REVIEW TOPICS:
Polish military intelligence coder disappeared trackless, no threat to state security
Polish secret services were not aware of disappearance of military coder
Nobel Prize winner Walesa sues current Polish President over spy claims
Former GRU Chechen battalion commander reportedly attempted to declare blood feud to Chechen President
Federal Security Service member killed, special operation continues in Russia’s Dagestan
Russian President approved country’s National Security Strategy till 2020
Two brothers detained last March convicted in Moscow for spying on Gazprom
Russia’s Federal Security Service detected ammunition hiding place near Eurovision song contest site
Polish military intelligence coder disappeared trackless, no threat to state security
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The Polish Military Intelligence Services (SWW) and police are looking for Warrant Officer Stefan Zielonka, 52, amid mounting concerns that the man may have fallen into the hands of a foreign power after daily Dziennik reported that he went missing over a month ago. No option is excluded: from accidental death to betrayal, online paper Poland.com marks.
It was on Easter when his wife saw Stefan last time. Zielonka left his Warsaw flat in mid-April, and since then nothing has been seen of him. Along with having access to top-secret information, in particular he knows the code names, locations and contacts of Polish spies working overseas. If a foreign secret service could get its hands on all this, then much of the Poland’s intelligence framework could be compromised.
Zielonka worked for intelligence services for 30 years as a coder. Such a code specialist possesses unique and precious knowledge for other intelligence services, such as "keys, passwords, systems of confidential communications, including those used by NATO." Though, the head of SWW has declared that "there is no threat to state security."
It was rumored that his disappearance could have been caused by the alleged fact that he was one of the officers employed by two Russian diplomats who were expelled from Poland last year, popular daily Gazeta Wyborcza writes. According to Zbigniew Siematkowsky, the former intelligence head, his defection would mean „great losses”.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk has also spoken out on the issue. He suggested that the version causing sensation had not been confirmed as yet. One of the reasons of Zielonka disapperance could have been his bad state of health. Daily Dziennik revealed that Zielonka has been cured for depression and was considering leaving for pension. He reportedly felt lack of higher evaluation in his work.
There is also other hypothesis, that link missing of a warrant officer with suicide or murder. Dziennik quotes a source saying that the secret service officer had family problems. Along with this, he apparently had trouble at work owing to arguments over salary cuts. Investigators are also exploring the possibility that Zielonka may have taken his own life. It is also not excluded that he just wanted to escape from a dangerous life he led, Poland.com notes. Police have not excluded the possibility that Zielonka may have suffered an accident or been the victim of a crime unrelated to his work.
His mother Leokadia Zielonkova told Polish TV channel TVN24 that she believed her son was alive and would return home. She said one could always rely on him. Similar high appraisal was voiced by some of his colleagues, too.
Poland's secret services were not aware of disappearance of
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Stefan Zielonka |
military coder
For two weeks the Military Intelligence Services were not aware that the bearer of secrets has disappeared. Stefan Zielonka, a coder, who had knowledge of the activities of secret services. No one did even search for him, marks daily Dziennik.
"Stemming hair on the head,” it is how of the parliament members commented after listening to the report of the head of Poland’s military intelligence. The chief of military intelligence Radosaw Kujawa was urgently summoned to the parliament in the connection with the coder’s disappearance. It arises from his testimony before the parliamentary committee on secret services that two weeks ago the military intelligence had no idea that a man possessing dangerous knowledge had disappeared.
And so far the security services do not know what has happened to Zielonka, Dziennik emphasizes. Before his disappearance Zielonka was on sick leave for several weeks. However, after the end of treatment cure he did not appeared at work, though it did not cause any concern in the military service.
One of the parliamentary commission members told the newspaper that Zielonka’s colleagues supposed he had decided to finish his treatmement cure a few days later and his superiors became curious about his absence only after two weeks, Dziennik marks.
"For the past two years he lived in suspension - as a former servicemen of the WSI he was not verified neither positively nor negatively”, the newspaper writes regarding continuous vetting in the service. According to a report by Radio TOK FM, Zielonka had intention to leave the intelligence service.
Nobel Prize winner Walesa sues current Polish President over spy claims
Former Solidarity leader, Nobel Prize winner and Poland’s ex-President Lech Walesa, 65, is suing the current head of Polish state Lech Kaczynski for accusing him of working for the Communist secret services in the 1980s, The New Poland Express reports, referring to Walesa's office.
Lech Walesa is demanding an apology, and PLN 100,000, the Polish Press Agency, PAP, reported, over a comment Kaczynski made on Polsat television channel in June last year in which he supported accusations made in a book that Walesa had been a spy under the code-name of Bolek.
Walesa said he wanted to avoid legal procedure but Kaczynski broke his promises and didn’t honour neither the law, nor the court's verdict. In 2000, Walesa won the first of several court cases that cleared him of working as an informer for the communist-era security police (SB).
The critics have repeatedly re-hashed the attacks alleging him to be a spy, The New Poland Express marks. Many believe the accusations against Walesa are politically driven, or the result of jealousy.
Walesa threatened to leave the country last month, calling renewed allegations from the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) “revolting, barbarian slander.” He has more recently said he will boycott celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of Communism next month.
Former Russian GRU Chechen battalion commander reportedly
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attempted to declare blood feud to Chechen President
The former commander of the Russian military intelligence (GRU) Chechen Vostok battalion* Sulim Yamadayev who was announced dead by the Dubai police earlier this year reportedly made an attempt these days to declare blood feud to the President of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov and his cousin, member of the Russian State Duma, Adam Delimkhanov, Moscow-based daily Kommersant reports today.
According to Sulim’s brother Isa Yamadayev, who contacted the edition, he practically has recovered from the received wounds and decided to address those whom he considers guilty of the organization of the assassination attempt against him and murder of his older brother Ruslan Yamadayev. The latter, a former member of the State Duma, was shot dead in Moscow on September 24, 2008.
"One of these days Sulim contacted me through the Skype and told me that through our neighbour in Gudermes, mulla of local mosque Nurid-Khadzhi Kimayev he had declared blood feud to Ramzan Kadyrov and Adam Delimkhanov", the daily cites Isa Yamadayev. According to Isa Yamadayev, following Muslim common law, his brother asked mulla Kimayev to transfer the information on revenge to the elder of the Kadyrovs, the chairman of religious teachers' council of the Chechen Republic Khodzh-Akhmed Kadyrov.
Kimayev told the newspaper that a few days ago he received a mobile phone call from a person who presented himself as Sulim Yamadayev and told him that he declared blood feud to President Kadyrov and parliament member Delimkhanov. The cleric categorically refused to accept the information and to transfer it further on. He told the Kommersant that they really had lived with the Yamadayevs in the same neighbourhood and well knew their family, however, he had not seen and heard Sulim Yamadayev for many years and could not be sure that it was him speaking. Kimayev added that even if he had recognized the speaker as Sulim Yamadayev he would not carry out his request as he did not want "to participate in disassemblies". So the procedure was not observed and the blood feud was formally not declared, the newspaper marks.
The Dubai police said Sulim Yamadayev was killed on March 28, at underground parking of an apartment block in Dubai where he lived for some months. Meanwhile the relatives of the ex-commander of Vostok battalion have been insisting that he has survived, though he had received heavy injuries at the assassination attempt. Last week Isa Yamadayev told news agency Rosbalt that Sulim’s health had improved and he had started to talk.
Isa Yamadayev believes that Kimayev recognized the voice of his brother, however did not want to transfer his message to not break the relationship between the Yamadayevs and Kadyrovs, belonging to the same teip (also taip; Chechen tribal organization or clan) of Benoy, Kavkaz Center reports.
Isa Yamadayev declared that he was going to act «according to the law» and achieve punishment of those who are guilty of murder of his brother Ruslan Yamadayev. Kavkaz Center marks as curiosity that access to Skype in the United Arab Emirates is limited for some years. However, according to Isa Yamadayev, there are no restrictions to use Skype in the hospital where Sulim Yamadayev lies.
Sulim Yamadayev has been possibly taken out of the United Arab Emirates, «it is not excluded that he has been delivered to Europe» for carrying out of a complicated medical operation, according to Russian online paper Gazeta.ru, referring to one of his relatives in the Chechen Republic. One of the bullets shot during the assassination attempt in Dubai on March 28, has actuated the splinter which has remained in Yamadayev’s body since 1998 when a militants bomb exploded in Gudermes.
* AIA has devoted a special dossier to Chechen security forces, including battalion Vostok.
Federal Security Service member killed, special operation
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FSB column near Endirey |
stopped till tomorrow morning in Russia’s Dagestan
The group of militants blocked in Khasavyurt district of Dagestan has been partially eliminated; a member of the Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia spetsnaz was killed, news agency Interfax reports, referring to the group of public relations of the FSB Dagestan directorate.
The exact data on number of the killed militants is not available. The staff has been receiving reports on detected corpses. The dugout which served as cover for the group of militants has been found. In the forest there are some centres of resistance; operation on neutralization of the armed militants has been proceeding, according to Interfax. The special operation was stopped in the evening to be resumed early tomorrow.
The regime of counterterrorist operation has been announced in the territory of Khasavyurt and Kazbekovsky districts of Dagestan. It extends on villages Endirey, Arkabash, Leninaul and Dylym, according to the FSB source. The group of the armed people now is blocked in a large forest two kilometers from village of Endirey, RIA Novosti says.
FSB field engineers disarmed explosive near Makhachkala in Russia’s Dagestan
The Federal Security Service of Russia Dagestan directorate’s field engineers neutralized an explosive detected this morning in the settlement of Semender in suburb of Makhachkala, news agency RIA Novosti reports, referring to a spokeman of the FSB republican directorate.
«The explosive representing a mine thrower’s shell with an electric detonator, was revealed this morning in the settlement of Semender. It was hidden in a rubber boot. The FSB directorate’s sappers destroyed the detonator using a water canon. The explosive was packed with sand bags for its further destruction, the source added.
After destruction of Moscow military laboratory FSB strengthened protection of military facilities throughout Russia
According to Russian mass media, on May 12, in Izhevsk a session of the Udmurt Republic’s Operative staff on management of counter-terrorism operations took place during which the question of situation of "antiterrorist security” of military facilities deployed in
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| Pipeline fire in Moscow |
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the territory of Udmurtiya was considered. The session was headed by the chief of the FSB of Russia directorate in the Udmurt Republic, Vertunov. Independent observers mark in this context that never before media reported about similar sessions concerning Russian militaries, online paper Kavkaz Center points out.
After destruction by saboteurs on May 9 in Moscow of secret military enterprise of manufacture of chemical/nuclear weapons protection of military facilities has been strengthened all across Russia, Kavkaz Center reports. According to Russian media, Rostekhnadzor considers diversion as one of possible reasons of destruction by explosion on the pipeline of the military laboratory of the physical and chemical scientific research institute named after L.Karpov in Moscow which had reportedly been engaged in manufacture of chemical/nuclear weapons.
According to news agencies, the FSB and Ministry of Interior of Russia have already begun search of the persons who committed the diversive operation. The experts have reportedly marked that some characteristics very much reminded damages at explosion of gas pipeline in 2000 in area of 1st Setunsky lane in Moscow. The same as today then it was affirmed at first that the explosion was a technogenic failure, later it was found out that those were Russian nationalists who committed the crime.
Russian President approved country’s National Security Strategy till 2020
The President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev signed the decree On National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation till 2020, news agency ITAR-TASS reports, referring to the Kremlin press service.
«By the given decree with a view of consolidation of efforts of federal executive power, bodies of the state authority of subjects of the Russian Federation, the organizations and citizens of the Russian Federation in the area of maintenance of national security, the head of the state approved the Strategy of National Security of the Russian Federation till 2020», it is said in the report.
According to the press service, the text of the National Security Strategy is published on the website of Russia’s Security Council.
The Secretary of the Security Council of Russia Nikolai Patrushevs told the newspaper Izvestiya that the major feature of the strategy document is its social and political orientation. «Maintenance of worthy conditions of life has been recognized the same priority as maintenance of national security, as well as traditional directions, defensibility and security of the state», news agency cites Patrushev.
Two brothers detained last March convicted in Moscow for spying on Gazprom
Moscow's Tverskoi District Court convicted Ilya and Alexander Zaslavsky last week of illegal acquisition of classified commercial data from gas giant OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS), news agencies reported, referring to the Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russian Federation spokesman. The Associated Press cites the security service spokesman saying the Zaslavsky brothers tried to bribe an employee of state-owned Russian energy company Gazprom for company information.
The FSB official said Ilya Zaslavsky, who worked as an advisor on regulatory affairs at Russia's firm TNK-BP, UK oil major BP PLC's (BP) Russian joint venture, had been given a one-year suspended sentence with a two-year probationary period. His brother, Alexander, who worked for the British Council in Russia, was given the same sentence, according to the FSB spokesman.
The two brothers, who have both Russian and US citizenship, were detained last March after a series of police raids on TNK-BP, a major Russian oil company half-owned by British Petroleum, where Ilya Zaslavsky worked. It was taking place during a month-long shareholder conflict at TNK-BP - owned on a parity basis between BP and a group of Russian business tycoons - over management and control of the company, Dow Jones adds. In March last year, Ilya Zaslavsky, an TNK-BP Ltd., Russia's third largest oil producer, and his brother Alexander, an independent energy consultant who headed the British Council's Alumni Club, were charged with industrial espionage by the Federal Security Service, or FSB.
Russia’s Federal Security Service detected ammunition hiding place near Eurovision song contest site
In day of the first semifinal of Eurovision song contest, the Federal Security Service of Russia officers prevented an act of terrorism, scheduled by unknown criminals, online paper Life.ru reports.
Near the sports centre Olympiysky, the site of the main European song contest, security service officers detected a polyethylene package with six 9mm cartridges. It happened just hours before the beginning of the concert; competitors had to appear onstage at 11pm and the hiding place with ammunition was found at intersection of Vypolzova lane and Olympiysky prospectus at 7:30 pm.
Employees of intelligence agencies have assumed that this find attests to a prepared attempt at someone from musicians, Life.ru notes. As yet operatives cannot name neither eventual, nor their possible victim, online paper marks.
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