Russia’s GRU intelligence service

Russia’s efforts to expand its influence uses all the tools of state power, including its army’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), in an espionage battle that has spanned the globe and cyberspace.

Now, the respected Russian news website Fontanka has named a third GRU military intelligence operative, Sergey Fedotov, as a third member of the Kremlin hit squad involved in the nerve agent attack in the English city of Salisbury.

Fontanka said records show Fedotov visited Britain in 2016, 2017 and 2018 and left the country on March 4 this year, the same day as two other GRU agents who have already been named. It is almost certain Fedotov is not the passenger’s real name but an alias.