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[ad_1] According to website Bellingcat, one of the Salisbury poisoning suspects is a man called Alexander Mishkin - born in 1979, and from the village of Loyga in northern Russia. British officials do not dispute these claims. He's one of two Russians suspected of being behind the attempted murder of Yulia and Sergei Skripal with Novichok nerve agent in March 2018. Police linked the attack to another poisoning in June in which Dawn Sturgess and her partner Charlie Rowley were exposed to Novichok in nearby Amesbury, after handling a contaminated perfume dispenser. Ms Sturgess died in hospital in July. Steve Rosenberg has been to Loyga to find out what people there make of it. [ad_2]

[ad_1] Image copyright Leg29 Image caption For most of the year, Loyga is accessible only via a narrow-gauge railroad, ending at a dilapidated old depot The tiny village of Loyga in the Russian far north is not the kind of place you would expect to be at the centre of an international spy scandal. With fewer than 1,000 inhabitants, it has rail access but no paved roads. It's too small even to show up on Google Maps. But Loyga has proved crucial to piecing together the story of the real "Alexander Petrov" - the second man the UK authorities suspect over the Skripal poisoning case in Salisbury. On Monday the Bellingcat online investigations team announced they had discovered Mr Petrov was actually Dr Alexander Mishkin , born in Loyga, in the Archangel region. So BBC Russian began trawling through Russian...

[ad_1] Image copyright Metropolitan Police Image caption CCTV footage issued by the Met Police of the man now identified as Alexander Mishkin The second suspect in the Salisbury poisoning case was a doctor and highly decorated Russian military intelligence officer, an investigative website says. Bellingcat said it used a combination of online material and leaked documents to identify Alexander Mishkin, 39, as someone linked to the attack in March. It said President Vladimir Putin had presented him with the Hero of the Russian Federation award in 2014. When asked about the naming of Mr Mishkin, the Kremlin would not comment. Last month, Bellingcat named the first suspect as Anatoliy Chepiga, a claim also rejected by Russia. At a news conference in the Houses of Parliament on Tuesday, Bellingcat investigator Cristo Gr...

[ad_1] LONDON: Investigative group Bellingcat on Tuesday said the second suspect in the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal was personally decorated as a hero by President Vladimir Putin in 2014. The site on Monday said the man, who used the alias "Alexander Petrov", was in fact Alexander Mishkin, a trained military doctor employed by Moscow's GRU military intelligence service. Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins and researcher Christo Grozev told reporters at an event in the British parliament on Tuesday that they found out Mishkin had taken part in undercover operations in Ukraine and the breakaway republic of Transnistria. Higgins and Grozev also said that Mishkin took part in military operations in eastern Ukraine in 2014 and was made a Hero of the Russian Federation by Putin in autumn of the same year. Bellingcat has previously identified GRU colonel Anatoly Chepiga as the other suspect and said that he too had received Russia's highest award in the sa...

[ad_1] Image copyright Russia Today Image caption Dr Alexander Mishkin goes by the alias "Alexander Petrov", reports Bellingcat A British investigative website has named a second suspect in the Salisbury case as Alexander Mishkin. Bellingcat says he is a military doctor working for Russian intelligence and travelled to Salisbury under the alias Alexander Petrov. Last month, the website named the first suspect as Anatoliy Chepiga, a claim rejected by Russia. The UK believes both suspects are military officers who poisoned ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. [ad_2]

[ad_1] Image copyright Reuters A man suspected of shooting seven US police officers during a stand-off on Wednesday has been identified as a disabled military veteran. Frederick Hopkins is alleged to have killed one police officer and injured six more in Florence, South Carolina. The 74-year-old was injured during the Vietnam War and was also a disbarred lawyer, the Associated Press reports. He was arrested at the scene but is being treated for head injuries in hospital after reportedly falling. Police say the two-hour confrontation happened after police tried to serve a search warrant at Mr Hopkins' home at about 16:00 local time (20:00 GMT). Florence County Chief Deputy Glenn Kirby said police were trying to investigate an accusation that a 27-year-old had sexually assaulted a foster child in the house when the suspect opened fire at about 16:30 local (20:30 GMT). "Office...

[ad_1] Image copyright EPA Five police officers have been shot in South Carolina, officials say. The "active shooting situation" happened in Vintage Place, Florence, on Wednesday afternoon in what police described as a "major incident". The suspected gunman has been arrested and taken to hospital. The motive is not clear. "We are asking everyone to stay away from Vintage Place as there is still an active crime investigation in progress," Florence officials said. The condition of those shot has not yet been confirmed but US media said one officer was fatally injured. South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster paid tribute to the police. The Officer Down Memorial Page lists the names of 23,408 US police officers killed in the line of duty - 112 so far this year. Over 15,000 people have been killed by guns in the United States in 2017, according to a list co...