Anatoly Chepiga
{{Short description|Russian spy (born 1979)}}
{{family name hatnote|Vladimirovich|Chepiga|lang=Eastern Slavic}}
{{Expand Russian|topic=bio|date=September 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox military person
| native_name = Анатолий Владимирович Чепига
| image =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| other_name =
| nickname = Ruslan Boshirov
Ruslan Tabarov
Andrey Sholkhov
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1979|04|05|df=y}}
| birth_place = Nikolayevka, Ivanovsky District, Amur Oblast, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
| death_date =
| death_place =
| allegiance = Russia
| branch = Main Intelligence Directorate
Spetsnaz GRU
| branch_label = Service
Branch
| serviceyears = Since 2001
| serviceyears_label =
| rank = Polkovnik (equiv. colonel)
| unit =
| battles = Second Chechen War
Russo-Ukrainian War
| battles_label =
| awards = Hero of the Russian Federation
| memorials =
| spouse =
| children =
| relations =
| signature =
}}
Anatoly Vladimirovich Chepiga ({{langx|ru|Анатолий Владимирович Чепига}}, born 5 April 1979) is a colonel in the Russian General Staff's Main Directorate (also known as GRU), the military intelligence service of the Russian Federation. He is reported to have served in the Second Chechen War and the Russo-Ukrainian War.{{cite web|url=https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2018/09/26/skripal-suspect-boshirov-identified-gru-colonel-anatoliy-chepiga/|title=Skripal Suspect Boshirov Identified as GRU Colonel Anatoliy Chepiga|date=26 September 2018|access-date=26 September 2018}} He is known to have operated under the cover names "Ruslan Tabarov" and "Ruslan Boshirov".
Hero of the Russian Federation award
According to Western sources, he received the title Hero of the Russian Federation in 2014,{{cite web |url=http://www.dvocu.ru/index/alleja_geroev/0-36|title=ДВОКУ |website=www.dvocu.ru |access-date=26 September 2018 |language=ru}} the highest honour awarded by the President of Russia.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-45656004|title=Skripal suspect 'was made Hero of Russia' by President Putin|date=26 September 2018|access-date=26 September 2018}} According to Ukraine, this was probably a reward to Chepiga for being the head of the team providing personal security for the then-deposed President Viktor Yanukovych during the successful "extraction mission" from Ukraine to Russia.{{cite web |url=https://112.international/ukraine-top-news/gru-officer-involved-in-skripals-poisoning-transporting-of-yanukovych-to-russia-identified-in-ukraine-32781.html |title=Skripal poisoning suspect, who helped Yanukovych flee in 2014, identified in Ukraine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181003115703/https://112.international/ukraine-top-news/gru-officer-involved-in-skripals-poisoning-transporting-of-yanukovych-to-russia-identified-in-ukraine-32781.html|archive-date=3 October 2018|url-status=usurped |website=112.international |access-date=19 December 2018}} Chepiga was reportedly in the Czech Republic in October 2014, using the name Ruslan Boshirov,{{cite news |quote=The second man operated under the name Ruslan Boshirov. His real name per British media is Anatoliy Chepiga and he is an officer of GRU. He visited Prague on 11 October 2014. |url=https://www.irozhlas.cz/zpravy-domov/double-agent-sergey-skripal-followed-prague-russians_1810101220_miz |publisher=iROZHLAS |first1=Janek |last1=Kroupa |first2=Markéta |last2=Chaloupská |title=Russians accused of poisoning agent Skripal were secretly in the Czech Republic |date=10 October 2018}}{{cite news |url=https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/how-tos/2018/10/24/dali-warhol-boshirov-determining-time-alleged-photograph-skripal-suspect-chepiga/ |publisher=Bellingcat |author=Bellingcat Investigation Team |date=24 October 2018 |title=Dali, Warhol, Boshirov: Determining the Time of an Alleged Photograph from Skripal Suspect Chepiga}} and Ruslan Tabarov.{{Cite news|last=Corera|first=Gordon|author-link=Gordon Corera|date=2021-04-18|title=Salisbury poisoning suspects 'linked to Czech blast'|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-56790053|access-date=2021-04-18}}
The Insider published photographs of the memorial to the graduates of the FEFU – Heroes of the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation behind the monument to Konstantin Rokossovsky on the territory of the school, where the name "Chepiga A. V."{{Citation |url=https://theins.ru/politika/118927 |title=Солберецкие, часть третья. "Бошировым" оказался "Герой России", полковник ГРУ Анатолий Чепига |newspaper=The Insider |date= 26 September 2018 |access-date=26 May 2020}}{{Citation |url=https://www.gazeta.ru/social/2018/09/26/11999413.shtml |title=Герой России и Вторая чеченская: новое в деле Скрипалей |newspaper=Газета.Ru |access-date=26 May 2020}}{{Citation |url=https://www.bbc.com/russian/features-45685375 |title=Разоблачение полковника Чепиги: что говорят о нем чиновники и прокремлевские СМИ? Русская служба |date=28 September 2018 |access-date=26 May 2020|newspaper=BBC News Русская Служба }} is stamped. It is written on the official website of DOSAAF in the Ivanovo district of the Amur Region that "in December 2014, Colonel A. Chepiga was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation for performing a peacekeeping mission".{{Citation |url=https://www.dosaaf28.ru/stati/patrioticheskaja-rabota/gerojam-otechestva-posvjaschaetsja.html |title=Героям Отечества посвящается... — Амурское региональное отделение ДОСААФ |newspaper=Dosaaf28.ru/stati/patrioticheskaja-rabota/gerojam-otechestva-posvjaschaetsja.html |access-date=26 May 2020}}{{Citation |url=https://www.bbc.com/russian/news-45588026 |title=Анатолий Чепига – настоящее имя Боширова, считает Bellingcat |publisher=BBC News Русская служба |date= 26 September 2018 |access-date=26 May 2020 |author=}} The assignment of this title is mentioned on the portal of graduates of the Far Eastern Higher Combined Arms Command School (DVOKU){{Citation |url=http://www.dvocu.ru/index/alleja_geroev/0-36 |title=ДВОКУ |newspaper=Dvocu.ru/index/alleja_geroev/0-36 |access-date=26 May 2020}} and in the article by Olga Kapshtyk, journalist of the Suvorov Onslaught newspaper.{{Citation |author=Olga Kapshtyk |title=Hero of the Russian Federation |url=http://debri-dv.com/filedata/files/1431.pdf |publisher=Debri-DV |access-date=26 May 2020}} Radio Liberty together with Bellingcat published a photo of the boarding school "Heroes Alumni" booth from Odnoklassniki social network, on which "Anatoly Vladimirovich Chepiga is clearly visible, his name, surname and patronymic are well read".{{Citation |url=https://www.svoboda.org/a/29521752.html |title=И все-таки – герой. Новое фото Анатолия Чепиги |newspaper=Радио Свобода |date=3 October 2018 |access-date=26 May 2020 |last1=Крутов |first1=Марк |last2=Добрынин |first2=Сергей }} In an interview with Business FM online and the TV Rain channel, Alexander Borzhko, chairman of the DOSAAF regional branch of the Amur Region, who was the commander of the DVOKU cadet battalion, where Chepiga served, confirmed that "Chepiga was given the Hero of Russia", although he does not know for what exactly.{{Citation |url=https://www.bfm.ru/news/395830 |title=Бывший командир Анатолия Чепиги: такой курсант был, ему дали Героя России |newspaper=BFM.ru – деловой портал |access-date=26 May 2020}}{{Citation |url=https://tvrain.ru/teleshow/fishman_vechernee_shou/na_litso_ne_zapomnil_on_byl_molodoj_byvshij_komandir_chepigi_o_ego_shodstve_s_boshirovym-472364/ |title="На лицо не запомнил, он был молодой". Бывший командир Чепиги — о его сходстве с Бошировым |newspaper=Tvrain.ru/teleshow/fishman_vechernee_shou/na_litso_ne_zapomnil_on_byl_molodoj_byvshij_komandir_chepigi_o_ego_shodstve_s_boshirovym-472364/ |date=28 September 2018 |access-date=26 May 2020}}
A spokesman for the President of Russia, Dmitry Peskov, responded to a question from journalists about whether the information presented in the Bellingcat investigation that Vladimir Putin awarded a medal to a person with that name was checked: "Yes, they checked. I have no information that a person with that name was awarded".{{Citation |url=https://www.bfm.ru/news/395840 |title=Песков о "Чепиге-Боширове": информацию проверили, данных о том, что человек с таким именем награждался, нет |newspaper=BFM.ru – деловой портал |access-date=26 May 2020}}{{Citation |url=https://www.gazeta.ru/social/2018/09/28/12001411.shtml |title="Это шизофрения": командир Чепиги разобрался в деле Скрипалей |newspaper=Газета.Ru |access-date=26 May 2020}}{{Citation |url=https://tass.ru/politika/5615960 |title=У Пескова нет информации о награждении Путиным человека по фамилии Чепига |publisher=ТАСС |access-date=26 May 2020}} RIA Novosti reports that to the clarifying question about whether it is possible that a person receives a reward, but this information is classified and for this reason Peskov does not have such information, he replied: "Once again, we do not want to continue these groundless discussions".{{Citation |url=https://ria.ru/20180928/1529557786.html |title=В Кремле прокомментировали информацию о награждении Чепиги |publisher=РИА Новости |date=28 September 2018 |access-date=26 May 2020}}
Reported activities
Bellingcat and its investigative partner The Insider claimed that Chepiga was one of the suspects in the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal and the killing of Dawn Sturgess, having travelled to the United Kingdom together with Alexander Mishkin under the alias of Ruslan Boshirov.{{cite web|url=https://theins.ru/politika/118927|title=Солберецкие, часть третья. "Бошировым" оказался "Герой России", полковник ГРУ Анатолий Чепига|trans-title=Solberetskys, Part Three. "BOSHIROV" turned out to be "Hero of Russia", Colonel of the GRU Anatoly Chepiga |work=The Insider|date=26 September 2018|access-date=26 September 2018}}{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/26/salisbury-poisoning-suspect-is-russian-colonel-reports|title=Salisbury poisoning suspect identified as Russian colonel|first1=Andrew|last1=Roth|first2=Vikram|last2=Dodd|date=26 September 2018|website=The Guardian|access-date=26 September 2018}}
Later in October 2018, Turkish media outlets reported that Chepiga was also likely to be linked to the assassination of the Chechen militant field commander Abdulvakhid Edelgiriyev, in late 2015, in Istanbul. Turkish journalists noted the resemblance of Anatoly Chepiga to Andrey Sholkhov, under which alias he had operated.{{cite web |url=https://www.unian.info/world/10285713-turkish-journalists-believe-chepiga-boshirov-participated-in-liquidation-of-chechen-terrorist-media.html|title=Turkish journalists believe Chepiga-Boshirov participated in liquidation of Chechen terrorist – media|access-date=19 December 2018|archive-date=5 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181005131018/https://www.unian.info/world/10285713-turkish-journalists-believe-chepiga-boshirov-participated-in-liquidation-of-chechen-terrorist-media.html|url-status= dead}}
In April 2021 Chepiga, alongside Alexander Mishkin, was linked to the 2014 Vrbětice ammunition warehouses explosions in the Czech Republic.{{Cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-56790053 |title=Salisbury poisoning suspects 'linked to Czech blast' |date=18 April 2021 |access-date=18 April 2021}} He is wanted by the Czech Police.{{Cite web|last=Ibehej|first=Jaroslav|date=2021-04-17|title=Žádost o pomoc při pátrání po 2 osobách|trans-title=Request for assistance in searching for 2 people|url=https://www.policie.cz/clanek/zadost-o-pomoc-pri-patrani-po-2-osobach.aspx|access-date=2021-04-18|publisher=Police of the Czech Republic|language=cs}}{{Cite web|last=Armstrong|first=Mark|date=2021-04-18|title=Salisbury poisoning suspects wanted by Czech police over 2014 blast|url=https://www.euronews.com/2021/04/18/czech-police-hunt-russian-salisbury-poisoning-suspects-over-deadly-2014-explosion|access-date=2021-04-28|website=euronews|language=en}}
Based on government database leaks, "Agentstvo" established that in 2019, only a year after the failed Skripal assassination attempt and Bellingcat investigation, the family of Anatoly Chepiga changed their surnames to Korulin.{{Cite web |title=Агентство. Новости |url=https://t.me/agentstvonews/8039 |access-date=2024-11-13 |website=Telegram}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2018/09/26/skripal-suspect-boshirov-identified-gru-colonel-anatoliy-chepiga Bellingcat's investigative page for the Chepiga identification]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chepiga, Anatoliy}}
Category:People from Amur Oblast
Category:Far Eastern Higher Combined Arms Command School alumni
Category:Heroes of the Russian Federation
Category:Russian individuals subject to European Union sanctions
Category:Russian individuals subject to United Kingdom sanctions
Category:Russian individuals subject to U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctions
Category:Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List