GRU Russian spy unit accused of Novichok poisoning also blamed for downing MH17 and ‘burning traitors alive’

The mysterious GRU, trained in ‘non-linear warfare’, is used by Vladimir Putin to destabilise nations with 12 officers charged with hacking Trump election in 2016

The GRU, thought to be behind the Skripal Novichok poisoning, is one of the favourite organisations of Russian president Vladimir Putin.

The secret group trains its 25,000 soldiers in ‘non-linear warfare’ which can be used to destabilise nations through cyber-attacks and espionage.

The GRU have been deployed in eastern Ukraine to support the separatist movement and are also thought to be behind alleged disruption ahead of the 2016 US presidential election.

Cars drive past the headquarters of the Russian General Staff’s Main Intelligence Department (GRU) in Moscow (Image: Getty)

Under Vladimir Putin Russia has stopped short of outright aggression but, through the GRU, have become masters of cyber warfare and underhand tactics.

What is the GRU?

The GRU is a combination of intelligence and special forces and is known in full as the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces.

It was started as an intelligence-gathering agency for the Bolshevik Red Army a century ago.

Ever since then it has remained separate from other intelligence organisations and was kept entirely separate from the more famous KGB during the Cold War but still ran operations during that time.

In 1985 Muslim extremists kidnapped four Soviet diplomats at the their Beirut embassy. The GRU were sent to resolve the situation.

Colonel general Igor Valentinovich Korobov is the current Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) (Image: Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation)

Once they heard a hostage had died officers soon tracked down a hostage taker’s family member and, according to reports, they “castrated them, cut him down into pieces and sent him to the hostage takers” before threatening to kill more.

The remaining three Russian hostages were freed.

What happened after the Cold War?

At the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s the KGB was “broken up with separate domestic and foreign intelligence services complete with new names,” NPR national security correspondent Greg Myre said.

He added: “The lesser-known GRU, founded a century ago by Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky, just kept going under the same name.”

And now it is at the cutting edge of cyber espionage operations in the Russian Federation.

The GRU does not have a website and does not comment publicly on its actions. Its structure, staff numbers and financing are state secrets.

One officer who defected to Britain revealed recruits were shown a graphic video of an agent who had turned against his colleagues being burned to death in a furnace, reports the Daily Mail.

The GRU have been accused of working with Wikileaks to disseminate hacked emails of the Democratic Party

How are they involved in the Skripal poisoning?

The Metropolitan Police believe Russians Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov – thought to be behind the attempted assassination of ex-spy Sergei Skripal – are members of GRU.

This has been flatly denied by Moscow.

According to news agency Reuters Sergei Skripal once worked in the GRU before he was turned by Britain’s MI6 spy service. He is believed to have betrayed dozens of GRU spies across Europe to his British handlers.

Alexander Petrov (R) and Ruslan Boshirov (L) are said to be GRU officers (Image: REX/Shutterstock)

GRU officers indicted in Russian/Trump collusion investigation

OIn July this year, US Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted 12 GRU officers, accusing them of interfering in the 2016 US presidential election by hacking into the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign and the Democratic Party.

There has been speculation the hacked emails were then transferred to Wikileaks who disseminated them.

Both Russia and Wikileaks have denied the accusations with Putin firmly denying it at a joint press conference with Trump – although he did concede he wanted the Republican to win the election against Hillary Clinton.

GRU linked with shooting down of MH17 over eastern Ukraine

An open-source investigative team called Bellingcat has linked the shooting down of MH17 in eastern Ukraine in 2014 with a GRU officer.

298 people were killed and Russia has refused to take responsibility.

The two men are pictured smiling as they walk down the street in Salisbury (Image: AFP)

In December 2017 an annual report by the Intelligence and Security Committee said:

“Russia conducts information warfare on a massive scale… An early example of this was a hugely intensive, multichannel propaganda effort to persuade the world that Russia bore no responsibility for the shooting down of [Malaysian Airlines flight] MH-17 (an outright falsehood: we know beyond any reasonable doubt that the Russian military supplied and subsequently recovered the missile launcher)”.

Other destabilising efforts in Europe and the Middle East

The GRU has also been linked to an attempt to overthrow Montenegro’s government in October 2016.

In August last year Sky News said they had obtained covert surveillance photos which showed Russia was behind the attempted assassination of the Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 at the crash site in the village of Hrabove (Image: Getty)

The photos, taken in neighbouring Serbia by an unnamed European security service, show two Russians accused of plotting the coup – Eduard Shishmakov and Vladimir Popov. Both men are said to be members of the GRU, Russian military intelligence, reports Sky .

GRU officers are believed to be supplying military guidance to the Syrian army in the civil war. Russia is a supporter of leader Bashar al-Asad who has been accused of using chemical weapons against civilians.

They are also said to be active, alongside private-sector mercenarie in the conflict in eastern Ukraine very early on and attempted to sow unrest and help the rebels pushing to join Russia.

Russia has backed the leadership of Bashar al-Asad (Image: Getty)

Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the Russian parliament’s international relations committee, described the claim that the GRU was behind the Skripal assassination attempt as “absolute nonsense”.

“Britain is continuing a large-scale anti-Russian provocation,” he said. “It is announced that they allegedly are GRU officers.

GRU officers are thought to be helping the Syrian forces (Image: REUTERS)

“This is an absolute nonsense.

“Any family names could have been made up and any photos could have been provided with the same result.

“Once again there is no real evidence of Russia’s involvement, only ungrounded accusations.

“Just like there is no reply to Russia’s multiple inquiries about providing information on the course of investigation.

“But that doesn’t stop the UK’s PM who demands more sanctions against Russia.”

Mirror