LONDON, February 7. /TASS/. British media reports about a third Russian ‘agent’ involved in the Salisbury incident are nothing but a bogus story, a spokesperson for the Russian embassy in London told Russian reporters.
When commenting on a Daily Telegraph article claiming that there was "a third Russian agent implicated in the Salisbury nerve agent attack" named Sergey Fedotov, the spokesperson said that "it is another bogus story coming from the British intelligence agencies." "They seek to keep the Skripal poisoning story afloat through information leaks that cite ‘informed sources.’ It allows them to remind the public about Russia’s alleged use of chemical weapons without having to present any evidence, distracting people from the Brexit issue," he noted.
"The first reports claiming that apart from Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov, some Sergey Fedotov had also arrived in Great Britain and then left the country in March last year appeared in the British media on October 10. And now, they claim to have found out that he did not leave the country after all. If British investigators needed four months to figure it out, then it is no surprise why the investigation into the Salisbury incident is slow going," the diplomat said.
He added that the Russian embassy would continue to seek official information about the investigation’s progress and results, as well as about the condition of the Skripals since they were Russian nationals, and also to demand consular access to them. "The Tory government should abandon efforts to hide facts and ensure complete transparency," the embassy spokesperson concluded.
Daily Telegraph article, police’s response
On February 6, The Daily Telegraph reported, citing a source, that "a Russian military intelligence officer - using the false name Sergey Fedotov - travelled to the UK on the same day as two hitmen who carried out the attempted assassination of Sergei Skripal." According to the newspaper, "Fedotov was then booked on to the same flight back to Moscow with" the two others but he "checked himself and his baggage off the plane before departure." "He could still have been running around Britain," the paper quoted the source as saying.
Meanwhile, the Met Police told TASS that "the investigation team continues to pursue a number of lines of enquiry, including identifying any other suspects who may have been involved in carrying out or planning the attack." "We are not prepared to discuss further details of what remains an ongoing investigation," the Met Police added.
Skripal saga
According to London, former Russian military intelligence (GRU) Colonel Sergei Skripal, who had been convicted in Russia of spying for Great Britain and later swapped for Russian intelligence officers, and his daughter Yulia, suffered the effects of an alleged nerve agent in the British city of Salisbury on March 4, 2018. Claiming that the substance used in the attack had been a Novichok-class nerve agent developed in the Soviet Union, London rushed to accuse Russia of being involved in the incident. Moscow rejected all of the United Kingdom’s accusations, saying that neither the Soviet Union nor Russia ever had any program aimed at developing such a substance.
On September 5, 2018, British Prime Minister Theresa May informed the country’s parliament about the conclusions that investigators looking into the Salisbury incident had come to, saying that two Russians, believed to be GRU agents, were suspected of conspiracy to murder the Skripals. The Metropolitan Police said their names were Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov.
In an interview with Russia’s RT TV channel, Petrov and Boshirov said they had visited Great Britain for tourist purposes. According to them, they are businessmen with no links to the GRU and have nothing to do with the Skripal case.