EU sanctions Russia intel chief over Skripal

The European Union slapped sanctions on the two most senior officers in Russian military intelligence Monday and identified the two agents accused by Britain of carrying out a chemical attack. Along with the measures against the four GRU officers, EU member states also imposed asset freezes and travel bans on five Syrians linked to strongman Bashar al-Assad’s chemical weapons program.

The EU accused the Russians -- two agents and the head and the deputy head of the GRU -- of orchestrating the “possession, transport and use” of the nerve agent used in Salisbury, England last March, in a failed attempt to assassinate a defector. The agents are accused of travelling under the pseudonyms Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, but the sanctions order confirms reports that identify them as Anatoly Chepiga and Alexander Mishkin, both 39 years old.

These identities had previously been revealed by the British-based Bellingcat investigative group, which pieced together evidence from leaks and online data trails to find two decorated GRU field officers.

Russia threatens retaliation

The Russian foreign ministry reacted angrily, insisting that the claims against its personnel had been invented by Britain for its own diplomatic ends. “We reserve the right to take retaliatory measures over this unfriendly step,” the ministry said in a statement. “An information campaign unleashed by the British authorities over this case primarily has a domestic agenda.

It is telling that its new round coincides with a new crisis in Brexit talks.” Russian agents have been blamed for the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury in March last year using the Soviet-developed nerve agent Novichok.