Boshirov

It was subsequently reported by Bellingcat that Mr Boshirov was actually highly decorated Colonel Anatoliy Chepiga, and Mr Petrov was a military doctor called Alexander Yevgenyevich Mishkin.

Appearing nervous and uncomfortable, the men confirmed their names as those announced by the UK investigators – Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov.

Boshirov said: ‘It’s a tourist city.

British spy agencies concluded the men, who travelled to the UK under the aliases of Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, were officers for Russian military intelligence unit the GRU.

The men looked well-built and Boshirov wore what looked like a red Kabbalah bracelet.

The other suspect also traveled to Salisbury, England, under an alias — Ruslan Boshirov — and is in fact a decorated Russian agent named Anatoliy Chepiga, Bellingcat reported last month.

When you pass through customs they check all your things," Boshirov said.