Russian defector facing threats had British alias revealed by UK authorities

A Russian defector facing death threats fears the National Crime Agency put his his life at greater risk by revealing his British alias and address.

Former KGB spy Boris Karpichkov, 62, appeared on the same Vladimir Putin hit list as poisoned double agent Sergei Skripal.

And he claims to have had seven death threats since the NCA handed over his personal details in answer to an extradition request from his native Latvia.

The latest being probed by police came through the post on January 2nd telling him: “Traitors like you have no place on earth. Death is on the way. You are already a half-corpse.”

Karpichkov says the message was sealed in a bubble wrap envelope and he became ill with flu-like symptoms shortly after opening it.

An earlier letter was signed with a cover name Karpichkov used while spying for the Russians on Latvia between 1991-95 and gave the sender’s address as a local cemetery.

Only Russian spymasters would have access to that false identity – Vadim Petrovich Kravchenko – used by Karpichkov a quarter century ago.

This month’s letter arrived signed in a different name – but one the sender knew Karpichkov was sure to recognise as it was the codename of one of his former agents.

In 2018 Latvia used a European Arrest Warrant to demand Karpichkov’s extradition on charges of fraud, falsifying documents and gun possession but the bid was thrown out by a court in September, 2020.

The hearing heard that Moscow was pulling Latvia’s strings to get the spy into their clutches.

Judge Vanessa Baraitser ruled at London’s Westminster Magistrates that Karpichkov’s should not be returned because his life could be in danger and the charges were a “bargaining tool” to get him back

She added: “There is evidence to support Mr Karpichkov’s claims he has dangerous enemies in Russia who would wish for his silence.”

In the lead up to proceedings Latvia asked the NCA for the British name and address Karpichkov uses while in hiding here.

The NCA’s Sirene fugitives department which handles EAWs supplied his name but questioned why Latvia would want the address.

But in May 2019 they handed that over too giving details of the house where police executing the EAW arrested him.

John Lough, a Russian expert at international affairs think tank Chatham House, said in evidence: “The inclusion of Mr Karpichkov’s assumed identity and address on the EAW is deeply concerning and clearly poses a risk to the safety of Mr Karpichkov and his family in the UK.”

A spokesman for the NCA said: “The NCA shares intelligence with trusted law enforcement agencies in line with the processes and legislation that govern information sharing.

“The NCA is unable to comment on individual cases where there are ongoing legal discussions.”

On 12 February 2018 a Russian intelligence contact based in Eastern Europe told Karpichkov he was marked for execution along with six others including Sergei Skripal, Putin critic Bill Browder and former MI6 spy Christopher Steele.

He has had numerous warnings from the same source since. They communicate by burner phones – pay-as-you go mobiles destroyed along with their SIM cards after each call.

Skripal’s name meant nothing to Karpichkov until the former GRU military intelligence colonel hit the headlines when he and daughter Yulia were poisoned with Novichok three weeks later in Salisbury.

Former KGB major Yuri Shvets, 69, an ex-business colleague of poisoned defector Alexander Litvinenko said: “I believe the Russians badly want to silence Mr Karpichkov.

“This might be more important for them than it was to silence Litvinenko or Skripal.”

Karpichkov said: “Threats against me have been growing ever since the NCA gave my British adopted identity and home address to the Latvian authorities.

“It is as if they are literally playing Russian roulette with my life.

“There is no question those details ended up in the hands of the Russian security services who want me dead.”

Karpichkov defected to Britain in 1998 carrying two suitcases full of secrets and spy paraphernalia, including KGB skeleton keys and six false passports, after serving as a major in Russia’s KGB and its FSB successor.

A previous extradition attempt by Latvia shortly after his arrival also failed and he was given exceptional leave to remain in the UK. Ten years later he was granted British citizenship.

But in that time he and his family were forced to move home eight times as hostile surveillance teams discovered their whereabouts.

Karpichkov believes the best way to stay alive is to make the threats he receives public.

An email in 2019 said he should join Facebook and “friend” Osiris – the ancient Egyptian god of the dead.

And he claims he lost five stone after the Russians attempted to poison him in 2006 while on a 15 month stay in New Zealand – in the same week as they murdered Litvinenko.

He fled there posing as a university academic after MI5 told him to skip Britain for his own safety.

He said: “Making the world aware the Russian security services are trying to kill me means they will pay a high political cost if they do.

“But I am living in constant fear thinking every day will be my last. It is like being on death row waiting to be executed.”

When Karpichkov defected he hoped MI5 would give him protection in return for secrets but little was forthcoming, and he became the spy left out in the cold.

By the time he arrived the Security Service was awash with Russian defectors and Karpichkov found himself at the end of a long queue.

Shvets added: “The letters received by Mr Karpichkov represent active measures of the Russian security services. They were authored and sent by the FSB.

“They contain death threats which are real and should be taken with the utmost attention.”

“Mr Karpichkov is one of few individuals who can expose the Russian penetration of the Latvian elite on the basis of his professional knowledge.

“Potentially he can spoil many political and professional careers in Latvia. He represents a clear threat to the Russian intelligence agents in the Latvian elite and to Russian intelligence interests in this NATO country.

“The KGB does not forget anything. Forgetting this tradition can be lethal as vengeance can come many years later when the target least expects it.”

Karpichkov served in the KGB’s Second Chief Directorate which mounted intelligence ops abroad.

He was transferred to the KGB’s replacement, the FSB, with the same rank of major after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1991 and worked in counter-espionage.

As a double agent he spied on Latvia for the Russians and on Russia for the Latvians.

Had he shown a flair for assassination he might have ended up in Department 13, the so-called Department of Wet Affairs, whose agents have a licence to kill.

And although he was issued with a pen that not only fired bullets but also had a secret compartment for poison powder to slip into a target’s drink, Karpichkov insists he always refused orders to murder.

Raised in the then-Soviet Baltic state of Latvia he says he was brainwashed by communism adding: “I thought it was the bright future for the entire world.

“At first I fancied myself as James Bond. But once I realised what the KGB/FSB was really about I became disillusioned.”

When the FSB rumbled him he fled to Britain using false travel documents for himself and his family – a wife and two children.