BBC: the third participant in the Skripal poisoning coordinated the group’s actions and contacted Moscow

The third alleged participant in the assassination attempt on Sergei Skripal, GRU Major General Denis Sergeev, led the actions of the task force in Salisbury and contacted senior military officials in Moscow, claims . the BBC investigation

Sergeev's participation in the poisoning of Skripal was reported in February by the investigative group Bellingcat . Then they installed him and connected him with the GRU; his rank and role in the operation remained unclear. According to the BBC, it was Sergeev who directed the actions of alleged GRU officers Anatoly Chepiga and Alexander Mishkin.

Unnamed sources told the BBC that Sergeev arrived at London Heathrow Airport on the morning of March 2 and flew out on the afternoon of March 4 - the day the Novichok substance was applied to Skripal's front door handle.

Referring to Sergeev's phone billing data, the BBC writes that he called only one phone number, which, contrary to Russian law, had not had an owner for several years, did not contact any mobile phone towers and did not have an IMEI . The BBC suggests that this is Sergeev’s contact in the GRU.

There is no exact information about whether Sergeev met with Chepiga and Mishkin in London. The BBC writes that on March 3 he went to the city center, although he had not previously left the area near his hotel. Other suspects, according to British police, were nearby. In addition, in 2017, Sergeev was in the UK at the same time as Mishkin. “Investigators believe that it was during Mishkin’s visit that the plan to poison Skripal was formed,” writes the BBC.

Former GRU officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned in Salisbury on March 4, 2018. British authorities believe that Russian intelligence services were involved in the poisoning.