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Kremlin spy chiefs have launched an international manhunt for Putin’s new number one target - the Russian “traitor” who helped ID the Novichok hitmen.

Russia intelligence was shocked by MI5’s identifying of Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov as GRU military intelligence officers as they had assumed they were unknowns.

And yesterday British sources told the Daily Mirror there are suspicions the pair are from a ruthless “Spetsnaz” special forces unit, which is part of the GRU and trained in assassinations.

The Kremlin is desperate to “lock-down” the leak - thought to be either a GRU man who has already defected to the west or even more devastating an insider, still serving.

A British former military intelligence officer told the Daily Mirror: “Clearly our intelligence agencies have very solid intelligence on these two and it may never publicly be known what it is.

(Image: TASS)

“But Putin has been given a very clear message behind the Prime Minister’s identifying of this pair as GRU - and that is that Britain is also on the offensive and can penetrate his intelligence community.

“They will want deperately to find out how MI5 has been able to assure the Prime Minister these men are GRU with absolute confidence after painstaking intelligence gathering.

“Whatever the information is that they have - it was enough for her confidently to warn that the British government will dismantle their operation.”

It is thought the GRU leak may have come from of a handful of GRU defectors in hiding in Europe, including the UK, and who have MI5 handlers or more likely are on the books of a European intelligence agency.

Our source also said it is possible the pair are from a “Spetsnaz” unit of special forces within the GRU, trained to perform assassinations behind enemy lines.

Russian spy masters are desperate to close down the leak, are thought to have ordered a huge security review and an examination of operational procedures.

They are also trying to find out if any of their GRU staff have behaved unusually in recent weeks and is even thought security chiefs are facing disciplinary action for allowing the men to be identified.

Our source said: “I would not want to be in charge of ensuring GRU anonymity right now because the information has got out somehow.

“These two men it would seem are from operational military theatres of war, something you can tell by looking at how they carry themselves.

“They were likely chosen as unknowns who are not used to working in a western sphere in a civilian setting - so how on earth have we managed to identify them as GRU?”

The Kremlin yesterday said it will consider any request by Britain to question the two suspects.

They have been formally charged with the attempted murder of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in March.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said any request from London to interview them would be considered in “strict accordance with the law.”

“Only this week, we heard an official statement from London, which said that they did not plan to employ the legal assistance mechanism and send any requests to Russia.

“It is London’s official stance and we regret to say that it is impossible to make any assumptions, unfortunately,” Mr Peskov said.

“In case we receive an official request from London, it will definitely be considered in strict accordance with the law, there is no doubt about that.”

It came a day after a bizarre TV interview on Russia Today in which the two men claimed they visited Salisbury Cathedral as tourists and had nothing to do with the attack on the Skripals.

Their claims were dismissed by Downing Street as “lies and blatant fabrications”.

They were further ridiculed by the Bishop of Salisbury, Nicholas Holtam.

Bishop Holtam said: “It doesn’t really add up, does it?”

Asked whether there was CCTV footage of them at the cathedral, he said: “There’s nothing to link (them with) the cathedral that we have got, or I think anybody has got.

“There’s no way of proving that.”

The bishop said that his response to the men’s TV interview was to think.

“What a pity that they didn’t spend longer in that city, where they could have explored the cathedral and seen a building that is committed to the love of God, where there is regular worship to lift our hearts, the tallest spire and a copy of Magna Carta about the rule of law and of justice.

“They didn’t seem to see any of that, did they?”