Britain and Bulgaria jointly investigate the poisoning of a Bulgarian arms dealer in 2015 to determine whether it involved novichok, the nerve agent used in the poisoning of Russian double-agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in Salisbury last year.
The investigation was announced after the British ambassador to Bulgaria met country’s Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and other senior officials.
There are reports that one of the potential suspects in the Skripal poisoning was also allegedly in Bulgaria at the time of the poisoning of the arms dealer.
Sergey Fedotov, believed to be an alias for an officer of Russia’s GRU (The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, formerly the Main Intelligence Directorate), has not been named by British investigators as a suspect in the Skripal poisoning.
However, Russian investigative journalists and Bellingcat believe they have strong evidence that Fedotov works for the GRU.
He was in the relevant country at the time of both the Gebrev and Skripal poisonings and used similar travel patterns in both cases, i.e., booking return flights but not showing up for them and instead flying using a different route.
(SNA)
