MOSCOW, October 1. /TASS/. Kremlin has no intention of taking part in a discussion of rumors in mass media about the past of Ruslan Boshirov, one of those who are accused by London of poisoning the Skripals, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"We will no longer talk with the media [as far as rumors about Boshirov are concerned]," he said. "The BBC cannot confirm anything, the BBC can put forward an assumption or something else. Since the whole discussion has been conducted at the media level, we, as the Kremlin, no longer want to take part in that discussion."

The Kremlin spokesman recalled that Russia had proposed a joint investigation into the Salisbury incident from the very start. "Moscow’s desire met no reciprocity, and Moscow has been stripped of an opportunity to receive any evidence," Peskov stressed.

Skripal saga

On March 4, former Russian intelligence officer and convicted British spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were allegedly poisoned with a nerve agent, according to British investigators. Later on, London stated that this agent had been developed in Russia and blamed Moscow for being behind the incident based on this assumption. Moscow refuted all accusations, saying that neither the Soviet Union, nor Russia had any programs for developing this agent.

On September 5, British Prime Minister Theresa May informed the British parliament about the outcome of the investigation into the Salisbury incident, stating that two Russians, whom British intelligence services consider to be Main Intelligence Directorate agents, are suspected of the attempted murder of the Skripals. Scotland Yard published a number of photos of the two men, who, according to investigators, had been travelling around the country with Russian passports under the names of Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov. In their interview with the RT television Petrov and Boshirov refuted these allegations.

The Daily Telegraph claimed in its report that Ruslan Boshirov was actually a 39-year-old colonel of the Russian military intelligence service, and his true name was Anatoly Chepiga.