REVIEW TOPICS:
Russia’s GRU denies forthcoming merger with Foreign Intelligence Service, GRU chief to stay in office
Russia’s GRU special-task Berdsk brigade bid farewell to battle flag, still to be disbanded
Russia’s GRU was most reluctant to part with many of its officers: Strategy Page
Lithuania's presidential candidate investigated for Soviet KGB ties
Czech Prime Minister reportedly tried to abuse intelligence in political case
Bulgaria’s State Agency for National Security involved in investigation of Agriculture Ministry over land swapsState Agency for National Security of Bulgaria assigned task to collect evidence of crimes against national and race equality
Two man detained in Germany on charges of espionage in Kosovo for undisclosed intelligence agencies
Azerbaijan’s Ministry of National Security agents arrested illegal university’s head in Baku
Russia’s military intelligence denies forthcoming merger with Foreign Intelligence Service, GRU chief to stay for two more years on
The Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) of the General Staff of Armed Forces of the Russian Federation will not be subordinated to Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), online paper NEWSru reports, referring to a source in Russia’s ‘intelligence community’. A number of mass media outlets reported on expected merger of the GRU and SVR recently.
"There is no speech about any merger of the GRU and Foreign Intelligence Service. These intelligence structures have been conducting their work in close interaction, in particular regarding information exchange", the source has said. The head of Russia's military intelligence is to retain his post for two more years and will focus on internal reform, an
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unidentified intelligence official said today, according to RIA Novosti.
News agency RIA Novosti notes that a number of changes which will be carried out in the GRU are connected with appropriation reduction of new image of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and do not concern to direct functions of management.
Within the framework of reform it is planned to optimize numerical structure of divisions of military intelligence, the directing staff and the personnel structure will be strengthened. One of the main functions, space intelligence, remains in charge of the GRU, the interlocutor of RIA Novosti news agency has said.
"All actions to be held in the GRU within the framework of reforming, are directed only on raising overall performance", assured the source.
It also reported that that the GRU chief Army General Valentin Korabelnikov in the near future will continue to execute his duties and will be engaged in reform of military intelligence. Thus the source commented on the recent reports that Korabelnikov has written an official report on resignation which he allegedly motivated with disagreement with the reform of military intelligence. "He did not write any official report. His term of service has been prolonged for two years up to the age limit", the news agency source marked.
Meanwhile the Deputy Chief of Russia’s General Staff called the version on GRU chief’s forthcoming dismissal nonsense. The term of military service of the chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) of the General Staff of Armed Forces of Russia, Army General Valentin Korabelnikov has been prolonged by the Russian President for two more years, Vesti.ru reports, referring to Deputy Chief of the General Staff Colonel-General Vasily Smirnov.
«All reports of mass media that general Korabelnikov in the near future will be dismissed from the Armed Forces at his own will do not correspond to reality at all. On January 4, the GRU chief became 64 years old and by the decision of the President of the Russian Federation his term of stay on military service was prolonged at once for two years», news agency ITAR-TASS cited the deputy chief of Russia’s General Staff.
«General Korabelnikov has served, is serving and will be serving in our army», emphasized Colonel-General Smirnov who holds also the post of the chief of the Main Organizational and Mobilization Directorate of the General Staff of Russian Armed Forces.
GRU is Russia's largest intelligence agency. It gathers human intelligence through military attaches and foreign agents. According to some sources, GRU has six times as many agents in foreign countries as the SVR, which is the KGB's foreign intelligence successor. It also maintains significant signals intelligence and imagery reconnaissance and satellite imagery capabilities.
Russia’s GRU special-task Berdsk brigade bid farewell to battle flag, still to be disbanded
Servicemen of the 67th separate special-task brigade of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, known as the Berdsk brigade, bid farewell to their batte flag in the city of Berdsk, Novosibirsk area, local newspaper Kuryer.Sreda reports. It notes it was the last stage before disbandment of the brigade that has been planned by the Ministry of Defence in the framework of the Armed Forces reform.
According to the paper which refers to ‘reliable sources’, the commander of the brigade, Colonel Mikhail Shustov, on March 17, ranged all officers and servicemen and a ceremony of bidding farewell to the brigade’s flag was following.
Most of the officers of the Berdsk special-task brigade have already been proposed posts in other military units, not only in a special-task division of the Siberian Military District but also in infantry and police. However, some servicemen have not got any suggestions and will be dismissed, according to the Kuryer.Sreda.
AIA reported that on March 9, a rally was taking place in Berdsk against the military reform and in support of the GRU 67th special-task brigade. The participants of the rally demanded resignation of the Defence Minister of Russia Anatoly Serdyukov.
As of today there are two special-task brigades in the Siberian Military District of Russia, which are raised in the average by 50 percent, NEWSru reports. The special-task brigade in Berdsk (army unit No64655) was formed on November 1, 1984. Ten years later, the brigade was brough into the structure of the rapid reaction group of the mobile forces of the Russian Federation and in December, 200, it was awarded the battle flag of the 4th separate special-task brigade. It was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel L. Agaponov, Lieutenant-Colonels A. Tarasovsky, L. Polyakov, Y. Mokrov. The last commander of the brigade, Colonel Mikhail Shustov, has commanded the brigade for six years out of his 26 years of military service. About 25,000 soldiers and officers have served in the brigade since its foundation. The servicemen of the brigade were the first who entered the Chechen capital city of Grozny in October, 1996.
Russia’s GRU was most reluctant to part with many of its officers: Strategy Page
The Strategy Page is among the online media which have been paying attention to problems of Russia’s GRU, Russian Military Intelligence. In its recent publication it notes that the GRU is about the same size as the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), and is responsible for conducting espionage operations overseas. Currently, the General Staff will have its personnel cut 61 percent (to 8,500), and this includes large cuts in the GRU, the Strategy Page marks.
Many generals are not happy with the cuts, and disorder among officers connected with commando units is disquieting. The Russians want all-volunteer forces, but have lacked the money to replace all conscripts with higher quality, and more highly paid, volunteers.
An additional problem was the GRU spetsnaz feeling that they were not getting the respect and good treatment they deserved. The FSB spetsnaz units had better fringe benefits and pay. On top of that, the GRU spetsnaz spent more time in hell holes like Chechnya. Now some are getting layoff notices. Some 80 percent of the Chechen casualties are inflicted by the Spetsnaz teams, who are the only troops that regularly patrolled the mountains where the Chechen rebels and their foreign allies hid out. The GRU spetsnaz still do six month tours down there.
The Spetsnaz are mostly conscripts, which is in sharp contrast to Western career commandos. But the conscripts were carefully selected and were volunteers for Spetsnaz duty. GRU Spetsnaz brigades in Chechnya suffered about ten percent casualties for each tour. Russia doesn't send more Spetsnaz to Chechnya because these units spend a lot of time training and are needed elsewhere, especially in Central Asia and for counter-terrorism duty. Moreover, Spetsnaz don't have all the special equipment and specialized helicopters that Western commandoes have. Russia also considers their Spetsnaz as a strategic reserve for emergencies, and thus likes to keep at least three of the seven GRU brigades in reserve, training and ready for any unexpected emergency.
The GRU has not been slighted in all these reforms. AIA also reported that two years ago, a new, $300 million headquarters for GRU was opened. The 670,000 square foot GRU complex contains the latest of everything for one of the smallest of Russia's intelligence services. Over the past six years, the increasing flood of oil revenue has made it possible to rebuild the intelligence services. The GRU was the most reluctant to part with many of its officers, but now it's open season on officers who don't have a really good reason to stay in uniform, the Strategy page concludes.
Lithuania's presidential candidate investigated for Soviet KGB ties
Lithuania's Lustration Commission has announced that it will ask the court to reopen the case against the presidential candidate Kazimiera Prunskiene, former Prime Minister of Lithuania, for collaboration with the Soviet KGB, The Baltic Times reports.
Prunskiene was the Prime Minister of the first Cabinet of Ministers after Lithuania re-established its independence. Now she is the chairwoman of the Peasant Popular Union.
The commission said it will also turn to the Prosecutor General's Office regarding the activity of former Vilnius district court judge parliament member Konstantas Ramelis and judge Giedrius Baziulis.
"Judging from the case investigation, we find this process wasn't exactly clean," Lustration Commission Chairman Algimantas Urmanas told the press.
The commission has been investigating the Lithuania's Liberation Movement Council's request to consider new facts regarding Prunskiene's collaboration with the KGB and defend public interest and justice in terms of national security.
"The KGB branch at the Soviet Republic of Lithuania maintained contact with Prunskiene, who would render scientific information accumulated in the People's Republics of Hungary and Germanyand the Federal Republic of Germany," data available to the Lustration Commission reads. Prunskiene had the status of agent of influence, with such agents not required to sign a cooperation agreement.
"Information communicated by her was first coded with three letters and later with Satrijos Ragana[…] When an agent went on to a certain level in the Soviet party nomenclature, their case would immediately be destroyed," the data reads.
After re-investigating the case, a Vilnius District Court ruled in the spring of 2003 that there is a lack of evidence to suggest Prunskiene's conscious secret collaboration with the KGB.
This ruling replaced that of Sept. 14 of 1992 the Civil Case Division under Lithuania's Supreme Court, which said Prunskiene had consciously collaborated with the KGB.
Prunskiene herself denies affiliation with Soviet secret services.
Czech Prime Minister reportedly tried to abuse intelligence in political case
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Karel Randak |
Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek tried to abuse the civilian intelligence in the scandal over the alleged attempt to bribe former parliament member Zdenek Koristka, former intelligence service (UZSI) head Karel Randak told the tn.cz news server today. Randak said Topolanek addressed him on the issue when he was the chief of the civilian intelligence, but that he rejected his demand. According to news agency CTK, Randak did not provide further information on the case, but said he would do so when the time was "appropriate."
Topolanek's unofficial aide Marek Dalek allegedly offered a bribe to Koristka in exchange for bringing down the then Social Democrat government in a confidence vote in 2004. The allegation has not been proved, news agency adds.
Topolanek said earlier today that the election of Czech president by parliament in February 2008 was manipulated. He recently repeated his previous assertion that "the whole thing" had been masterminded and organised by the then UZSI head Karel Randak, along with Petr Dimun, former ministerial spokesman and current chief marketing manager of the senior opposition Social Democrats (CSSD). Topolanek said the latest evidence was part of a fresh report summing up information from all bodies involved, including the outcome of an inspection check of the UZSI´s mistakes, the UZSI´s own documents, counter-intelligence service´s (BIS) documents, and results of an intensive police investigation. The Czech Prime Minister promised that the government would discuss manipulation of the the presidential election on March 23, CTK says.
Speculations about the manipulation of the presidential election, from which Vaclav Klaus emerged re-elected for the second term in February 2008, appeared after the leak of the recordings from a meeting of Presidential Office head Jiri Weigl and CSSD lobbyist Miroslav Slouf in Prague´s Hotel Savoy, that preceded the election of the new president by the two houses of parliament, CTK adds.
State Agency for National Security of Bulgaria assigned task to collect evidence of crimes against national and race equality
The mayor of the Southwestern municipality of Garmen Ahmed Bashev told bTV that he had never done such ideotic thing as Nedim Talamanov who torn in public shalwars of the people in the Bulgarian village of Ribnovo, Southeastern Bulgaria, and closed a mosque. "I neither have big record nor am I an assimilator. The assimilator is the one who made these insinuations and slanders”, he commented.
Bashev also stressed that he had never signed declaration to co-operate with former State Security Service (DS). He noted that “many people were forced to join the scheme”and “there were speculations with Muslims in Bulgaria all the time”, according to Focus News Agency .
The State Agency for National Security (SANS) of Bulgaria brought on March 16 the mayor of the southwestern municipality of Garmen, Ahmed Bashev, and teacher of Islam, Murat Boshnak, to the Agency for questioning. Genral Prosecutor’s Office has assigned the SANS the task to collect evidence for crimes under the Penal Code against the national and race equality, as well as against religion, Focus News Agency marks.
Bulgaria’s State Agency for National Security involved in investigation of Agriculture Ministry over land swaps
Bulgaria's State Agency for National Security (SANS) and employees of the General Prosecutor’s Office raided the country’s Agriculture Ministry yesterday and seized documents in an investigation into large-scale illegal land deals, news agencies are reporting from Sofia. It was initially announced that the top officials in the department - Minister Valeri Tsvetanov and the head of the State Forestry Agency (SFA) Stefan Yurukov - will answer the questions of the SANS, but that did not turn out to be the case.
Reuters points out that the raid was part of Bulgaria's drive to assure the European Union it is serious about fighting chronic corruption and organised crime.
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| Bulgaria's Agriculture Ministry in Sofia |
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"We have been informed by the chief prosecutor's office, which got signals from the National Security Agency, that officials at the agriculture ministry have allegedly made illegal swaps of land," Reuters cites Sofia City Prosecutor Nikolai Kokinov. Prosecutors are investigating swaps of thousands of hectares of state-owned arable land and forests for private land that took place this and last year, according to Kokinov.
Experts from SANS and Sofia City Prosecutor's Office seized documents and checked all incoming and outgoing registers. "Officials have been charged with an illegal exchange of state woodland plots, but no one has been arrested since the investigation is at a very early stage," Sofia City Prosecutor Nikolay Kokinov said.
The prosecutor's office said documents for deals, in which state-owned land was allegedly swapped for private plots in less attractive or lower-priced parts of the country, have been backdated even though they were banned by law. The swaps took place over the last few years and involved huge plots in different regions of the country. In January, Bulgaria's parliament imposed a ban on all land swaps under pressure from dozens of environmental groups, Sofia News Agency adds.
Two man detained in Germany on charges of espionage in Kosovo for undisclosed intelligence agencies
Two men have been charged with espionage for allegedly feeding classified German government information to organized crime and foreign intelligence contacts in Macedonia and Kosovo, The Seattle Times reports, referring to federal prosecutors.
The Federal Prosecutor's Office in the German city of Karlsruhe alleges that Anton Robert K., a 42-year-old German, allegedly passed along information while working at the German diplomatic mission in the Kosovo capital Pristina to Murat A., a 28-year-old Macedonian with ties to organized crime and "foreign intelligence," radio Deutsche Welle expands.
Both men were arrested earlier this month in the Stuttgart area and indicted on the charges earlier this week before a federal judge. They face accordingly 10 years and 5 years in prison on charges of betrayal of state secrets and espionage. In the course of his work, the German employee of his country’s diplomatic mission in the Kosovo capital Pristina had access to "sensitive information" that he passed along to Murat A. despite knowing that he had contacts with organized crime in both Kosovo and Macedonia and might fed them with the corresponding data, prosecutors are quoted as saying by the paper.
It was not clear from the prosecutors' office statement what countries' intelligence agencies may have been involved, The Siettle Times marked.
Azerbaijan’s Ministry of National Security agents arrested illegal university’s head in Baku
A man, swindling money from the citizens, was arrested as a result of joint measures taken by the Ministry of National Security of Azerbaijan and the country’s Anti-Corruption Department of the General Prosecutor’s Office, news agency APA reports, referring to the security service officials.
According to the report, head of the illegal structure unit of World Technology University in Baku Zulfi Babayev, previously convicted for swindle, admitted the students to the illegal school receiving form them AZN 300-5000 per academic year from each student.
Babayev, Nab Ltd founder and director, abused his duties in favor of himself and third persons. He established the representation of Moscow-based UNESCO World Technology University without state registration and license, signing agreement with the university management on February 1, 2008 and basing on the warrant by them, on the plea of establishing the educational courses, APA says. Azerbaijan Prosecutor’s Office has launched a criminal case and Department Combating Corruption under the Prosecutor General was given a task to investigate the case, the news agency adds.
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