poisoning the Skripals were “civilians”
US and Ukraine ‘a lot closer’ on peace deal, Trump says after meeting with Zelensky
- Zelensky sees agreement on security guarantees for Ukraine
- Hurdles to a comprehensive peace deal remain
- Trump spoke with Putin ahead of meeting on Sunday
PALM BEACH, Florida: US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky were “getting a lot closer, maybe very close” to an agreement to end the war in Ukraine, though both leaders acknowledged that some of the thorniest details remain unresolved.
The two leaders spoke at a joint press conference late Sunday afternoon after meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Trump said it will be clear “in a few weeks” whether negotiations to end the war will succeed.
Zelensky said an agreement on security guarantees for Ukraine has been reached. Trump was slightly more cautious, saying that they were 95 percent of the way to such an agreement, and that he expected European countries to “take over a big part” of that effort with US backing.
Zelensky has said previously that he hopes to soften a US proposal for Ukrainian forces to withdraw completely from the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, a Russian demand that would mean ceding some territory held by Ukrainian forces.
Both Trump and Zelensky said on Sunday the future of the Donbas had not been settled. “It’s unresolved, but it’s getting a lot closer. That’s a very tough issue,” Trump said.
Just before Zelensky and his delegation arrived at Trump’s Florida residence, Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke in a call described as “productive” by the US president and “friendly” by Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov.
Ushakov, in Moscow, said Putin told Trump a 60-day ceasefire proposed by the European Union and Ukraine would prolong the war. The Kremlin aide also said Ukraine needs to make a decision regarding the Donbas “without further delay.” And he said the Russian government had agreed to establish working groups to resolve the conflict that will focus on economic and security concerns.
Meeting follows Russian attacks on Kyiv
Zelensky arrived at Mar-a-Lago early Sunday afternoon, as Russian air raids pile pressure on Kyiv. Russia hit the capital and other parts of Ukraine with hundreds of missiles and drones on Saturday, knocking out power and heat in parts of Kyiv. Zelensky has described the weekend attacks as Russia’s response to the US-brokered peace efforts, but Trump on Sunday said he believes Putin and Zelensky are serious about peace.
The US president said he will call Putin again after meeting with Zelensky. Zelensky had previously told journalists he plans to discuss the fate of the contested Donbas region with Trump, as well as the future of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and other topics.
Russia claims more battlefield advances
Putin said on Saturday Moscow would continue waging its war if Kyiv did not seek a quick peace. Russia has steadily advanced on the battlefield in recent months, claiming control over several more settlements on Sunday.
While Kyiv and Washington have agreed on many issues, the issue of what territory, if any, will be ceded to Russia remains unresolved. While Moscow insists on getting all of the Donbas, Kyiv wants the map frozen at current battle lines.
The US, seeking a compromise, has proposed a free economic zone if Ukraine leaves the area, although it remains unclear how that zone would function in practical terms.
US negotiators have also proposed shared control over the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. Power line repairs have begun there after another local ceasefire brokered by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the agency said on Sunday.
Russia controls all of Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, and since its invasion of Ukraine nearly four years ago has taken control of about 12 percent of its territory, including about 90 percent of the Donbas, 75 percent of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, and slivers of the Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions, according to Russian estimates.
Putin said on December 19 that a peace deal should be based on conditions he set out in 2024: Ukraine withdrawing from all of the Donbas, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, and Kyiv officially renouncing its aim to join NATO. Zelensky’s past encounters with Trump have not always gone smoothly, but Sunday’s meeting follows weeks of diplomatic efforts. European allies, while at times cut out of the loop, have stepped up efforts to sketch out the contours of a post-war security guarantee for Kyiv that the United States would support.
On Sunday, ahead of the Mar-a-Lago visit, Zelensky said he held a detailed phone call with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Trump and Zelensky will hold a phone call with European leaders at some point during the Florida meeting, Trump said. The 20-point plan was spun off from a Russian-led 28-point plan, which emerged from talks between US special envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev, and which became public in November.
Subsequent talks between Ukrainian officials and US negotiators have produced the more Kyiv-friendly 20-point plan.
