UPDATE: The Kommersant Evidence
Kommersant publishes interviews with people from Chepiga’s home village. The article makes clear he has not been seen there for many years. It states that opinions differ on whether Chepiga is Boshirov. One woman says she recognised Boshirov as Chepiga when he appeared on TV, especially the dark eyes, though she had not seen him since school. Another woman states it is not Chepiga as when she last saw him ten years ago he was already pretty bald, and he has a more open face, although the eyes are similarly brown.
Naturally mainstream media journalists are tweeting and publishing the man’s evidence and leaving out the woman’s evidence.
But the Kommersant article gives them a bigger challenge. Kommersant is owned by close Putin political ally, Putin’s former student flatmate, Chariman of Gazprominvestholdings and the UK’s richest resident, Alisher Usmanov. That Russia’s most authoritative paper, with ownership very close to Putin, is printing such open and honest reporting rather belies the “Russia is a dictatorship” narrative. And unlike the Guardian and BBC websites, on Kommersant website ordinary Russians can post freely their views on the case, and are.
One thing this does stand up is that Chepiga definitely exists.
The evidence mounts that Russia is not telling the truth about “Boshirov” and “Petrov”. If those were real identities, they would have been substantiated in depth by now. As we know of Yulia Skripal’s boyfriend, cat, cousin and grandmother, real depth on the lives and milieu of “Boshirov” and “Petrov” would be got out. It is plainly in the interests of Russia’s state and its oligarchy to establish that they truly exist, and concern for the privacy of individuals would be outweighed by that. The rights of the individual are not prioritised over the state interest in Russia.
But equally the identification of “Boshirov” with “Colonel Chepiga” is a nonsense.
The problem is with Bellingcat’s methodology. They did not start with any prior intelligence that “Chepiga” is “Boshirov”. They rather allegedly searched databases of GRU operatives of about the right age, then trawled photos in yearbooks of them until they found one that looked a bit like “Boshirov”. And guess what? It looks a bit like “Boshirov”. If you ignore the substantially different skull shape and nose.
Only the picture on the left is Chepiga. The two on the right are from “Boshirov’s” Russian passport application file, and the photo of “Boshirov” issued by Scotland Yard.
Like almost the entire internet, I assumed both black and white photos were from Chepiga’s files, and was willing to admit the identification of Chepiga with “Boshirov” as valid. But once you understand is that – as Bellingcat confirm if you read it closely – only the photo on the left is Chepiga, you start to ask questions.
The two guys on the right and the centre are undoubtedly the same person. But is the guy on the left the same, but younger?
Betaface.com, which runs industry standard software, gives the faces an 83% similarity, putting the probability of them being the same person at 2.8%.
By comparison it gives me a 72% identity with Chepiga and a 2.1% chance of being him.
There is a superficial resemblance. But if you take the standard ratios used for facial recognition, you get a very different story. If you draw a line between the centre of the pupils of the two guys centre and right, and then take a perpendicular from that line to the tip of the nose, you get a key ratio. The two on the right both have a ratio of 100:75, which is unsurprising since they are the same person. The one on the left has a ratio of 100:68, which is very different.
To put that more simply, his nose is much shorter, and less certainly his eyes are further apart.
It is possible this could happen in photos but it still be the same person. The head would have to be tilted backward or forward at quite a sharp angle to alter these ratios, which does not seem to be the case. The camera could be positioned substantially above or below the subject, again not apparently the case. And the photo could be resized with height and width ratios changed. That would hard to detect.
But the three white dots across the bottom of the nose are particularly compelling (the middle one largely obscured by a red dot in the Chepiga photo). They illustrate that Chepiga has a snub nose and Boshirov something of a hook. Again, the software is reinforcing what they eye can plainly see.
However, there are also other ratios that are different. Chepiga has a narrower mouth compared to the distance between the pupils than the two photos of “Boshirov”, and that is measured on the same plane. The difference is 100-80 compared to 100-88. It is a ratio that can be changed by facial expression, but this does not seem to be the case here.
Professor Dame Sue Black of the University of Dundee is the world’s leading expert in facial forensic reconstruction. I once spent a fascinating lunch sitting next to her, while I was Rector. I shall contact her for her view on whether the guy on the left is the same person, and if she is kind enough to give me an opinion, I shall pass it on to you unadulterated.
This website is less definitive, but gives a nice clear result, and you can repeat it yourself without having to subscribe (unlike Betaface.com).
Again for comparison, I tried two photos of myself 12 years apart and got “from nearly the same person”.
It is worth repeating that the only evidence that Chepiga is Boshirov offered by Bellingcat is this photo. The rest of their article simply attempts to establish Chepiga’s career.
This is gross hypocrisy by Bellingcat, who have argued that scores of photos of White Helmets being Jihadi fighters are not valid evidence because you cannot safely recognise faces from photographs.
Yet Higgins now claims his facial identification of Chepiga as Boshirov as “definitive” and “conclusive”, despite the absence of moles, scars and blemishes. Higgins stands exposed as a quite disgusting hypocrite. Let me go further. I do not believe that Higgins did not take the elementary step of running facial recognition technology over the photos, and I believe he is hiding the results from you. Is it not also astonishing that the mainstream media have not done this simple test?
The bulk of the Bellingcat article is just trying to prove the reality of the existence of Chepiga. This is hard to evaluate, but as the evidence to link him to “Boshirov” is non-existent, is a different argument. Having set out to find a GRU officer of the same age who looks a bit like “Boshirov”, they trumpet repeatedly the fact that Chepiga is about the same age as evidence, in a crass display of circular argument.
This unofficial website does indeed name Chepiga as a Hero of the Russian Federation and recipient of 20 awards, as Bellingcat claims. But it is impossible to know if it is authentic, and by contrast there is no Chepiga on the official list of Heroes of the Russian Federation, for the stated 2014 or for any other year, which Bellingcat fail to mention. Their other documents and anonymous sources are unverifiable.
The photo of the military school honours arch, with Chepiga added right at the end and not quite in line, looks to me very suspect. My surmise so far would be that most likely Bellingcat’s source of supply is Ukrainian, and trying to tie the Skripal affair into the Ukrainian civil war via Chepiga.
My view of the most likely explanation on presently available evidence is this:
Boshirov is not Boshirov, and the Russian Government are lying.
Boshirov is not Chepiga, and Bellingcat are lying.
The whole Skripal novichok story still does not hang together, and the British government are lying.
I will continue to form my opinions as further evidence becomes available.
UPDATE Incredibly, at 13.15 on 27 September the BBC TV News ran the story showing only the two photos of “Boshirov”, which of course are the same person, and not showing the photo of Chepiga at all!
BBC News at One
Could it be that the photographs of Chepiga resemble the Boshirov in the TV interview, but not the Boshirov in the passport photos? Not that it helps to make sense of anything.
Now that is a BBC classic, only showing the 2 piccies on the right.
Well spotted Craig!
I’ve been skeptical about this whole Skripal nonsense from the start but I think you’re scraping the barrel here. He is probably ex-GRU, now working in the private sector – just like Steele and Miller. And that’s all this is – a bunch of ex spies from both sides waving their willies about.
Maybe Boshirov (Chepiga) and Petrov wanted to update Millar and Steele on the Golden shower dossier.
Now you’re thinking at least in some direction.
Now figure in Skripal annex Luke Harding.
Well-trained physically and Couriers with Bearer Documents for someone
‘Probably’
Is that the evidential standard we are using here?
I think you are totally correct
Cracking Craig ! Thank you.
Why is Bellingcat suddenly being quoted as the authoritative source for information by Prime Ministers and Presidents?
Bizarre, or what? The fact that all serious MSM titles are reporting this stuff as categorical, absolute proof and factual, makes a mockery of their campaigns against ‘fake news’. Or, alternatively suggests they know more about who is leaking this stuff than they are divulging?
Rather like the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Independent, NGO, etc, Received grants worth 194,000 quid from the Foreign Office.
And the white helmets
Were Corbyn quoting some little known website in this manner, the MSM would have ripped him to shreds.
Yet… the whole MSM and political figures have thrown their weight behind Bellingcat, as if it’s the The New York Times or similar..?
Eliot Higgins is employed by the Atlantic council. “You’ve got to back your brothers play” is the only iron rule.
More precisely, were Corbyn quoting some little known website in this manner, the MSM would have discovered something “anti-Semitic” about that hypothetical website in order to rip him to shreds.
NATO funded and already debunked on numerous occasions. I’ve no idea why anyone would give Bellingcat any credence at all.
Why is everyone assuming the left photo is not doctored. The ears could be stuck on and the eyes fiddled about with
@Peter – A lot of people who I would have expected to have more sense seem to be getting conned by Bellingcat even while expressing criticism of that outfit. There is no reason for certainty that the left photo a) shows Anatoliy Chepiga, b) is a passport photo, c) has not been doctored.
We can, though, be almost certain that more is to come in this story.
Yes, this is drip, drip.
The aim is to discredit and paint Putin as liar, which he may well be?
Find me one politician who isn’t.
show me a parent who isn’t
so they’re discrediting him as a liar by lying about this. seems more likely they are discrediting themselves, no?
With regard to that astonishing update at the end, the explanation CAN ONLY be that the BBC Editors have looked at the photos and said “hmmm, this one casts doubt on the government story, best leave it out of our graphic”
And Jane Hill is British American Project so suitably vetted.
What exactly iz the britam projeçt?
Oah.
Short conspiracy theory version (which I happen to adhere to). The American State Department recognised that the UK in the European Common Market was being drawn away from Atlanticist, neocon principles. Being that the Conservative party was on side and the Liberals / SDP / Libdems were irrelevant, they targeted the Labour (old) party and the BBC to influence direction. Promising new talent was identified and invited to join the BAP. Free trips to the US and free accommodation, what’s not to like? Just need to attend the lectures and symposiums (poet Benjamin Zephaniah was smart enough to take the plane ticket and hotel room and bug out of the brain washing). Labour alumni include: the Saintly (’cause he was never put to the test) John Smith and George Robertson (from a local cooncilor in infamously corrupt North Lanarkshire to NATO Secretary General, someone had an angel perched on their shoulder). BBC alumni include: Jeremy Paxman and Evan Davis.
It’s kinda like oh so obviously an extension of the Rhodes project, which aim has always been what we call today, “Atlanticism”, though Rhodes would have been much more keen on Atlantic/Anglo-Saxon empire
The Rhodes name could well have become rather problematic as neocolonialism became the new freedom.
Certainly don’t harm your career, the BAP:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British-American_Project#Alumni
Remember that during Freshers Week.
The connection is deep and many decades old – Rhodes’ Chatham House and the US aristocrats CFR who set out to ‘colonise’ the planet over a century ago. A continuing project spanning hundreds of years.
The good old boy shtick artiste ‘Bill’ and republican turned dem ‘Hillary’ like many world leaders were groomed to front the bankers who own them and the world.
The CIA post war mockingbird project – proudly revealed by it’s head in the 70’s and denied by the deputy who instantly took over – Bush sr.
The news rooms of the worlds MSM all have Langley puppets – just look at the coordination of ‘news’ stories across the world. The same old faces. The same interviewees reenforcing the same message.
The newer generation of puppets are being ‘created’ now with their own back stories (Solon/BellEnds etc). Genuine independent reporters are ignored, starved and even murdered.
As a exercise – pick one and do some deep research and timelining on them. It is a hoot. An easy give away? Anyone who had a year in a private US college learning ‘journalism’ then a few years later emerged as a rising star. Other clues? Family background and family relations in govt.
They number in their many thousands across the world with many more in the pipeline.
It is not so secret – the owners of the world are proud and show off. But they, as the aristo kings and princes always did, require that the peasants and serfs never look them in the eye as equals. Punishing miscreants with blindness, tongue ripping, public torture and death to discourage others.
I always wondered about Smith – did he rebel and get ‘replaced’ by more reliable agents? Or did he drink himself to death because he couldn’t face the traitorous lie he was living? His family got looked after.
Anyway Blair inviting Maggie to No 10, in a sordid genuflection to their goddess, was when i suddenly had a shocking realisation that we’d bought a pig in a poke (to borrow from the instruction manual writer) I looked from man to pig and pig to man on their hind legs and they were … the same!
So will it be barricades and blood in the streets to yet again get them to lift their jewelled boots off our future kids and grandkids backs? Or will they accept that they can’t have it ALL and have to SHARE? Will they call the election now and let the postwar social democratic ideal be reaffirmed by a Labour untarnished by the Atlantists? Or will they ratchett up the anti democracy and attempt a coup by formng a ‘coalition’ of the owned.
Thanks once again Craig.
Took me all of 10 seconds to conclude the same, clearly different people even accounting for aging.
The scary part is the full blown coverage by the MSM without subjecting the photos to the simplest facial recognition analysis. Which reinforces the idea that nearly all of our media are in-line with the extreme Right Wing and they’re comfortable in the knowledge that, for the majority of their consumers, what they broadcast is believed without question.
Right-wing extreme ideology meets gulled consumers = 40 years of neoliberal economics, manufactured endless war and a planet on the edge of climate breakdown.
You can tell even at a cursory glance that the pictures are not the same. The human eye picks up the differences very quickly.
Given the media’s prompt and prominent backing given to the Bellingcat claim how do you think they will respond if the Russians produce the two men together at a press conference?
Bellingcat cannot find the Skripals however
Nor DS Bailey.
This risk could be why Bellingcat is the source. Plausible deniability.
Indeed, the things they do.
Even if you tried to morph you could see the differences as it changes.
The whole thing from start till now is laughable, yet at the same time serious, the lengths the English state stoops.
What is even more serious is the lack of decent moral fibre from the compliant media.
Regards
I came to a similar conclusion about a fortnight ago that the Russian men are hiding something.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/09/lynch-mob-mentality/comment-page-1/#comment-781568
Friends of the men would be doing everything to prove they are who they say they are. Initially I thought their story credible and it was only when I trawled through the Russian press that I realised something was amiss. People do have identities and if genuine there would be hundreds of friends. In one report I discovered that Boshirov had a single friend on FB, a Ukrainian girlfriend. But the truth is there is no evidence to show any of this is true. I have just taken another look at Russian articles about these two men to no avail. However, Bellingcat has no credibility. It is to western spooks analogous with the shady doctors which Big Pharma uses to push its drugs. It starts with a premise and makes the facts fit the premise. But hey, the money’s there. What a sick world?
Who these men are remains a mystery because of the conflicting accounts. Lots of lies.
– The fact is – the UK establishment has not put forward any evidence (only Bellingcat purports to) about its claim that the identities are false and that they are Russian agents.
– The UK police official at a press conference stated that there was no evidence of connection to the Russian state.
– If the evidence that, for example, Corbyn is reported to have alluded to points to Russia, why doesn’t any member of the establishment (both parties) inform the public whether these two are mentioned in this evidence, their identities, positions etc. Even in general terms.
– Russian authorities are clearly keeping a distance from all this, not really revealing anything. They don’t have to, it’s up to the accuser to show the accusations are serious and grounded.
– The Russian authorities would, however, show respect for the world public (in contrast to the UK authorities) if they shed more light, that is showed some proof, about these people. And, on the whole Skripal affair, based on their knowledge, since they deny any involvement. They are, obviously, not doing that which can not but arouse suspicion.
– I would be cautious with friends and acquaintances stepping forward. There are innumerable reasons why people would not do that. It is not an automatic reaction to events of this kind. Besides, any such public clarifications about who they are from those who know them can also be questionable, so, not really reliable because of the exceptionally high profile of the whole affair and the various entangled interests.
– It’s all very humiliating, for us ‘ordinary” concerned citizens.
:
“Friends of the men would be doing everything to prove they are who they say they are”
WHY? If I was their friend I’d be laughing my knickers off with them sinking pints down the pub. For a long time it’s been a mystery to me why on Earth the Russian Govt., or anyone in Russia would give a rat’s behind about the anti-Russian demonisation propaganda constantly pushed by the UK and the West more generally – whatever they do, the Brits. will modify their story line to fit the propaganda policy. Hell the Russians even abided by the procedure of the OPCW and requested that the agreed to protocol concerning the exchange of information and samples be adhered to by the British Govt – which gave them the bum’s rush – an outstanding pointer in my view that all this was a mere Western propaganda exercise.
This is one of the most disappointing topics Craig’s ever posted, unsubstantiated assumptions on his part ie: with no bases given, such as his pretty direct assertion that implies that Russia’s concern for the privacy of its citizens is negligable – even less than Western Govts have for the privacy of theirs. In addition perhaps the two “suspects” (patsies) aren’t the only folks who value their privacy and the absence of disruption in their lives – perhaps their friends do too. NOT everyone in the World is seeking their 15 minutes of fame – which is very much a Western impulse anyway.
Not everyone is a Facebook maniac – many people don’t even have an account – the account I have was a sort of accident – some technical website that I thought had some information that I needed required, bizarrely to me at the time, a Facebook login; others on fbook hardly use it; and there are probably thousands, may be millions of accounts with ZERO friends, a single friend or very few – and some of those are NOT interested in making largely fake facebook “friends” anyway, and use fbook just for its NEWSFEED. NOT everyone lives there. Personally I detest Facebook – all the more reason now that they heavily censor and ban based mainly on criticism of the ZIo-NAZI state.
I assume that you speak at least some Russian? Otherwise your researches would be quite difficult. For one thing, in Russia vk.com is a bigger social media platform than facebook. It is the Russian equivalent of facebook – even looking quite similar – so have you considered trying to find if the “accused” have accounts with vk.com? Minds.com – an encrypted social media platform is another one – I do not know for sure but I have a feeling that Wikileaks is behind that one.
.
If their friends were to speak they would instantly draw attention to themselves. Not only of tabloids, but of foreign intelligence services too. Not hard to imagine people reluctant to do it, especially if they like travelling abroad like this couple.
Why cannot “bellingcat” funded by Atlantic Council not find the Visa Applications to publish ? Why seemingly are Russian databases more “accessible” than UK ones ?
Frankly I looked at the video on RT and thought the man on the right looked very “steady’ in his gaze like a policeman…….but I doubted they were GRU simply because they would never expose serving officers. Look how much the Uk is bending over backwards to protect Steele and Pablo Miller as “retired” officers !
I simply do not understand why the Russians says there are no Interpol Red Notices for Chegipa or Borishov or Petrov or whatever – or what is going on other than there is a game being played that the Uk let in two men with false identities KNOWINGLY and will not reveal their Visa Application forms because they contain facts that they do not want to make public and Russia knows they do not want to expose the Visa Applications to the UK public
I am stunned to see the BBC used two photos of ‘Boshirov’ to suggest that one is in fact this Col Chepiga. I would complain but what’s the point? My last complaint about Newsnight allowing Louise Ellman to pretend she was nowhere near Hajo Meyer’s Never Again talk and that she was ‘appalled’ by Jeremy Corbyn’s attendance has been shitcanned within the corporation at every level with the excuse that the programme was up against it time-wise to get the story out and hadn’t the time or opportunity to discover that Ellman was lying and feigning her outrage. So in other words the BBC’s official line is that they are happy to employ incompetent journos who rush stories out. My own line is that they’re happy to employ biased, govt stooge journos who hide under that excuse.
It’s absolutely ridiculous that you take the origin of the photo’s – of any photo’s – to be what Bellingcat claim. The photo is simply not taken from a passport. There is no link between a Chepiga document and any photo resembling Boshirov. That’s the genius of the whole thing. Idiots start to use facial recognition software to go look for % resemblance. BS. There is nothing there, because they haven’t even bothered to prove the source of the pictures.
How did Bellgincat go about this? Came up with a name, and a story, and found a few websites that would be most easily hacked with the least amount of effort. They found the website of the far eastern school (with help from their Ukrainian friends). Did a lazy hack. Did another lazy clumzy hack of the memorial photo. Then proceeded to spin a story about where they found a picture of Chepiga – which really is just a computer-generated version of a young Boshirov. Add another couple of ‘volunteer magazines’ and organizations that are easy to fake and penetrate. Bam, wham, thank you mam. It’s so crude even most of the Brits know it’s fake.
:
As good an explanation as any ! Better than Craig’s effort in this case, which contains so-far unsubstantiated assumptions and presumptions.
.
Craig somehow wants to give the British story still some credibility, or sow some doubt about the Russians’ story. Look at the interview again. Of course they hide things, they’re private people, and the deeper you dig into their lives, the more questions you will want to ask. So if these guys start interacting more with the media, there will be no end to it. If they have good advice from people, and they remember what happened both during the interview (let’s face it, they didn’t get ‘help’ or ‘defense’ etc from Simonyan) and after, they know that whatever else they throw out will return to them with a hundredfold questions. Just sit low and let everyone get bored with it. And let these guys have some secrets – based on their conduct, I’m sure it’s all innocuous and embarrasingly personal and simple. If all the Brits have is this half-cooked story, it’s pathetic.
Why doesn’t anyone look into why the British authorities haven’t charged these guys in absentia? Because without a domestic charge that is substantiated by evidence, there can be no European Arrest Warrant, let alone an Interpol alert! There’s no charges, because there’s no evidence. No fingerprints. No pictures of them at Skripals door. The whole thing is an opportunistic MI6 trap to blame Russia and connect it to something vile and chemical.
Why do the media not ask how the OPCW results show an incredibly pure novichok – after 2-3 weeks exposure – that somehow doesn’t kill? That’s simple. It was brought over from Porton Down, carefully put to some surfaces, and then the OPCW is asked to do a chain of evidence a few hours later. Very pure. Remember we can’t see the Skripals blood lab results. Nor can we talk to the Skripals.
“So if these guys start interacting more with the media, there will be no end to it.”
It occurs to me that both B@P and the Skripals could command lucrative book (or even movie) deals. Are they prevented from doing so, or paid not to?
One doesn’t have to be religious to believe that making lucrative book/movie deals is a deal with the Devil, or Mammon.
Both the wealth and the exposure transforms “fifteen minutes of fame” into Celebrity Status. Surely a big media deal requires the “stars” to promote the prospective blockbuster with the usual media tour, not to mention catapulting them out of their present social comfort zone, whatever it may be.
I agree that in these times, jumping at the chance to acquire wealth and fame seems like a “no-brainer”, but perhaps they prefer a more private, modest existence.
That said, of course this particular cast of characters may have more pragmatic, even nefarious, reasons for avoiding the spotlight that is the price for the big paycheck.
lol there are no substantiated assumptions, because the british government won’t release the evidence it does have. why is that, and why do they keep pushing this propaganda?
They, the May govt, seem to be fighting with Russia about something. They’re not fighting openly and directly and naming that “something”. And making their case for or against whatever it is.
No. It’s all proxy arguments and proxy wars. Never the real thing.
Fronting up. Pushing, shoving and prodding and stuff. Not talking. Getting your mates to gang-up.
Ever increasingly tiresome propaganda.
C’mon, what’s it all really about.
It looks like Divorce Courts reality TV, to be honest.
And you never really get to why the relationship soured in the first place.
I mean like, is it a money thing.
So the Russian’s have been caught out lying as to the identity of Borishov. Russian spies in the UK using false names, what’s new. If indeed Borishov is Chepiga, it only proves that they were lying about his identity.
It doesn’t go on to prove that they carried out the poisoning of the Skripals who survived a deadly attack by a fatal nerve agent, which in itself is preposterous.
The Kremlin and Whitehall have in this case both been caught out lying, its what they do for a living. A Russian spy in England, who’d have thought it.
Message to the BBC:
There is no longer any way to prevent the masses encountering evidence of your false context and your petty deceptions. There are grand lies too but more often the grandeur is in the fabric itself, the cloth woven from such such threads.
Alt media is now mainstream. You will increasingly sense the catastrophic loss of trust in your organisation, it has already taken place. You successfully united generations by divorcing yourself from any resemblance to truth.
Whether you could justify everything you’ve done over the decades as petty tinkering or necessary propaganda on behalf of the state, it wasn’t, not really. Millions have perished and millions more have suffered unnecessarily through wars of choice and the concomitant extraction of wealth and assets. To this faux-imperial project and the failed political ideology which sought to transform Britain’s glorious past into an equally sordid dream of Britain’s global future you gave almost total support. What it meant in detail was falling living standards and wages for most Britons but more than that it meant an increasingly authoritarian reaction to dissent and the loss of our soul or any sense of direction. It meant Julian Assange rotting in an embassy while your over fed clowns cavorted before us pretending to inform.
In the end you lied just a little too frequently, too visibly and too easily. We didn’t need to have that interpreted or mediated for us, we could watch it happening in real-time. So in the words of the gelded and gilded Sir Alan Sugar, “you’re fired.” Perhaps this is a very good thing and you will re-discover a few old strengths and virtues or even forge some new ones.
In any case, the BBC is dead. Long live the BBC.
Why is it that “Russia Insider” is described as “the Insider” in the press everywhere ? I thought “Russia Insider” was an Internet Magazine with articles “about Russia” supposedly by “insiders” but where most of the “Journalists” are everywhere but Russia ?
I also thought it had a period of being regarded as “close to the Kremlin” and having posted “anti-Semitic” articles critical of Jews which of course is anathema to cultural norms in Western Media.
So I am confused how “The Insider” emerged from “Russia Insider” to comment on “Russia” as if having access to Russian Intelligence yet drops the word “Russia” from its very title.
If only Miss Marple were around……
What Bellingcat has done is very similar to what Chris Spivey does – trawling low-resolution photographs for rough similarities, and then claiming that they show the same person. Except Spivey additionally edits the photo’s a bit.
Ears are like another finger print, and who’s to say Bellingcat, or other, hasn’t doctored the first photo. I’d imagine security service doctor photos every day to suit their agenda.
Trump had his inauguration ceremony crowd photo doctored to make it look like the turn out was way bigger than Obama’s, it wasn’t.
Photos are doctored for any number of reasons.
https://www.pocket-lint.com/apps/news/adobe/140252-30-famous-photoshopped-and-doctored-images-from-across-the-ages
Andrew Neil on todays BBC politics show triumphanlty pointed out that Boshirov at 30 or so had a five oclock shadow just where his beard would be nine years later. Not suprising, Neil was comparing the wrong photos.
Facial mapping is a forensic science used in the judicial system of the English courts to persuade juries that the person in the dock is, or isn’t, the one in the CCTV or photo they are looking at.
I was a juror awhile back when this science was presented to me to make a decision.
It works by examining the folds, indents, markings, dinks, denks and whatnots of a human face. They are like fingerprints, and don’t change. After a decade I’m sure this forensic science has gone ahead by leaps and bounds. It doesn’t prove the person in the dock is the one in the images, but if the person in the dock has differences to the images presented, then they are not one and the same…_
Let me take you back to when you were that juror,.
Were you allowed, being jurors, to bring your own photos to insert them into the case?
That kind of software is in a hell of a lot more use than just in the criminal justice system.
RT reports: “Just don’t tell the Russians: British university to start spy school”. They mean at the (private) University of Buckingham. What about Durham, St Andrews, St Anthony’s College and others at Oxford, various colleges at Cambridge, and SSEES and SOAS in London? 🙂
All the Professors at every Russell Group Uni are party to the mass surveillance of students, staff and contractors/commercial partners.
Spying at Universities is universal.
Reading Eliot Higgins Wiki page, this bedroom self taught keyboard warrior has the backing of the west, strange that someone without experience or formal training, has his opinions taken very seriously by west. In my opinion he’s a front man, in a similar fashion as the woman’s clothes retailer in Coventry who fronts the SOfHR.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliot_Higgins
Information from such a source must be at all times treated with caution.
Sputnik says he worked for a woman’s lingerie business before his unique talents were discovered by the Atlantic Council (which provided much of Obama’s National Security staffers) and he became a “Fellow”(Traveller, no doubt)
I wonder if he knows Jamie Shea ?
he’s playing the role that “curveball” played during the buildup to the second iraq war.
Curveball was a BND asset. I believe he lives around Munich
Lois Gibson of the DPD is a world renowned expert on facial recognition, she gives a good overview of what to look for during her analysis of the three tramps from the JFK assassination.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFkA9-xksdk
I’m re-watching the interview now and one thing I’m sure of is that Boshirov does not come across as a man of a senior position, especially a colonel. His lack of confidence, his speech and body language are at totally odds with this theory.
I don’t think a GRU Colonel is elevated – Skripal was one. I think it might be a Russian grade “Polkovnik” which may not correspond to Western rank. After all Kim Philby considered himself a KGB Colonel until he found out in Moscow he was not in fact.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_ranks_and_insignia_of_the_Russian_Federation
It is a field-officer rank
Sorry, but you are dead wrong on this one. “Polkovnik” is indeed Chepiga’s rank, but it is elevated. I grew up in Russia for and knew many people in the ranks, including some from the FSB (parents of classmates, etc). Polkovnik is equivalent to middle managerial level, most people hoped to retire as one. To become one at Boshirov’s age would take extraordinary ability and leadership qualities. Which he, obviously to me, doesn’t have.
I stand corrected. I am grateful to you for that input which I had hoped to provoke
I would caution against anyone concluding that either British intelligence or Russian intelligence have acted or are acting totally incompetently in this affair.
Eliot not found anything yet on Petrov, or waiting for the OK?
Casus Bellingcat in the works.
“If you ignore the substantially different skull shape and nose.”
I do not agree. In the first photo the head is being held erect, you can tell this because you can see under the chin and the bottom of the ears is slightly lower to the face than the other pics (which I am surprised was not noted). Skull shape; I see slightly shorter hair over he ears. Nose shape; looks the same to me. Also, according to some narrative, are they not supposed to be martial arts trained? Broken nose could account for minor differences. The only difference I see is age, haircut, facial hair and the angle of the head.
My guess is that the first photo may have been taken from ID when “Boshirov” was doing his national service, or conscription as the BBC likes to call it. Also the supposition that a blog has access to the GRU database and ‘yearbook’ is laughable. This photo was probably fed by an intelligence agency and used as window dressing to support the GRU narrative.
I agree. The wider skull in A could be explained by lens type or just distortion in the aspect. If you look at the eyebrows and mouths in A and B they are very similiar and slight differences in eyes could down to angle differences of cameras. Bridge of nose and between eyebrows also the same but a bit wider in A. I am fairly positive that a a bit of a digital squeezing on A and then overlaying would show a good match. And I am a ‘super recogniser’ – got every one right in this test:
Those saying they look nothing alike are fooling themselves. Granted, different people have vastly different facial recognition ability – my missus is useless at the pictures rounds on Pointless even with people she knows – but looks like the same bloke to me.
The wheel keeps turning.
Thoughts so far:
Photo 1 is not the same person.
Why would bellingcat come up with this ahead of any of the investigators in this case? I think it was leaked from a third party (Ukraine?) and the UK whom would normally approve of this before giving it to bellingcat were not previously informed. Bellingcat went public, msm ejaculated early, Joe Blow tweeted his thanks on the revelation, mi456789 whispered to him that it’s shit thus the retraction. Right now things are in let’s wait and see what happens mode.
I agree that not all is as it seems with our 2 Russian assassins. I don’t buy the innocent 2 day tourist story but they may have had other nefarious business either related or not to the Skripals. From their rt interview I do believe in their shock and anger but that could be from any # of reasons.
I agree with some of the posters here criticising Craig that Putin would force these 2 forward if they had nothing to hide. He doesn’t seem to think that way.
I thought that this story would of been let to die by now. The UK seems to want to pursue the issue with drib drabs of information like the Russia -gate investigation keeping the msm on intravenous.
Keep it up Craig. You’re fast and furious lately. Don’t break the Internet.
Craig,
what exactly in Russian government’s statements regarding Petrov and Boshirov is a lie and why?
SH
Article from 2014 on “New ‘Siberian Guests’ on the Border of Ukraine — The 14th Brigade of (Spetsnaz), (GRU)”.
“Inform Napalm” seems to be an anti-Russian outfit supportive of the fascist government in Kiev. They say the 14th Brigade was formed in 1963 in Ussuriysk and fought in Afghanistan and in both wars in Chechnya and conducted anti-terrorist operations in Ingushetia, losing more than 70 personnel in these conflicts.
would also like to know if the memorial is to those who have died, and subsequently been posthumously awarded this order. I don’t know Russian, has anybody seen a reliable translation of the inscription on the memorial?
In this Reuters link there is a picture of an armed honour guard at the memorial, a memorial with a flame in front of it. (scroll down to slideshow, 4 pictures).
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-russia-skripal/salisbury-poisoning-suspect-named-as-a-russian-colonel-by-uk-media-idUSKCN1M62IS
In the Bellingcat picture, there is no honour guard, and no flame…_
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2018/09/26/skripal-suspect-boshirov-identified-gru-colonel-anatoliy-chepiga/
The memorial is at the school. You can look up the link for the school from the Bellingcat article. There are a number of video’s on the site that you can also access. It’s not necessarily to those that passed away. The key thing is that the school website has been hacked – very badly and crudely – with a simple text addition of Chepuga – and that I have not seen any picture of the monument with 10 names under the Hero of Russian Federation side. There are pictures from 2013 that show 8 names, and I saw one with 9 names. But the only one so far with 10 names is the one that Bellingcat photoshopped – very badly (it’s not even aligned right). Today we can count on Russians actually posting real pictures of the memorial (yesterday Bellingcat came out with their stuff after the Russian newscycle was over).
Thanks Josh. Looks like the eternal flame could have been ‘put out’ by a photoshop then.
Still doesn’t clear up if it is a memorial to the dead or what, without a translation it isn’t clear what the memorial is exactly. Not confirmed that it is the Colonels name on the memorial either…_