Russia has its GRU in addition to its KGB (now FSB and SVR). The UK has its Defence Intelligence in addition to its MI6 and GCHQ. Much less high profile, Defence Intelligence is more analytical than operative – as indeed is GRU, Skripal was an analyst.
Defence Intelligence had its proudest modern moment when it refused to endorse MI6’s pack of lies on Iraqi WMD, and earned the hatred of MI6 and of Blair and Straw as a result. This was confirmed by the Chilcot report which stated that MI6 even actually hid some of the intelligence material from the Defence Intelligence Service to prevent their rubbishing it.
I hope you will forgive me for pointing out that the opposition of the Defence Intelligence to the Blair Dirty Dossier was first revealed in my memoir Murder in Samarkand, a decade before the Chilcot report confirmed it. It was one of the many reasons Straw attempted to block publication, and one of the many things revealed in my memoir – including of course the UK’s complicity in torture and extraordinary rendition – which the government claimed to be untrue, but in due course has been proved to be 100% accurate. As it should be, as Murder in Samarkand only recounts things I personally witnessed first hand.
As this is the last day of Banned Books Week, I hope you might further forgive me (and I know I am pushing it) if I mention my prequel to Murder in Samarkand, The Catholic Orangemen of Togo. I view it as a much better book, and I was bitterly disappointed when my publisher, who had bravely defied the government lawyers over Murder in Samarkand, backed down and pulled the publication of The Catholic Orangemen due to libel threats from mercenary commander Tim Spicer. It thus became a Banned Book. I privately printed and sold 1,000 copies, and as technology advanced more recently made it available on print on demand. (I know, Amazon…) But it remains a real regret it has reached so few people. You are welcome to download it entirely free here.
Anyway, after that lengthy advertorial let me get back to the DIS. DIS remain rather more attached to the truth than MI6, so when Defence Minister Gavin Williamson tweeted out a thrilled endorsement of Bellingcat’s work on Colonel Chepiga, DIS urgently advised that he delete it. Which he did.
Which is not to say DIS are sure it is not Chepiga; rather they believe – as would anyone with half a brain – that the Bellingcat photo falls a long way short of proof. The British security services have been unable to stand up the ID with facial recognition technology. The experts are describing the Boshirov/Chepiga identification as “possible”.
I have this information from an impeccable Whitehall source, who told me there is a concern in the security services that runs like this. They genuinely believe Boshirov and Petrov are GRU agents and the would-be assassins. (I judge that my source themself believes the security services really do think this). Bellingcat, while they are sometimes fed security service material, did not in fact get fed the Chepiga material by the CIA or MI6, whether or not through a cutout. The security services are worried the Chepiga ID may be a blind alley fed to Bellingcat’s sources by the FSB. If the UK government endorses it, this could be followed by the Russians producing Chepiga and apparently discrediting the entire British narrative.
Hence the fact no charge has been laid against Chepiga, and the charges are still in the name of “Boshirov”, plus the fact that no British minister or official has named Chepiga, with only the fool Williamson stepping out of line and being slapped down.
Please note I am not endorsing the views and beliefs of the British intelligence services; I am reporting them.
Russia is fascinating at the moment. Komsomolskaya Pravda reports Ministry of Interior identification experts unofficially endorsing the Chepiga/Boshirov identity. Now there is no way these experts in the Ministry of the Interior – who would not be hard for the authorities to single out – would have done that for Komsomolskaya Pravda without an official nod. Either the Russians are indeed egging on the British into a false identification, or some inter-agency rivalry is afoot in Russia. This follows on the very open report in Kommersant – which is very close to Putin – that opinion was divided in Chepiga’s home village.
None of which brings us an awful lot closer to the truth of what happened in Salisbury, which I suspect is a great deal more complicated than any official narrative. But it is a fascinating peek into a shadowy world most people never see inside, with which I was once familiar.
Craig
“Either the Russians are indeed egging on the British into a false identification, or some inter-agency rivalry is afoot in Russia.”
I wrote this earlier today. There are other indications that all is not well in the Kremlin.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/09/boshirov-is-probably-not-chepiga-but-he-is-also-not-boshirov/comment-page-8/#comment-789606
It’s entirely possible, but I don’t see much relation to this case.
Some rift appeared to become visible in Putin’s toned-down response to the downing of the IL-20 and that of the Secretary of Defense (and the subsequent delivery of S-300’s to Syria).
bj
“It’s entirely possible, but I don’t see much relation to this case”
If there is a rift in the Kremlin it would be relevant to this case. As has been commented on by many here, the Skripal story seems to follow the narrative in Syria and related to it. Putin was rather half hearted in his condemnation of Israel despite blatant aggression in an area sensitive to Russia and this was contrasted by a very clear message from Shoigu about the S-300.
http://johnhelmer.net/putin-corrects-mistakes-by-biting-his-tongue-on-telephone-with-assad-and-netanyahu/
Very pleased with HIVE to order books , great alternative to Amazon & i shall use it from now on . Just ordered Sukunder Burnes & it arrived in 2 days . I cant wait to start reading it . Thoroughly enjoyed Murder in Samarkand & The Catholic Orangemen of Togo . Both were page turners , informative & Craigs honest approach is inspiring . I loved them .
As regards the Skripal affair – total psyops . You cant critically analyse it as it dosnt make sense – nothing adds up. Every time new disinformation is released i tax my brain with it for a while & then curse myself for wasting my grey cells energy & i start to wonder what the state is covering up/ not telling us under cover of this smokescreen . Funny the Bellingcat story was timed with the Labour party conference speeches. Coincidence?
“Every time new disinformation is released i tax my brain with it for a while & then curse myself for wasting my grey cells energy”
Agree. Total baloney from beginning to end. Meanwhile, the clinical murder of Nikolai Glushkov on March 12 receives no coverage.
I find it farcical that Matt Rustic (not his real name) has used the not real names Richard Bagnall and Stephen Jones for the real spooks (who we all know real names) in his upcoming book Putin: My Part in his Downfall (not a real book).
I hope Craig has got a ticket for the launch when Duke Softing (not his real name) will be interviewing Matt Rustic at Firemuds bookshop (not its real name) in Piccalilli (not a real place).
Excellent post Craig. Thank you. The BBC apparently think they have a major scoop now, because they visited the village where Chepiga grew up, in the Russian far east. They spoke to a woman who “confirmed” that Chepiga and Boshirov are one and the same. Others in the village were not so sure or openly disputed the narrative. Of course the BBC does not mention the fact that Russian media such as Kommersant and Komsomolskaya Pravda have already reported on this. As you say, however, none of this proves that the whole “Novichok” episode happened as the UK Government says it happened.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45694123
Notice in that BBC article that ‘identifies’ is in quotes and that they say the woman asked to remain anonymous just like all those anonymous sources about Iraqs WMD before the invasion. It would be nice if someone could go to that Russian village and ask if the BBC had really been there.
I am still not clear if we are being told that Chepiga (is he the one with or without a beard in the CCTV footage?) is a current or retired GU officer. Anyone know?
Does it matter?
The whole Skripal affair was set up like this:
Mrs. May screamed “Look, over there!!!”.
Everybody looked Eastward.
Then somebody from The West came and picked your pockets.
I think the only thing that we can reasonably accept at this point is that Chepiga exists, he is/was a military man who received his training at the Far East military academy, and he was lavishly decorated for his service in Chechnya.
That Chepiga is “GU”, retired or otherwise, is a conjecture from Eliot Higgins that is completely lacking any independent verification.
That the passport photo being waved around is a photo of the real Chepiga requires us to accept Eliot Higgins claim that this photo was sourced from a passport application form that was hacked from a Russian database.
That this passport application form is not a fake rests entirely on your belief that Eliot Higgins can vouch for its authenticity.
That Chepiga = Boshirov requires you to accept all of the above, which in turns rests entirely upon your opinion of Eliot Higgins professional skills and personal integrity.
There are three possibilities that I can see:
a) Higgins is correct, and his extraordinary deductive skills has allowed him to make quite astounding leaps of logic to land at a discovery that has eluded everyone else.
b) Higgins is being played by someone who faked that passport application form, and Higgins is too vain and too stupid to understand that he has been manipulated into “finding” it.
c) Higgins is a scoundrel who is willingly doing the bidding of some other organization that wants to push misinformation out into the public arena.
I find it amazing, how in Britain they go about criminal investigations. I read somewhere that hundreds of police are investigating the (supposed) crime. And all they come up with after months and months of intensive investigations are a couple of cctv stills showing two russians walking around S., and after (supposedly) having smeared the most poisonous poison on a doorknob hang around window shopping until their train leaves?
And here comes Sherlock incorporated and after a few hacks and infos fro, “sources”provides international media with the real name of one of the (supposed) murderers and the defense secretary is not allowed to…..
Strange habits in Britain you have.
Land of Poirot and Sherlock Holmes as well as Alice in wonderland. The Skript sounds a mixture of all three with a bit of bad James Bond thrown in.
People, please.
There are extremely short and maybe minimal degrees of separation between Christopher Steele, Pablo Miller, Sergei Skripal, Luke Harding, Yulia Skripal.
I think that Yulia is the odd (wo)man out.
I think she might have been sent in order to provide him with a plausible excuse to return to Russia. And Pablo Miller caught them at it and played a little game with them, which he perhaps didn’t know would end with their … deaths?
“Prince Michael of Kent” was in Moscow on 19 Sep, a few days after Britgov released the Boshirov and Petrov photos.
“Kent” was on Boris Berezovksy’s payroll (source) and he has many business interests in Russia. It wouldn’t surprise me if he was close to Nikolai Glushkov.
Different rules always apply in Britain where the royal family is concerned.
Using “покамест” instead of “пока что” in his interview for RT… it shows more of an ignorant village clown, then of a trained intelligence officer. Though, regarding they didn’t manage to smear Novichok properly on Skripal’s doorknob, too…
Well, now those two suspects are not hiding, why not taking their fingerprints?
It is all rather absurd. A real case of “Down the Rabbit-Hole”. What does it really matter if a CCTV image matches a photograph in a Russian archive ? Everyone chases around the narrative but forgets the essential: whatever happened in Salisbury, the Skripals vanished !
They went to a chain Italian, had words, ate and went to a bench apparently and were never seen or heard from again………
Meanwhile we are told Russians traipsed around Salisbury and had themselves photographed at a petrol station and a shop window. We are then fed everything but their visa application forms which have been filed away with the Skripals.
The Russians having lax security open up their databases to a former women’s lingerie accounts clerk so he can construe the Who, Where, Why, What……….
The UK Defence Secretary who could well sell ladies’ lingerie announces Royal Marines to Norway – something they have done since 1970s.
It is all becoming rather Misleading Cases and slightly bizarre
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAQgWiNPpBw
President Putin was in bad mood.
– Is there no GOOD news from Chechnya? – he shouted. (This happened in an earlier period in his presidency). But only an awkward silence followed, everybody being shocked by this (unusual) display of temperament. Afterwards his closest advisors decided to act urgently to improve the situation, and got a certain writer –known for his vivid imagination – to come up with some encouraging stories from the war. The writer concentrated on one hero, but let him perform several heroic deeds. He made him a good looking fellow, popular with the girls, but who had voluntered for the war for patriotic reasons: Lieutenant A. Chepiga was born. The advisers were satiesfied, but re-wrote the stories to make it look like an official report. After having read it, Putin beamed with pleasure.
– Tell me, is this hero awarded appropriately?
– Yes, he has got quite a few medals.
– But nothing big? I want to make him a Hero of the RF with the usual ceremonial claptrap. Bring him to the Kremlin asap!
This they were prepared for!
-Mr President, they said with a firm voice, – Major Chepiga is now doing extremely important service abroad, in the United….. He is pretending to be from the Ukraine. If he suddenly is absent from his high level service in their defence ministery, it will look strange.
-Very well! Tell him that he is awarded in absentia by me personally. And make him a colonel and put his name on some d… memorial!
Superb! It’s amazing to know the workings of the English deep state.
