8 February: The Daily Telegraph, which is one of the main contact points for the UK intelligence services, has “sources” that say that a third assassin is believed to have been part of the team that planted the Novichok nerve agent used to poison former GRU colonel Sergei Skripal. The man was travelling under the name Sergei Fedotov. His passport number was only a few digits away from the false passports used by Alexander Mishkin and Colonel Anatoly Chepiga (travelling as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov). Fedotov was booked on the same flight out of the UK as Petrov and Boshirov, his bags were already checked on, but at the last moment Fedotov cancelled. Clearly this was some sort of emergency. Spying Today sources suggest that this was because the GRU suddenly became aware of how the Novichok poison had been disposed of and of the danger that it might pose. Fedotov returned to the Salisbury area to search for the poison, but was unable to find it. He left the country again shortly afterwards. Traditionally, Russian assassination teams number three personnel: one as quartermaster and two to carry out the actual hit. If the story is correct, Fedotov would have been the quartermaster and responsible for transportation and handling of the poison.
