On 3 November I concluded the blog on the GRU’s cock-ups with the question: is it goodbye Korobov? Well, it is. Announced tonight in Moscow and confirmed by TASS  but with no notification on the Ministry of Defence website, General Igor Korobov has apparently succumbed after a long illness; no doubt hastened by the chastening chastisement he received from President Putin for the embarrassing incompetence displayed by his formerly distinguished directorate over the Skripal’ affair. Anyone now volunteering for the poisoned chalice?