DISINFO: New "Skripal case" actively promoted in Germany
SUMMARY
A new “Skripal case” is being actively promoted in Germany. It is in the same style as in the UK, with “highly likely” evidence. They are talking about a high-profile murder that took place in Berlin back in August, 2019. But the international scandal was blown up just now, before the important meeting in the “Normandy Format”.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the poisoning of Sergey Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury refuting all evidence of Russia's guilt and evidence provided. The incident being referred to is the murder of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, a 40-year-old Georgian citizen, shot at point-blank range by a cyclist in a park in the Berlin neighbourhood of Moabit on the 23rd August 2019. The victim, an ethnic Chechen, is said to have fought against Russia in the Second Chechen War and is believed to have had ties to Georgian military intelligence. The German Foreign Ministry stated that Russian authorities have not cooperated sufficiently in the investigations into the murder of Khangoshvili. "There are sufficient factual grounds to suggest that the killing was carried out either on behalf of state agencies of the Russian Federation or those of the Autonomous Chechen Republic, as part of the Russian Federation," Germany's federal prosecutor said. The suspect was detained shortly after the killing when he was allegedly seen dumping a bike, pistol and a wig into the nearby River Spree. The prosecutor says the suspect flew from Moscow to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris six days before the killing under the alias of Vadim S. Vadim S appeared for the first time in a Russian domestic passport in 2015. Recent reports suggested his full name was Vadim Sokolov, 49, although that was not thought to be his real identity. Regarding the Skripal case, British police and intelligence investigations have produced sufficient hard evidence to charge two Russian nationals for the attack on the Skripals. There are public documents and statements on the case. The investigative outlet Bellingcat later revealed the true identities of the suspects as two Russian nationals.