Details of the second man allegedly sent to carry out a deadly nerve agent attack in Salisbury are even scarcer than that of his accomplice, an investigative group has said.
Dr Alexander Yevgenyevich Mishkin was named on Monday night as the man travelling under the alias Alexander Petrov.
His accomplice – using the name Ruslan Boshirov – was previously named by Bellingcat as Colonel Anatoliy Chepiga.
Mishkin was allegedly born in a village in the Arkhangelsk District in the north of European Russia.
He would have graduated with at least the rank of senior lieutenant, and is likely to have reached the rank of 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 alias Alexander Petrov – 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 which was reportedly in December 2013, just ahead of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution which led to Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
Until September 2014 his home address was registered as the Moscow headquarters of the GRU.
He then moved to an apartment shared with Chepiga.
Bellingcat said it had interviewed multiple sources familiar with Mishkin, both in St Petersburg and his native Loyga.
