Kremlin has no information man named Chepiga was ever awarded by Putin – spokesman

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday refuted reports that a state award was handed out by the Russian president to Col. Anatoly Chepiga – alleged by investigating bloggers to be the real name of Ruslan Boshirov, a suspect in the Skripal poisoning case. “I have no information that a person with this name was awarded,” Peskov told reporters. The previous day, Peskov promised to check reports that President Vladimir Putin had allegedly decorated Anatoly Chepiga and to provide that information to reporters, Sputnik said. UK-based investigative blogger group Bellingcat, in cooperation with the Insider Russia website, alleged on Wednesday that Boshirov was military intelligence colonel Chepiga who was bestowed with a high state award by Putin personally.