REVIEW TOPICS:
Kazakh deputy defense minister arrested by KNB on corruption charges
Former KGB agent reportedly expelled from Russia Winter Olympics city mayoral race
Russian Federal Security Service officer extorted millions from Moscow businessman
Latvia’s Information Analysis Service is to be winded up
Nalyvaychenko: situation in Crimea is normal, its parliament and government actively collaborate with SBU
Anti-terrorist exercises in Sevastopol used by Russian media to accuse Ukraine’s security forces of violation of human rights
Ukraine’s Security Service explained why billboards of Project Russia had been dismantled in Kiev
Flags of Romania and EU over Moldova’s presidential office building were run up by employees of Moldavan secret services
Self-proclaimed Transdnestr republic tightens security on border with Moldova
Day of Serbia’s Department for Security Management and VIP Protection marked
In Uzbekistan activists threatened after spurning secret service offer
Kazakh deputy defense minister arrested by KNB on corruption
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| Kazhimurat Mayermanov |
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Kazakhstan's National Security Committee (KNB) agents arrested Deputy Defense Minister Kazhimurat Mayermanov, on corruption charges, news agencies are reporting. A State Security Services spokesman said Mayermanov was taken into custody late last week, The Jerusalem Post notes. KNB issued a public statement accusing several other senior officers and officials in the ministry of purchasing flawed military equipment from Israel.
“Deputy Defence Minister Lieutenant-General Kazhimurat Mayermanov was charged with ... abuse of office and exceeding authority,” AFP cites Kenzhebulat Beknazarov, a spokesman for the KNB.
Local media reports have linked Mayermanov's case with last month's arrest of Israeli businessman Boris Sheinkman on fraud charges. The names of the Israeli companies involved were not given in the KNB statement, but earlier publications suggest that these might be Soltam Systems and Israel Military Industries (IMI). Sheinkman, a former Soviet army colonel and an agent of Soltam and IMI, has operated as a middleman between Israeli arms vendors and the Kazakh government, The Jerusalem Post expands. Sheinkman is suspected of promoting the deal through his personal connection to the Kazakh defense establishment, including Mayermanov. Local sources denied there was any connection between the two arrest, daily Maariv marks.
A source in the Kazakhstan embassy in Tel Aviv noted that media in his country said that Indian businessman Sudhir Choudrie was also linked to the case, daily Maariv reports.
The KNB statement said the sum of the purchases by Kazakhstan ran up to $82 million but Israeli sources said earlier that local arms sales to Kazakhstan amounted to $300 million, Maariv writes. The Israeli firms were to help Kazakhstan domestically manufacture advanced truck-mounted artillery pieces using highly-sophisticated unmanned aerial drone technology. IMI also provided 40km-range rocket launchers and drones. Elbit, which developed the control software for the system, was also involved in the deal, according to the Maariv. The weapons were the centrepiece of a drive by the energy-rich state to modernise its aging armed forces, as well as help it become an exporter of high-tech weapons systems in the region, AFP notes.
Former KGB agent reportedly expelled from Russia Winter Olympics city mayoral race
Russia’s Sochi Central District Court invalidated registration of businessman Alexander Lebedev as a candidate to the city's April 26 mayoral election, news agencies are reporting. They say the exact basis for the ruling was unclear, and a spokeswoman for the Sochi elections commission said she could not comment on the decision.
Lebedev, a former KGB officer, made his £2 billion fortune from banking; he is a close friend of former president Mikhail Gorbachev and the owner of newspapers, airlines and property in Russia, as well as a string of luxury hotels across Europe.
The businessman's spokesman, Artyom Artyomov, told The Moscow Times that the decision was
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| Alexander Lebedev |
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absolutely illegal. "The prosecutor and the elections commission were against it. There were no violations." Sochi elections commission member Sergei Mendeleyev told Interfax news agency that the court had declared Lebedev's registration illegal but had not annulled it.
The court ruling was a response to a complaint by another candidate, Krasnodar businessman Vladimir Trukhanovsky, who claimed that Lebedev had failed to properly fill out his registration paperwork, Lebedev wrote on his blog. Lebedev, who holds a blocking stake in Aeroflot and has stepped up his activity in liberal politics recently, posted an appeal to Central Elections Commission chief Vladimir Churov on his blog, asking him to intervene.
Lebedev's removal was predictable, said Alexei Titkov, an analyst with the Institute of Regional Politics. Lebedev "could have counted on up to 10 percent of the vote," Titkov said. If Lebedev is prevented from running, voters who supported him as a "businessman who is close to power" and a former security services agent will vote for United Russia, while others will turn to the Communist candidate, Titkov predicted.
Sochi is to host the 2014 Winter Olympics, a project for which the federal government has earmarked billions of dollars, and the next mayor will have a strong say over how the government will spend the money, The Moscow Times marks.
Russian Federal Security Service officer extorted millions from Moscow businessman
In Moscow an employee of the Federal Security Service (FSB) of the Russian Federation, suspected in extortion from the general director of one of capital city firms of a bribe at the amount of 4 million roubles, has been detained, according to news agency RBC.
The statement of the businessman served as the basis for bringing of a criminal case, According to the businessman, after transfer of the specified sum the employee of FSB promised to stop the check concerning the real estate firm. During check documents of financial and economic activity of the enterprise, as well as the system block have been withdrawn from the office of the company.
A criminal case on reception of a bribe interfaced to its extortion, in especially large amount has been brought against the employee of the intelligence service, RBC notes.
Latvia’s Information Analysis Service is to be winded up
The Latvian government today decided to abolish the the Information Analysis Service which has been working under supervision of the Prime Minister, news agency LETA reports. The National Security Act amendments have been worked out made to simplify movement of classified information, accelerate the national security-related information to state top officials and corresponding state agencies, to prevent duplication of functions of public authorities as well as save the state budget funds, says the document’s annotation.
It is envisaged that the Constitution Protection Bureau will again be responsible for the state security risks assessment and analysis, as it was before the creation of the Information Analysis Service and it will provide its execution in collaboration with other government security agencies.
According to the law On 2009 National Budget, 390 817 Lats have been allocated in 2009 to the Information Analysis Service. The monthly expenditure of the Information Analysis Service, including wages of its officials and employees, consists on average of 24 621 Lats.
In connection with the elimination of the Information Analysis Service the Latvian government today planned to adopt an amendment to the Law On Prevention of Conflict of Interests by Public Officials, excluding legal norms, which are associated with the Information Analysis Service or its employees.
The IAD was created in November, 2004. The head of the Information Analysis Service is Andris Brekis, his deputy is Andrejs Pantelejevs.
AIA also reported earlier that the reorganization of the service was already started during the previous government. Originally it was announced that the department will be eliminated, then this question was postponed several times in the Schedule of government's sessions, news agency adds.
Nalyvaychenko: situation in Crimea is normal, its parliament
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Valentin Nalyvaychenko |
and government actively collaborate with SBU
The situation in the Crimea does not cause concern in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the head of the SBU Valentin Nalyvaychenko told the newspaper Ukraina Molodaya, according to online paper Novy Region.
Nalyvaychenko noted that currently in the Crimea there is no problem of illegal delivery of the Russian passports. «Now the situation corresponds to the Ukrainian legislation», Nalyvaychenko marked in the interview to Ukraina Molodaya.
«We have serious interoperability with the Crimean parliament. The government of Crimea often appears in Kiev, at sessions of the Cabinet of Ministers, in the Secretariat of the President... So it is possible to say that the central authorities are present in the Crimea, and the Crimean ones here, in Kiev», the security service head explained.
“Now the problem is that in the Crimea there are no Ukrainian radio stations and television channels, there are no Ukrainian information products », complained Nalyvaychenko, Novy Region adds.
Anti-terrorist exercises in Sevastopol used by Russian media to accuse Ukraine’s security forces of violation of human rights
The Ukrainian intelligence agencies held anti-terrorist exercises yesterday in the central part of Sevastopol, during which the security forces employees detained a few dozen of passers-by who had appeared at this time in the area of Nakhimov prospectus, online paper Novy Region reports. The leadership of Ukrainian security forces has been reporting on successful exercises and provocations launched in this connection by the Russian Internet-portals and mass media.
According to the official version, Ukrainian security forces were training on release of hostages from the theatre name after Lunacharsky. The SBU informed the population through mass media in advance about the forthcoming exercises, having promised that the street traffic in the city core this day would function in a usual mode.
"Employees of the Security Service of Ukraine without any sorting sufficed pedestrians, stopped vehicles and delivered all the detained to a building of local drama theatre. Policemen and employees of intelligence agencies explained to the townspeople that in a separate area of Sevastopol anti-terrorist exercises have been carried out. The security forces decided to not explain what role in these exercises, terrorists or hostages, the average citizens should be playing", Russian army TV channel Zvezda reported.
Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported that the quay had been surrounded by a few dozen of employees of intelligence agencies and military patrols which had begun checking of documents. People were reportedly delivered to a theatre building which was provided with a ‘filtration camp’ sign. The news agency marked that tourists were shocked watching those scenes in the street.
The SBU employees have denied claims of some revolted residents of Sevastopol, having declared that "a real information war" has been conducted against the Ukrainian security service, Novy Region reports.
"When the training signal of terrorism threat sounded in the early morning, messages started to circulate on the Internet alleging that citizens of the Russian Federation had suffered at carrying out of anti-terrorist exercises. This information, according to the Anti-terrorism Centre staff, does not correspond to reality. There were no injured persons at carrying out of training anti-terrorist operation both, among the participants of the exercises, and among residents and visitors of Sevastopol", the head of the SBU Sevastopol directorate’s press centre, Yury Kondratyev, told the press, according to website Novy Sevastopol.
Ukraine’s Security Service explained why billboards of Project Russia had been dismantled in Kiev
The head of the Security Service of Ukraine Valentin Nalyvaychenko explained why the billboards with an inscription, Project Russia, had been dismantled from streets of Kiev, online paper Novy Region reports.
«It is not an Ukrainian project. As we understand, it was an attempt to advertise in such a provocative way a printed edition from the Russian Federation», the head of the
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security service underlined in an interview to the newspaper Ukraina Molodaya, edited by Mikhail Doroshenko, the fellow countryman and associate of the Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.
«There are no more such billboards. This means that the law does function in Ukraine and that the Kiev city authority has shown sufficient understanding of the situation», emphasized Nalyvaychenko.
Earlier Russian political analyst Dmitry Gusev, referring to his own sources, told the newspaper Delo that the objective of placement of the billboards was only a part of «the political project which is conceived and is supported by the Russian President’s administration and a group of Russian businessmen willing to defend their interests in Ukraine».
The billboards appeared in the Ukrainian capital in the beginning of April. Soon the member of the Ukrainian parliament Andrei Paruby protested against the Project Russia billboards as he saw them as propagation of the Russian imperialism and demanded from mayor's office of Kiev as well as the SBU to find the customer of scandalous advertising.
Flags of Romania and EU over Moldova’s presidential office building were run up by employees of Moldavan secret services
The Flags of Romania and the European Union which have been run up on April 7, over the building of the Moldova’s presidential office during the protest actions against falsifications of parliamentary elections, were raised up at presence of a policeman, a source in the Information and Security Service (SIS) of Moldova told news agency Regnum today. According to the source, the flag of Romania overt the building was raised by an employee of the SIS. AIA already reported on this version of events immediately following the protests at the presidential Office building in Chisinau.
The President of Moldova Vladimir Voronin directly connected occurrence of the flags of Romania and the EU over the building of the presidential office with charging of Romania in "a plot against the Moldavian statehood". He said that the idea about Bucharest standing behind the riots in Chisinau had appeared in his head after holding the protesters had lifted a flag of Romania over the presidential office building.
Self-proclaimed Transdnestr republic tightens security on border with Moldova
Vladimir Antyufeyev, the security minister for the unrecognized Moldovan republic of Transdnestr, has ordered that security on the border with Moldova be tightened to prevent the risk of unrest spreading to the region, Moscow-based daily Vedomosti reports.
"In the past, the threat of Moldova's unification with Romania divided the two regions and provoked the Transdnestr conflict," the paper cites Vladimir Yastrebchak, the foreign minister of the breakaway republic. "The Romanian factor has not disappeared in the 20 years since then, as evidenced by the developments in Chisinau. In this situation we need to protect the security and interests of the people."
Konstantin Zatulin, a member of the State Duma, the lower house of Russia's parliament, and head of the Moscow-based Institute of the CIS, said the events in Moldova could activate a mechanism for the declaration of independence of self-proclaimed Transdnestr. But Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the State Duma international affairs committee, said it would be counterproductive to discuss the Transdnestr problem now.
Late in March, Igor Smirnov, the president of the unrecognized Moldovan republic of Transdnestr, said a Russian military base could be established in the republic.
Day of Serbia’s Department for Security Management and VIP Protection marked
On the occasion of the Day of Serbia’s Department for Security Management and VIP Protection, the head of the department Zoran Tomasevic told the press that the department was founded in 2003 and it now employs 1.306 members of the police force, news agency Tanjug reports. He noted that the Department for Security Management and VIP Protection provides security services to several important personalities, including top state officials, judicial functionaries, diplomats and public figures.
Tomasevic said that a training program has been designed to further improve the skill of the employees and seminars and tests have been held as well, adding that training facilities have also been renovated. He noted that the renovation of the entire building that houses the department has also started and a library and target practice facility will now also be available.
A special ceremony on the day included exercises by members of the security department who displayed their martial arts skills and practices carried out in various security situations, Tanjug adds. The event was attended also by the Serbian Minister of Interior Ivica Dacic and Director of Police Milorad Veljovic.
Minister Dacic reiterated that crime knows no national differences, noting that good cooperation among state security services and judicial bodies is the main precondition for an efficient fight against crime, according to the news agency. Speaking about the Interior Ministry’s stance concerning the possibility of engaging the services of the department’s personnel for private purposes, Dacic said that it is the Ministry’s opinion that this is not permissible. Dacic also toured the training areas and saw the new uniform for members of the department, Tanjug adds.
In other development, Serbian police announced last week that they broke an international ring smuggling Chinese migrants to Serbia, Macedonia, Greece and others parts of Europe.
In Uzbekistan activists threatened after spurning secret service offer
Uktam Pardayev, an Uzbek human rights activist has stated publicly that his every move is under surveillance of security agents because he refused to become an informant for the National Security Service (SNB), EurasiaNet reports.
Pardayev, the chairman of the Jizzak branch of the Independent Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan, says three men approached him warning him that his life would be in danger if he refused to cooperate, according to the opposition news website Uznews.net. The online cite also quoted an unnamed source close to Pardayev as saying that the activist is followed everywhere: “on the street while visiting relatives, during meetings with friends." The source added that citizens who sought advice from the activist had received phone calls from the SNB asking why they had met with the rights defender.
Sukhrobjon Ismoilov, the head of the non-governmental organization Rapid Response Group Uzbekistan, told EurasiaNet it is time activists developed a strategy of organization and development which would allow them to counter the authorities' "illegal methods." A political observer in Tashkent said that it was not unusual for SNB agents to act in a more aggressive manner than personnel in the capital city of Tashkent. Efforts to intimidate human rights activists in Uzbekistan were aided by the fact that the activists themselves lacked organization. "They [activists] don't have a strategy of protection and development," EurasiaNet cites the expert, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
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