Salisbury suspect's alleged military academy commander says he was trained to be a soldier, not a spy

Anatoly Chepiga's former commander at the Far Eastern Military Command Academy told the news agency RIA Novosti that media reports about Chepiga's alleged role in the Salisbury attack are “a bit schizophrenic.” Alexander Borzhko said the academy trained Chepiga to be a soldier, not a spy, and he confirmed that Chepiga fought in Chechnya.

• In a report published on September 26, open-source intelligence researchers at Bellingcat and investigative journalists at The Insider claimed that Chepiga was awarded the medal (probably by Vladimir Putin personally), citing an announcement still posted on the website of the Far Eastern Military Command Academy (DVOKU), where Chepiga studied. The state-run volunteer website Dosaaf28.ru makes the same claim, stating that Anatoly Chepiga (DVOKU class of 2001) received the award in December 2014 for his role in a “peacekeeping mission.”