REVIEW TOPICS:
Russian FSB head says security services prevented suicide bomb attacks on Moscow
Director of Russian Federal Security Service alleges that secret services of Georgia are involved in transfer of terrorists to Chechen Republic
Kremlin cedes control of anti-terrorism operation in Chechen Republic to Kadyrov instead of Federal Security Service - analyst
Russian Federal Security Service detained ecological activists in area of preparations for Olympic Games
US shooting victim fears crime linked to Russian secret services - newspaper
Activity of Kazakhstan-based religious sect Farkhat-Ata stopped by KGB in Belarus
Conflict between Financial Police and National Security Committee of Kazakhstan breaks out in Almaty
Sheinkman’s case should be considered in accordance to legislation – Israel’s Foreign Minister
Director of Russian Federal Security Service alleges that secret services of Georgia are involved in transfer of terrorists to Chechen Republic
General Alexander Bortnikov, the Director of the Federal Security Service (FSB) of the Russian Federation, declared at the session of the National Anti-terrorism Committee that the security services of Georgia had participated in transfer of terrorists to territory of Russia’s Chechen Republic and supplying of arms to insurgents in Dagestan, news agency Interfax
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Gen.Alexander Bortnikov |
reports.
The FSB Director also emphasized that members of the secret services of Georgia "have been constantly undertaking attempts of delivery of weapons, explosives and financial assets for fulfillment of diversions on objects of high danger in Dagestan, first of all, on oil and gas pipelines".
"Audio evidence seized from insurgents shows that, together with emissaries of Al-Qaeda, they had contacts with representatives of the Georgian secret services", AFP cites Bortnikov claiming. Through these links, Georgia "participated in the training and transfer of terrorists to the territory of Chechnya," the FSB chief reportedly said.
Moscow’s statements that security services of Georgia have been allegedly collaborating with Al-Qaeda is complete absurdity, the Vice Speaker of the Georgian parliament Paata Davitaya told the journalists, according to Novosti-Gruziya.
«It is complete absurdity, as there are no representatives of Al-Qaeda present in the territory of Georgia and they cannot be there, because we observe all the recognized international norms and it is excluded», Davitaya commented. He expressed assumption that similar statements had been made in Moscow “to put some opposite arguments in the course of negotiations with the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton”.
Russian FSB head says security services prevented suicide bomb attacks on Moscow
Alexander Bortnikov, the Director of the Federal Security Service (FSB) of the Russian Federation, told Russian media today that the security forces had prevented a series of suicide attacks on the Russian capital last month, news agencies are reporting from Moscow.
The Russian secret services in September neutralized five insurgents who had had training preparation as terrorists-suicide bombers. One of them has been detained in Moscow. Referring to him, Bortnikov said he was planning a "terrorist attack" during a public holiday on September 5, according to Reuters. An investigation has been launched into the five men's activities, the head of the security services added.
"As long as the problem in the North Caucasus is unresolved, there will always be a risk for Moscow," Reuters cites Sergei Goncharov, head of a group of former elite KGB troops and a deputy in the Moscow city government. "For every three they catch there are another two planning a similar attack," he told Reuters by phone.
Kremlin cedes control of anti-terrorism operation in Chechen Republic to Kadyrov instead of Federal Security Service - analyst
Andrei Soldatov, a leading Moscow expert on the security agencies and editor of the Agentura.ru website, describes in the latest issue of the Yezhednevny zhurnal how the Russian federal government effectively handed over control of counter-terrorist actions in the Chechen Republic to the Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov while suggesting it was doing just the reverse, allegedly having decided to return control of operations there to the Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia.
According to Soldatov, the Unified Group of Forces “plays a subordinate role” in comparison with the Operational Staff, created in 2001 after “the military operation in the Chechen Republic was officially concluded.” Originally the Operational Staff was led by the FSB, but in July 2003, Moscow transferred control over this body to the Russian Interior Ministry “in order to show that in Chechnya the militants could be put down by the methods of police operations” rather than military or intelligence ones. However, the FSB remained very much in charge although in a position to shift responsibility and blame to others. That is because, Soldatov continues, Moscow named Arkady Yedelev, a deputy interior minister but “a cadre officer of the FSB,” to run the staff.
Yedelev included “several local Chechen security forces members” on the Staff, but that because the federal officials “did not trust” them, each agency planned its own operations independently. However, according to Soldatov, by 2009 this arrangement did not satisfy Kadyrov who clearly saw the declared end of the counter-terrorism operation to be a good time to try to take control over the Operational Staff, one of last structures in Chechnya not completely under his control.
Already at the start of the summer, Soldatov says, there were indications that “the Kremlin intended to return to the FSB control (and responsibility) for the struggle with terrorism” by putting FSB regional chiefs in charge of these operations. But there was always to be one exception: Chechnya, where Yedelev was in charge as deputy interior minister.
Kadyrov and the Chechens wanted this “exception” eliminated because if the local FSB head was put in nominal charge of the Operational Staff, then Grozny’s control of that body would be “practically” achieved given that the FSB office there is “the most passive force structure in the republic.” That was achieved when Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said he was unhappy with the counter-terrorism effort in the North Caucasus.
US shooting victim fears crime linked to Russian secret services - newspaper
The St.Petersburg Times of Russia in its latest isue recalls an attack some 2 1/2 years ago in Washington, D.C., when Paul Joyal was shot and injured. It was on March 1, 2007, when he was returning home from the International Spy Museum, where he had been meeting with, of all people, an old friend who once was a top officer in the KGB.
The motive still remains uncertain. Police assumed that Joyal was the victim of a random street crime.
Joyal studied in the Soviet Union in college. After graduation, he went to work on Capitol Hill, eventually serving as director of security for the Senate Intelligence Committee. Joyal traveled frequently to Moscow and to the newly independent Georgia.
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Paul Joyal |
It was during this time that he met former KGB counterintelligence chief Oleg Kalugin, forming a friendship and a business partnership. Joyal helped Kalugin land a teaching position at Catholic University in Washington, The St.Petersburg Times notes.
When the next Russian President Vladimir Putin called Kalugin a “traitor” for criticizing Russia. In 2002, Kalugin was convicted in absentia on treason charges; the United States refused to extradite him.
Joyal spoke out forcefully against the changes. He was a frequent commentator on the BBC decrying what he considered Russian bullying tactics against Georgia. Joyal became a paid lobbyist in the United States for Georgia then.
He and Kalugin remained close. It was Kalugin whom Joyal had met at the spy museum before the shooting.
As the investigation proceeded, some saw signs that the shooting was not typical of a random street crime; Joyal’s wallet was not taken and his car still sat in the driveway.
Rich Wolf, a spokesman for the FBI in Baltimore, said the bureau provided some assistance to county police but is not actively involved in the case. He declined to discuss in any detail why the bureau did not take a more active role. Joyal believes it would likely require a strong commitment from the FBI.
Oliver “Buck” Revell, a former associate deputy director of the FBI who now owns a security consulting company, says to think that the Russians might be willing to assassinate a US citizen in his front yard is rather alarming.
Besides the Dateline TV appearance and his decades of high-level involvement on Russian security issues and friendships with people like Kalugin, other factors must be considered, Joyal said.
Also interviewed for the Dateline program was Times of London reporter Daniel McGrory, who also criticized the Russians. McGrory was found dead in his home just a few days before the segment aired. The 54-year-old had appeared to be healthy but died of a heart attack.
Joyal’s wife and others had worried about the risks of him speaking up, especially in a national broadcast, but before the shooting he dismissed their concern.
Joyal has maintained his professional involvement in Russian security issues but he has scaled back his public profile in the last two years in part out of respect for his family’s concerns for his safety.
Russian Federal Security Service detained ecological activists in area of preparations for Olympic Games
Yesterday in the area of the village of Akhshatyr the Russian Federal Security Service’s (FSB) Border Guard Service detained a group of ecologists known for the struggle against ecologically dangerous projects of Olympic Games, WWF reports. The arrested persons have been charged with violation of the state border regime. The 22nd Olympic Games will take place in the Russian Black Sea resort, named Sochi. The detention has occured in the 31st quarter of Veselovsky forest area of Sochi National Park.
The coordinator of the North Caucasus Ecological Watch Andrei Rudomakh, member of the Ecological Watch Suren Ghazaryan, Professor, Dr Valery Akatov, member of the Ecological Watch Alik Lhe and a journalist from Germany Jutta Blume have been detained.
«The significant part of objects of the Olympic Games is located in the border zone with a special regime that contradicts the spirit of Olympic Games which assume, on the contrary, the facilitated access of the public to objects, including for the ecological control. Today's incident has opened a new page of preparations for the Olympic Games, preparations against scientists and the public which have been self-denying and disinterestedly protecting the unique nature of the Caucasus, and the security forces, which have showed shameful inactivity in the course of committing ecological crimes during preparations for the Olympic Games, have started to be used against the public control”, WWF of Russia director Igor Chestin is cited in the WWF press-release.
Activity of Kazakhstan-based religious sect Farkhat-Ata stopped by KGB in Belarus
The chief of the KGB Brest area directorate’s press group Mikhail Sharkovsky told news agency BelaPAN that in the city of Brest activity of the Farkhat-Ata sect had been stopped.
The KGB officers established that the activity of the sect in Brest was organized by "the pupils" of Farkhat Abdullayev who have arrived to Belarus from Kazakhstan. He created the Farkhat-Ata organization in Kazakhstan in the mid-1980s and elevated himself to the rank of "the founder" and "the Messiah of Mankind".
"On the basis of rented premises in the regional centre his "pupils" periodically were holding seminars on "healing of physical illnesses" which as a matter of fact are one of forms of involving of people in the numbers of followers of Abdullayev’s teaching. The cost of one session per person per hour was 50,000 roubles. The "pupils of the Messiah" also were selling the literature propagandizing the teaching", BelaPAN cites Sharkovsky.
In August, when the next "pupils" of the Farkhat-Ata arrived to Brest from Kazakhstan, the KGB Brest area directorate’s officials together with the members of inspection of the Ministry of Taxes and Tax Collection Service of the city Moscow district carried out control purchase of "medical services".
Currently the KGB Brest area directorate "has been taking measures on localization of negative consequences of pseudo-religious activity of citizens of Kazakhstan in the territory of Belarus", according to Sharkovsky. He noted that in the regional centre about 30 persons had appeared under religious influence of the Farkhat-Ata sect. In total more than 100 people have attended seminars on "healing of physical illnesses".
"As a whole the cult of the Farkhat-Ata followers created in Brest was a typical commercial project under religious cover and has been directed on wangling of money from the citizens having health problems. By the way, in Russia and Kazakhstan a number of cases are fixed when hard sick people who have got under influence of the above mentioned sect, refused treatment by traditional ways of medicine and died. In May, 2008, in Brest, a city resident who got under religious influence of adherents of the sect refused medicamentous treatment and died,” emphasized Sharkovsky.
According to the Belarus law On Freedom of Worship and Religious Organizations, the state spiritual examination is to define whether the Farkhat-Ata is really a destructive religious sect, the KGB officials explained to BelaPAN.
Conflict between Financial Police and National Security Committee of Kazakhstan breaks out in Almaty
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| Financial Police Academy emblem |
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In Almaty, Kazakhstan, a serious service conflict between the National Security Committee (KNB) of Kazakhstan and local directorate of the Agency on Struggle Against Corruption and Economic Crimes (Financial Police) has emerged, news agency KazTAG reports, referring to sources in the law enforcement bodies and city’s Prosecutor’s Office.
“Near one of the KNB buildings in Almaty the employees of Financial Police have been detained in a special vehicle from which they were taking photos of all employees of the security service entering and leaving the building and also the visitors”, an employee of the Prosecutor’s Office who wished to remain unknown told the news agency.
“After suspicious vehicles have been fixed by surveillance cameras, the special-task group of the KNB has neutralized surveillance and searched the vehicle. It was found out that the car belonged to the directorate of the Financial Police. The survey of the vehicle fixed presence of photos of the KNB employees and copies of documents from private files of many officers of the security service”, other source of the news agency told. The given information was partly confirmed by the eyewitness of detention, KazTAG adds. According to the information of some sources, the documents found in the vehicle of Financial Police, presumably were copies of classified documents from a KNB department.
The employee of Prosecutor’s Office assumed that one of the formal bases for development of the conflict eventually was an absence of the sanction of the Prosecutor’s Office by the Financial Police for operative actions concerning the KNB officers and there was only an oral order of the central leadership.
The relations between the two state security agencies are rather tense and, according to unofficial reports, both sides have been undertaking both administrative and operative measures against each other.
At the same time, the source of the news agency in law enforcement bodies assumes such opposition because of aggravation of struggle against corruption in the KNB and the Financial Police which recently have carried out mutual exchange of detained officers on suspicion of corruption crimes.
A number of mass media outlets and online editions already informed about the conflict between employees of Almaty police and the Financial Police. According to media, the conflict was provoked by detention of a senior officer of one of Almaty interior departments and some officers of the Traffic Police. Presumably the conflict was settled after personal meeting between the high-ranking officers from both sides in Almaty and Astana.
The operative of the Ministry of Interior noted in an interview to the KazTAG that similar confrontation negatively reflected in activity of the departments. “The operatives are exhausted, carrying out such tasks of the leadership, and sometimes they have been breaking their careers in such conflicts. The cross-clearing usually does not bring any practical advantage, causing nothing but interdepartmental hostility. All this for short term from expensive operative and investigatory actions can turn into much more dear political strike with involving all forces and means. Ordinary employees sometimes even appear in prison and they remain there even after their bosses have already amicably agreed with each other”, the agency’s source declared. He pointed out that such rivalry stirred law enforcement bodies to their basic work.
Meanwhile the KNB press service “appeared not informed about the occurred incident”. The KNB press secretary Kenzhebulat Beknazarov emphasized in a phone conversation with the KazTAG that he did not know anything about it. The Financial Police also declined to comment on this matter.
Sheinkman’s case should be considered in accordance to legislation – Israel’s Foreign Minister
The deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel Avigdor Liberman considers that the case of Boris Sheinkman should be considered in strict accordance to legislation, news agency KAzTAG reports. On March 30, the Investigatory department of the National Security Committee (KNB) of Kazakhstan brought official case on the fact of swindle concerning the 62-years-old citizen of Israel Boris Sheinkman who represented in Kazakhstan interests of the companies of Israel’s military industry. At present the businessman is in Astana insulator of the National Security Committee of Kazakhstan.
“We consider that this question should be considered in full accordance with the legislation. Our embassy is engaged in studying the case. So, I do not think that it is necessary to interfere with more legal processes”, the minister told yesterday, answering a question of journalists whether “the question of Sheinkman’s stay in the investigatory insulator of the KNB” was discussed at the minister’s meeting with the President of Kazakhstan.
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