generalspeaking

Friday, September 28, 2018

The Elite Russian Hit Squad

"[Russia should not] be in any doubt [that if it did not] rejoin the international consensus against the use of chemical weapons [then the United Kingdom and its allies would be forced to take action]."
"We have seen what happens when the natural patriotism which is a cornerstone of a healthy society is warped into aggressive nationalism, exploiting fear and uncertainty to promote identity politics at home and belligerent confrontation abroad, while breaking rules and undermining institutions."
"And we see this when states like Russia flagrantly breach international norms – from the seizing of sovereign territory to the reckless use of chemical weapons on the streets of Britain by agents of the Russian GRU."
"We have taken appropriate action, with our allies, and we will continue to take the necessary steps to ensure our collective security."
"Russia has only sought to obfuscate through desperate fabrication."
British Prime Minister Theresa May, UN Security Council, 26 September, 2018

Theresa May UN speech: Mrs May warned Russia over its use of chemical weapons (Image: GETTY IMAGES)

"Anatoly Vladimirovich Chepiga was awarded the honourary title of Hero of the Russian Federation by order of the president of the Russian Federation."
Far Eastern Military Command Academy, website

British intelligence has focused once again on the perpetrators of yet another deadly chemical attack on British soil of a Russian expatriate living in Great Britain whose criticism of the Kremlin and more specifically President Vladimir Putin has fuelled revenge-motivated silencing of a truly vicious type more than adequately demonstrating the Russian Federation's contempt for those hosting what it considers to be traitors as it pursues its entitled punishment on foreign soil as a signal to any others of the fate awaiting them should they too decide to turn against the Putin regime.

The nerve-agent poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury created an international stand-off, with Russia feeling fairly isolated when the West was once again scandalized at the sheer lunacy of such a transparent move on Russia's part. Its denials of involvement so obviously absurd given circumstances and evidence as well as a long-held tradition of such assassinations leading directly to its unrepentant source.

Ruslan Boshirov, left, and Alexander Petrov, the two suspects in the attempted assassination of a Russian defector, say that their sightseeing trip to Britain was only a coincidence.
Photograph from Sputnik / AP

The identities of the two men who had 'visited' Salisbury to take in its heritage sites as tourists admiring history and ceremony, reveal them to have been dispatched by the highest authority to silence yet another dissenting voice irritating to the Kremlin and Russia's Dark Knight of Vengeance. One of the men that British counter-terrorism police have identified as Ruslan Boshirov is in reality a highly decorated GRU agent with special forces, the Spetsnaz unit, who was named as Col. Anatoliy Vladimirovich Chepiga, 39, who served in Chechnya and Ukraine.

Honoured for his service to the Russian Federation as a Hero of the Russian Federation in 2014 in a secretive ceremony, mandated by none other than the president himself, Vladimir Putin. The innocent "civilians" identified by President Putin who had nothing to do with the Skripnal poisoning are in fact senior Russian military officers. Another such senior military officer explained, under cover of anonymity, that Chepiga's exalted professional rank and experience indicates "the job was ordered at the highest level". An assassination of lesser import would have been tasked to a lower-rank officer.

European arrest warrants as well as Interpol red notices were issued for the two men accused additionally of the murder of Dawn Sturgess. Not that they deliberately targeted the local Salisbury resident, but their carelessness in discarding a vial of Novichok which she and her male companion picked up, tainted them both with the chemical agent, whereupon she died in hospital and he recovered. CCTV evidence showed the two accused GRU officers near Skripal's home the day of the poisoning.

Subsequently the pair, Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, appeared on Russia TV -- ordered to do so by President Putin to 'clear the air' -- claiming their innocence as 'fitness industry' workers, and tourists in "wonderful" Salisbury. Ironically, Russia's Spetsnaz special forces which Ruslan Boshirov belongs to, is operated by the GRU in which Sergei Skripal, their Salisbury target, was a colonel before his defection.