Third novichok attacker may STILL be in Britain after Russian spy ‘aborted his escape when it became clear Sergei Skripal had survived’
- Third Russian agent under name of Sergey Fedotov could still be in Britain
- He was scheduled to leave on same flight as two Salisbury accused, but left
- Unclear why he got off but fears he left to finish off the job they left unfinished
A third Russian undercover agent said to be involved in the Salisbury novichok attack may still be in the UK.
The Russian military officer, who entered the UK under the name Sergey Fedotov, came to Britain on the same day the other two hit men travelled to the UK to assassinate Sergei Skripal.
He was booked on the same flight back to Moscow as the other two Russian agents but checked himself and his baggage out before boarding.
Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned at his home in Salisbury
It remains unclear while Fedotov did not board the plane but raises the prospect that a would-be Russian hit man could still be at large in the UK.
‘It is not clear why Fedotov did not board the flight. But at the last minute he checked himself and his bags off it,’ a source told The Telegraph.
‘He could still have been running around Britain.’
Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia survived after they came into contact with military-grade poison in March last year.
Alexander Petrov (left) and Ruslan Boshirov (right), who were Russian agents responsbile for the Salisbury poisoning
It raises the possibility that Fedotov stayed in Britain after realising Skripal was not killed.
According to documents, Fedotov is 45-years-old and was using a fake passport similar to the ones of Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, who were accused of the Salisbury posioning.
Petrov and Boshirov were later found to be Alexander Mishkin and Anatoliy Chepiga, senior GRU agents who were awarded Russia’s highest honour for services in Ukraine.
The true identity of Fedotov remains unclear, as does his role in the Skripal poisoning.
The pair were seen on CCTV in Salisbury on the day of the poisoning
One theory is that he smuggled in the nerve agent which was used in the attack.
Mishkin and Chepiga were caught on CCTV in Salisbury on the day of the attack. There are no known images of Fedotov.
It has been suggested Fedotov carried out survillance missions, reporting back to the other two about the whereabouts of Skripal.
Fedotov previously travelled to the UK in March 2016 and March 2017 and again in 2018, according to Russian news outlet Fontanka.
There is no trace of Fedotov in documentary databases or on social media. He also has no property, vehicles or telephone registered to his name in Russia, Fontanka reported.