REVIEW TOPICS:
General Bulbov says case against him inspired by high-ranking Federal Security Service officials
Two Russian drugs officers poisoned against background of power struggle within security services
Ex-KGB man, Putin’s friend sent new presidential envoy to Russia’s Far East to fight crime
Russian hackers cripple Yushchenko website, threaten to disable SBU site
Russian security agencies check electric train on threat of explosive at Malya Vyshera
Top federal investigator to assist FSB conducted inquiry after bus bomb blast in Russia’s car city
Kyrgyzstan investigates possible Uzbek agents link in reporter's murder
Security checks launched in Azerbaijani National Army to prevent Wahhabism
Security measures stepped up in Azerbaijani transportation due to operations against radical religious groups
General Bulbov names high-ranking Federal Security Service officials who have allegedly inspired case against him
General of the Russian Federal service drugs control service Alexander Bulbov has
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| General Bulbov |
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announced that the case against him is inspired by the high-ranking employees of the Federal Security Service, FSB, radio Ekho Moskvy reports, referring to Bulbov’s lawyer Sergei Antonov. Today the Moscow City Court has recognized lawful arrest of Lieutenant-General Alexander Bulbov. Before the beginning of the court session, a general’s written statement was distributed, according to RBC. Bulbov says he continues to insist that all actions concerning him, „including his arrest, presentation of muffled charge in acts which he had not committed, unprecedented campaign in mass media”, are connected with his activity on criminal cases of the furniture supermarket Three Whales and the so-called Chinese contraband.
" These actions are caused by feelings of revenge and fear before the subsequent exposures of the high-ranking officials of FSB of the Russian Federation, among them, first of all, Lieutenant-General Kupryazhkin A.N., chief of the Internal Security (9th directorate of the FSB of the Russian Federation), the chief of 6-th service of the Internal Security Service of the FSB of the Russian Federation Feoktistov O.V. and his deputy Kharitonov S.N., as well as some others whom its is premature now to speak about ", the document says.Bulbov emphasizes that attempts to discredit him personally and his subordinates have begun still one year ago, however till September 25, 2007 tey have been unsuccessful.
Lieutenant-General Alexander Bulbov was detained at Moscow Domodedovo airport by the FSB operatives on October 2. Three days later Basmanny court of Moscow has given out the sanction on his arrest.
Two Russian drugs officers poisoned against backgrund of power struggle within security services
Two officers in Russia's politically sensitive Federal Anti-Narcotics Service have been fatally poisoned in St.Petersburg, Interfax reported, refering to a spokesperson for the agency today. "It's being sorted out now. Poison was involved, but what kind it was requires investigating," General Alexander Mikhailov was quoted as saying by Interfax.
The deaths come against the background of a fierce power struggle within Russia’s huge security forces ahead of parliamentary and presidential elections.The drugs control service is said by analysts to be at the heart of this struggle.
AIA reported earlier this month that the usually discreet tussle for influence erupted into the open when Viktor Cherkesov, head of the drugs agency, warned of that the battle could "end up with the destruction" of the security system. He was responding to the arrest of several top officials from his agency by operatives from the Federal Security Service - the successor to the Soviet KGB - in an incident that analysts said was an attempt to rein in Cherkesov.
It becomes obvious that the so-called siloviki don’t form a united monolith; quite the contrary, this is several rival groups headed by officials more or less close to the president, online paper Polit.ru comments. The preponderance is determined by the intimacy of these relations, it notes.
In a letter printed in the far-left newspaper Zavtra today, former senior KGB leaders and operatives urged the rival security factions to put an end to their disputes or face ‘a major catastrophe.’
Top federal investigator to assist FSB conducted inquiry after bus bomb blast in Russia’s car city
Terrorists or organised crime are being blamed for a bomb blast which destroyed a bus in the city of Togliatti in central Russia this morning, killing at least eight people and injuring 63 others. Togliatti is the headquarters of Russia's largest car company. News agency ITAR-TASS reported that the force of the explosion corresponded roughly to the power of one kilogram of the explosive TNT, or the power of several hand grenades.
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Togliatti on map |
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Russian news agencies reported that investigators are trying to determine whether the bomb had been planted on the bus or was being carried by a passenger. Authorities say they are treating the suspected bombing as a possible terrorist attack. Officials from the Federal Security Service (FSB) and Prosecutor's Office are working on the scene.
The bus blew up at a busy intersection in the city of Togliatti near a bus stop as people headed to work.
AFP cites the head of the Samara branch of the FSB security service, Yury Rozhin, who said that while terrorism was the most likely explanation, other possibilities included a purely criminal motive and an unintended blast caused by mishandling of explosives. A number of news agencies cited anonymous security sources as suggesting the attack was carried out by Islamist extremists. Interfax news agency quotes a source close to the investigation as saying authorities do not exclude the possibility that Wahabbi or other Islamic extremists may be involved in the blast. Samara province has a substantial Muslim population. President Putin has sent a top federal investigator from Moscow to help conduct the inquiry, VOA says.
Russian security agencies check electric train on threat of explosive at Malya Vyshera
At station Small Vishera Russian security agencies have been checking an electric train on threat of an explosive, news agency RIA Novosti reports. Servicemen of operative services have received information on suspicious sounds under a covering of the second car of the electric train Small Vishera-St.-Petersburg, the agency notes. It was reported that "sound similar to clock’s mechanism was audible"; all passengers were evacuated, and the electric train driven away to safe place, RIA Novosti adds.
Russian hackers cripple Ukraine’s Yushchenko website, threaten to disable SBU site
The Eurasian Union of the Youth, ESM, which advocates for closer ties between Ukraine and Russia and other former Soviet republics and vehemently opposes Ukraine’s accession to NATO has assumed responsibility for the cyber attack on the website of Ukraine’s President Viktor Yushchenko, online paper Expert.com.ua reports. The presidential computer network registered at least 18,000 attempts from Russian hackers, but also commanding computers around the world, to penetrate its system before falling down on yesterday, Ukrainian Journal says.
ESM, the Russian radical youth organization, that has been using sophisticated computer assets capable of disrupting a government computer network and eager to do so for political reasons, also vowed to disable the website of the Ukrainian Security Service, SBU, in the near future, unless Yushchenko dismisses Valentyn Nalyvaychenko, SBU’s pro-NATO chief.
On October 18, the ESM said that its activists had demolished Ukrainian national symbols that had been erected on Ukraine’s highest mountain, the Hoverla. The mountain, located in western Ukraine, is a symbol by itself. Yushchenko, when he was opposition leader, would ascend it ceremoniously each year accompanied by crowds of his political supporters, news agency URA-Inform adds.. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) confirmed that the ESM’s activists had vandalized the symbols. The SBU said that this was committed by three young men, two of whom had arrived from Russia for the purpose.
Ex-KGB man, Putin’s friend, sent new presidential envoy to Russia’s Far East to fight crime
President Vladimir Putin has appointed former St.Petersburg security officer and reportedly his old friend, Lieutenant-General Oleg Safonov, presidential plenipotentiary in the Far East federal district (DVFO) of Russia, news agency ITAR-TASS reports. Until recently since
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| Oleg Safonov |
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November 14, 2006 the new plenipotentiary was a deputy Interior Minister of Russia. He supervised the Criminal investigation department.
The newly appointed representative’s chief task will be that of decriminalizing the region in view of Russia’s intention to host an APEC summit in Vladivostok in 2012, news agency says.
Oleg Safonov was born in Ulyanovsk on August 24, 1960. In 1982 he graduated from the Moscow Higher Border Guards Academy of the USSR KGB; in 1989, from the Y. V. Andropov Institute of the USSR KGB, and in 2003, from the North-Western Academy of Civil Service.
Safonov got acquainted to Vladimir Putin in 1991 in St.-Petersburg. The future president then worked as chairman of committee on external relations of the city mayor's office, and Safonov was the main expert of this committee. The people knowing Putin and Safonov approve that soon their friendly attitudes were established.
In 1982-1991, a career state security service officer.
Subsequently held the positions of chief specialist for external relations at the St. Petersburg Mayor’s Office, programs coordinator of the Cultural Initiative international foundation and adviser to the governor of the Leningrad Region.
Safonov worked as the main expert on external communications of St.-Petersburg mayor's office, the adviser of the governor of Leningrad oblast, coordinator of programs of the International fund Cultural Initiative. When Putin became the President of Russia, he recollected about the comrade, having appointed him personnel manager of State Fishery commitee, and then, in 2003-05, an aide to the plenipotentiary of the President in Southern federal district. In 2005-2006 – an auditor at Russia’s Audit Chamber, since November 14, 2006, Russia’s Deputy Interior Minister. In addition, according to some information, Safonov is married to the daughter of the presidential assistant Viktor Ivanov, Polit.ru says.
Kyrgyzstan investigates possible Uzbek agents link in reporter's murder
Kyrgyzstan security forces are investigating a possible Uzbek link in last week's murder of an independent journalist who criticised Uzbek President Islam Karimov in his stories, news agencies are reporting from Bishkek.
Journalist Alisher Saipov, an ethnic Uzbek with Kyrgyz citizenship, was shot dead by an unknown assailant as he left his office in the Kyrgyz town of Osh on October 24. On 22 October, Saipov told friend and colleague Shahida Yakub he thought he was being followed by Uzbek security services. Saipov was the founder and editor of the newspaper Siyosat, or Politics. This was the only Uzbek language newspaper in the region that was openly critical of President Islam Karimov’s autocratic government. He also worked for several Western media, exposing rights violations in Uzbekistan.
"One of the versions is the possibility of involvement of Uzbek security services because he constantly criticised Karimov's policies and the Uzbek government in his newspaper," Reuters cites Bakyt Seyitov, Kyrgyzstan Interior Ministry's chief spokesman. "It's most likely that the footsteps are coming from Uzbekistan," Tursunbai Bakir uulu, Kyrgyzstan's ombudsman said, according to the news agency. At the same time the head of the press service of an Osh law enforcement agency is quoted as saying that "there are no evidence and grounds to believe that the Uzbek security services are involved in the murder of Saipov."
AIA reported yesterday on the ombudsman’s comments that Uzbek agents may have been involved in the murder of Saipov. Uzbek security officials were not available for comment.
Security checks launched in Azerbaijani National Army to prevent Wahhabism
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Eldar Safaroglu |
Security measures were reinforced in the National Army of Azerbaijan in order to prevent the expansion of radical wahabism in military units, Trend news agency cites Eldar Safaroglu, Azerbaijani Defence Ministry’s press-secretary. The Azeri National Security Ministry "described the plotters of recent acts of terrorism as adherents of the strict Wahhabi interpretation of Sunni Islam."
Last week, lieutenant Kamran Asadov, an officer of a military unit in the Khanlar region of Azerbaijan, deserted his military unit in collusion with other members of a radical Wahhabi group. AIA reported that Asadov had stolen a large amount of arms and Azerbaijani National Security Ministry members detained a radical group in Mashtaga settlement of Baku.
Azerbaijani National Security Ministry revealed that radical religious groups were planning to stage terror acts in strategic facilities, as well as diplomatic facilities in the country. Commenting on the events, parliament member Bakhar Muradova, the Vice Speaker, told journalists that Wahhabism in the National army of Azerbaijan causes alarm. According to Muradova, Wahhabism and other similar religious trends may damage religious tolerance in Azerbaijan, news agency adds.
Security measures stepped up in Azerbaijani transportation due to operations against radical religious groups
Security has been stepped up in Azerbaijani transportation due to operations carried out by National Security Ministry and law-enforcement bodies against radical religious groups, news agency APA reports, referring to a source in the country’s Transport Ministry.
All the enterprises functioning in air, water and railway transport, as well as bus stations in the cities are working in beefed up-regime due to operations carried out against terror threat and radical religious groups, news agency says.
Azerbaijan State Railway press service head Nadir Azmammadov told the APA that all the enterprises of the railway and production units are working in strengthened regime since morning today. “Security has been beefed up in railway stations and depots, instruction was given on inspecting suspect persons and their loads. It is linked with the warning of law-enforcement bodies on security,” he said.
Security measures have been increased in Baku metro since morning today. Chief of Baku Metro Tagi Ahmadov told the APA, though security was observed in metro, it was beefed up after the warning of law-enforcement bodies.
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