Retired Russian military intelligence colonel Sergei Skripal
The retired Russian military intelligence colonel fighting for his life in a Salisbury hospital nicknamed as ‘the spy with the Louis Vuitton bag’ has been revealed to be Sergei Skripal.
Colonel Skripal was accused of spying for Britain and sentenced to 13 years in prison in 2006.
He was jailed for passing on the identities of Russian secret agents in Europe to MI6, with Russia claiming he was paid $100,000 for his services into his secret account in Spain.
In Moscow at the time of his arrest he was mocked as ‘the spy with the Louis Vuitton bag’ after grainy pictures showed him at an airport on route on one meeting with his handlers.
So well connected was he that even after his retirement from his spy service in 1999 he continued to pass exceptional secrets to London by staying in touch with his former colleagues as a reservist officer.
The Russian security service (FSB) allege that Col Skripal began to sell information in 1990’s right up until 1999 – when he left the special services.
Colonel Skripal was accused of spying for Britain and sentenced to 13 years in prison in 2006
Col Skripal was turned by British special service until when he was detained, as he was believed to be giving the UK top secret information.
The former intelligence officer, now believed to be 66, was convicted of ‘high treason in the form of espionage’ for his crimes.
Col Skripal pleaded guilty at his trial and co-operated with investigators, reports said at the time.
He was stripped of his rank of colonel and his state medals and ordered to spend his prison term in a high-security penal camp.
He was jailed for passing on the identities of Russian secret agents in Europe to MI6
He was sentenced in 2006 and was later pardoned in 2010 when he was one of four prisoners Moscow swapped for spies in the US.
He was released together with three other individuals serving time in Russian prisons in exchange for ten Russian spies arrested by the FBI.
Following his release Col Skripal underwent a debriefing in London and given refuge in the UK following his exchange in the historic spy swap involving femme fatale Anna Chapman.
In Moscow at the time of his arrest he was mocked as ‘the spy with the Louis Vuitton bag’ after grainy pictures showed him at an airport on route on one meeting with his handlers
Following his release Col Skripal underwent a debriefing in London following his exchange in the historic spy swap involving femme fatale Anna Chapman
Anna Chapman was arrested at a New York police department precinct when she turned in a fake passport an undercover FBI agent had given to her.
As the daughter of a Russian diplomat, she became the most recognisable of the ten agents.
Nicknamed ‘the spy with the Louis Vuitton bag’, Skripal exposed a huge network of Russian military spies working across Europe taking extraordinary risks to pass secrets to MI6.
The Russian security service (FSB) allege that Col Skripal began to sell information in 1990’s right up until 1999 – when he left the special services
The FSB caught him passing his intelligence to the infamous MI6 James Bond-style ‘spy rock’ – a fake stone packed with receiving equipment – in a Moscow park.
Russian secret services exposed the rock in 2006, revealing how agents walked past it transmitting their data to the rock via a hidden hand held device.
One official said after his conviction: ‘His activities caused a significant blow to Russia’s external security.’
Another source said: ‘This man is a big hero for MI6.’
Sergei Skripal is believed to be living at this address on Christie Miller Road in Salisbury
Skripal had been living at the address with his wife Liudmila until she died in recent years
State-run TV in Russia even compared him to the legendary Cold War agent Soviet double agent Oleg Penkovsky, who spied for Britain and the United States during the height of the Cold War.
Penvosky was shot by a firing squad in 1963 and is regarded as one of the most effective spies of all time.
Col Skripal and a woman were found slumped on a bench in a busy shopping centre in Salisbury on Sunday.
He is critically ill along with the woman, 33, after they were both found at The Maltings shopping centre in a case that immediately drew parallels to the poisoning of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko.
Before this he was believed to be living at an address on Christie Miller Road in Salisbury, Wiltshire.
Skripal had been living at the address with his wife Liudmila until she died in recent years.