Russian spy unit behind 2018 Salisbury poisonings also destroyed Czech ammunition depot killing two in 2014 blasts, investigation finds
29 April 2024, 19:11 | Updated: 29 April 2024, 20:14
A Russian spy unit which was behind the 2018 Salisbury poisonings was also behind two deadly ammunition depot blasts in the Czech Republic, an investigation has found.
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Four years before the assassination attempt against Sergei Skripal on British soil, the explosions near the village of Vrbětice in 2014 killed two workers and forced over one thousand people to leave their homes.
The incident triggered a diplomatic rift between the two countries with Czech authorities revealing in 2021 they received evidence of Russian involvement in the explosions. As a result, 18 Russian diplomats were expelled.
Czech intelligence and media said Alexander Mishkin and Anatoliy Chepiga were the same agents suspected of poisoning former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in a suspected chemical attack in Salisbury in 2018.
The pair - who belonged to the GRU Unit 29155 - used the same fake names they later used in the attack on the Skripals - Ruslan Boshirov (Chepiga) and Alexander Petrov (Miskin).
Today, Czech authorities said they have shelved the investigation - which was being carried out in partnership with British police - due to Moscow's alleged refusal to cooperate.
However, the Czech National Central Office Against Organised Crime (NCOZ) said in a report that "the police authority considers it proven that the explosions [...] were carried out by members of the Russian military intelligence, the Main Administration of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (aka the GRU)."
NCOZ said the unit's motive was to "prevent the delivery of weapons and ammunition to the areas where the Russian army was conducting its operations,".
It was reported at the time the ammo was likely set to be transferred to Ukraine in its battle against pro-Kremlin separatists in the east, or to Syria to assist opposition forces fighting against the regime of Bashar al-Assad - a Russian ally.
The blasts occurred only months after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in early 2014.
Russia has long been suspected of conduction a "shadow war" across Europe with secret units doing the bidding of the Kremlin.
Czech police said the Vrbetice blasts were "a part of long-term diversionary operations by the Russian military intelligence on the territory of the EU and Ukraine".
Czech intelligence and media said Alexander Mishkin and Anatoliy Chepiga were the same agents suspected of poisoning former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in a suspected chemical attack in Salisbury in 2018.
The pair - who belonged to the GRU Unit 29155 - used the same fake names they later used in the attack on the Skripals - Ruslan Boshirov [Chepiga] and Alexander Petrov [Miskin].
While the report did not name Chepiga and Mishkin, their identities were released as being the suspects and reported on by Russian independent news outlet The Insider.
NCOZ said it have shelved the case as Russia had refused to cooperate while the suspects are safe in Russia.
"It is not possible to gain the necessary information from the Russian Army and Russian secret services and... the police have decided to shelve the case," a police statement said.
Moscow refused to let Mishkin and Chepiga be quizzed because "the Czech request could damage the sovereignty, public order and important interests of the Russian Federation" meaning they cannot be officially charged in Prague.
The men only became suspects in the Czech Republic after their failed bid to kill Skripal in the UK. They are now known to have arrived in Prague on October 11, 2014 to stage the ammunition depot explosions.
Chepiga and Mishkin remain wanted in Britain for the murder of local woman Dawn Sturgess - who was poisoned by the military-grade nerve agent Novichok - and the and attempted killing of Skripal and his daughter.
The pair went on Russian state TV in an interview under their assumed names to say they were tourists visiting Salisbury Cathedral.
Czech intelligence published details of the blasts in 2021, triggering mass mutual expulsion of the diplomats and other embassy staff.
Moscow later labelled the Czech Republic as "an unfriendly state" that "carried out unfriendly actions" against Russia.
Media reported the explosions were supposed to have occurred outside the depot to destroy arms possibly destined for Ukraine and owned by a Bulgarian dealer.
The Czech Republic - which is an EU state and NATO member - has provided substantial humanitarian and military aid to Kyiv since the Russian invasion.
The Salisbury Poisonings was a botched assassination attempt to poison Sergei Skripal, a former Russian military officer and double agent for the British intelligence agencies in the city of Salisbury, in March 2018.
Sergei and his daughter, Yulia , were poisoned by means of a Novichok nerve agent. They were found unconscious on a public bench in the centre of the city by emergency services.
Police officer Nick Bailey along with two members of the public, Charlie Rowley and Dawn Sturgess, were also poisoned.
Ms Sturgess tragically died as a result.
Read more: The Salisbury Novichok poisonings: A timeline of events as third Russian is charged
