Eye Spy - May 2018

12 EYE SPY INTELLIGENCE MAGAZINE 115 2018

1993. Colonel Sergei Skripal
      begins work for Russia’s GRU
      military intelligence service.
      Transferred to Spain, it is here
      where he is reportedly recruited
      by MI6 as a double agent.


1994. Given the codename
      Forthwith (unconfirmed by Eye
      Spy) by MI6, he starts to
      produce volumes of high-grade
      intelligence in return for money
      and a promise of a ‘Western
      gateway’ if his role is compro-
      mised or threatened.


1995. Skripal exits the GRU
      and secures work with the pro-
      vincial Government in Moscow.
      He continues to act as an MI

manipulating information in the public space,”

while Sweden also forcefully rejected the

suggestion.

DISINFORMATION MANAGEMENT

Russian news ar ticles considered by

intelligence analysts to be par t of a long-

running and cleverly managed Kremlin

disinformation campaign, included interviews

with ‘former’ unnamed security chiefs and

unknown commentators with no expertise or

credibility.

One analyst said: “You can think of them as

dismiss, distor t, distract and dismay. You

insult the critic, then distort by falsifying the

evidence. “Distract is the whole ‘if they

accuse you, you accuse them’ method, and

then there’s the conspiracy theorists. Dismay

comes when they threaten ‘horrible things will

happen if you do this’.”

Analysts note the similarities in the Skripal

disinformation techniques to those used

following the downing of Flight MH17.

THE CONSPIRACY FILES

Throughout April and into May, Russian media

houses have spawned a multitude of con-

spiracy theories including that the US stole

samples of Novichoks while decontaminating

a former Soviet Union testing plant in

THE INTELLIGENCE MAN

SERGEI SKRIPAL

contact man passing informa-

tion through various people.

2004. A mole inside Spanish
      Intelligence provides Moscow
      with intelligence on his threads
      to the UK and Skripal is detained
      and subsequently charged with
      espionage. His arrest follows the
      discovery of a secret bank
      account in Spain in which an
      MI6 paymaster deposited
      around $100,000 for his
      services. Of interest, Alexander
      Litvinenko was also engaged in
      some form of activity on behalf
      of MI6 in Spain at the time.


2005. Skripal is found guilty of
      high treason by a Moscow court

exchange for 10 Russian SVR,

GRU and FSB sleeper agents in

the United States. Skripal, his

wife Lyudmila and daughter

Yulia, settle in Salisbury,

Wiltshire, England where he

‘buys’ a house. He is given an

annual pension of between

£30-40,000.

2011. L yudmila, 59, dies of
      cancer.


2012. His son Sasha, 43, dies
      of liver failure in St Petersburg.

FSB counter-intelligence officers arrest Sergei Skripal

and jailed for 13 years. He is

despatched to a penal colony

following a two year internment.

The conclusion of the case is

celebrated in Moscow and

follows quickly on the heels of

another FSB success over MI

• the discovery of a British
  Intelligence communication
  device disguised as a rock in a
  Moscow park.

2010. He is unexpectedly par-
      doned and released as part of a
      spy-exchange to the West in

Sergei Skripal was forcefully detained in 2004 MI6 ‘spy rock’ Lyudmila’s grave stone

Mr Chizhov’s comments came after Russian
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria
Zakharova said, the UK was one of the most
likely sources of the nerve agent, along with
the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Sweden or
possibly the United States. Speaking to
journalists Zakharova said: “A large number of
ex-Soviet scientists had gone to live in the
West, taking with them the technologies that
they were working on.” Czech Foreign Minister
Martin Stropnicky said the claims were
“unsubstantiated” and “a classic way of

Gary Aitkenhead - CEO Dstl - denies

any security breach at Porton Down

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman

Maria Zakharova with President Putin