REVIEW TOPICS:
Authorities of Lithuania to take activity of security services under rigid control
Money from Romanian intelligence service appeared in ‘skillful hands’ when paying ransom, new book reveals
Activities of Bulgarian secret services in Macedonia described in television report
Revelations of former secret service agent under scrutiny of Bulgarian parliamentary commission
Bulgarian Defence Ministry’s security chief detained, accused of illegal eavesdropping
Socialist Party had deals with Saddam Hussein, Bulgaria’s former intelligence top official alleges
Bomb reportedly found in surroundings of Armenia’s nuclear power plant
King of Saudi Arabia received US CIA head and Russian FSB General
Authorities of Lithuania to take activity of security services under rigid control
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During consultations of the NATO allies, Lithuanian authorities have developed a new concept of development of all security services, Litovsky kuryer newspaper reports from Vilnius.
The President of Lithuania has prepared a new concept of development of country’s intelligence system, the paper expands. In the near future the draft document will be presented to parliamentary National Defense and Security Committee and the State Defence Council, Litovsky kuryer reports.
"It is aimed at carrying out of reform of national intelligence system, depolitization of all security services of the country, including the State Security Department, and clear definition of the mechanism of control and coordination of actions of security services", the statement of the presidential administration says.
Essential strengthening of the control of President, the government, the parliament and the heads of separate ministries over intelligence services of Lithuania is envisaged in this draft document.
In the draft concept it is offered to create a post of the coordinator and a group on coordination of intelligence. The coordinator of intelligence should be accountable before members of the State Defence Council and watch that activity of security services were carried out within the framework of the given instructions.
Consultations with intelligence agencies and heads of counterintelligence of the NATO countries, the European Union and the officials of neighbouring states responsible for the organization of civil and military intelligence were held in the course of preparation of the draft project, Litovsky kuryer concludes.
King of Saudi Arabia received United States CIA head and Russian FSB General
News agencies have been reporting that Saudi Arabia's King Abdallah received in Riyadh the Director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Leon E. Panetta yesterday as both countries become more involved in the deadly war in Yemen.
The Saudi Press Agency reported that apparently, King Abdallah Bin Abd Al-Aziz Al Saud also held another meeting on the same day with the head of the Federal Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation of the Russian Federation, Lieutenant-General of the Federal Security Service (FSB) Mikhail Dmitriyev.
The report, however, did not include any specific details about the topics that were discussed during the two meetings.
Early this month, the Saudi Arabian government directly entered the military conflict in Yemen by launching an offensive against northern parts of the country based on the allegation that the Houthi fighters had killed two of its soldiers on the border. Yemeni and Saudi forces have deployed more troops to the mountainous northern region to intensify their military operation.
Revelations of former secret service agent under scrutiny of Bulgarian parliamentary commission
The parliamentary committee for control of Bulgaria’s National Agency for Security (DANS) is going to investigate the revelations about backstage rulers and scenarios made by former secret service agent Alexei Petrov, Sofia News Agency reports.
Petrov claimed to have revealed before the committee members the names and secret information about a political model of circles eliminating opponents in Bulgaria over the recent years. Earlier Petrov threatened to reveal the information to the public if the authorities failed to act upon it, news agency marks.
The Committee Chairman Ivan Kostov revealed that the top secret intelligence report of DANS which was published online by an unknown person in October 2009 was not exactly the secret report that Alexei Petrov handed in. Kostov believes the report published online lacks a number of pages but said inspection must be done by the Prosecutor’s Office. Petrov says he did not give the document available in the Internet and can distinguish between the two copies. He did not announce the name of the person who made the report available in the Internet, said Kostov, according to Focus News Agency.
Regarding Petrov’s claims that he had revealed all the names of people involved in organized illegal activities that he knew, Kostov said he heard only three names but also remarked that we not present during the entire time of the hearing of the former DANS agent.
Petrov dismissed the allegations that DANS structures had been taken over by organized crime groups, including many agents, and had been used for racketeering activities.
“In August 2008, there was an internal conflict in the agency; this is when the serious work on the high-level corruption and organized crime started,” Petrov is quoted as saying.
The former DANS agent criticised chairman Kostov “because Kostov has demonstrated that he abuses information he receives, and then interprets it and spreads it his own way.” Petrov referred to the Galerita spying case where he had been revealed by Kostov as one of the former agents who pressured leading Bulgarian journalists. Petrov confirmed about an attempt to intimidate him and said that he saw Kostov’s tactics behind that attempt.
In 2008, Petrov served as an advisor to the former Director of DANS, Petko Sertov. Petrov was in the centre of scandal that led to the resignation of the former Interior Minister Rumen Petkov, in April 2008. Petkov was revealed to have met with the notorious Dupnitsa gangsters Galevi Brothers. While explaining that the meeting was part of his measure to deal with organized crime, Petkov slipped the name of undercover agent Alexei Petrov.
In October, 2009, Bulgaria’s Prime Minister, Boiko Borisov stated that Petrov had given him a copy of a top secret intelligence report from October 2008, which allegedly had been hidden and mishandled by former Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev because it incriminated certain officials and circles with major violations. Both Stanishev and former DANS head Sertov are under investigation for mishandling classified information, Sofia News Agency adds.
Activities of Bulgarian secret services in Macedonia described in television report
Macedonian Kanal 5 television reported, citing German editions of Der Spiegel and Deutsche Welle, about operations of Bulgarian secret services, Lake and Octopus, in Macedonia.
Bulgarians with secret nicknames of Slavey, Posrednik and Beglets were involved in these operations. Macedonian TV channel noted.
It has been marked that Macedonian media have published the names of the agents of Bulgaria’s State Agency for National Security (DANS) and their operations in Macedonia in the text of 69 pages. “Contacts of Bulgarian citizens with Macedonian and pro-Bulgarian orientation, employees of the Bulgarian Embassy in Skopje are carefully monitored. Strengthened control on the work of the Bulgarian VMRO in Macedonia has been felt. There is maximum control for receiving Bulgarian citizenship”, the document says, according to Focus News Agency.
An DANS informant called The Farm was delivering information on reforms in the Macedonian security services aiming unification and placed under control of the Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. Bulgarian intelligence agents have reported their activities in Macedonia directly to the then Prime Minister Sergeo Stanishev. The document from 2008 says that the Macedonian intelligence have historically high intelligence activity in Bulgaria, based on the assessment that Bulgaria is a serious danger in terms of the Macedonian national identity, news agency expands.
Bulgarian Defence Ministry’s security chief detained, accused of illegal eavesdropping
The head of the Internal Security section of the Bulgarian Ministry of Defense has been caught illegally spying on one of the deputy directors of the military police. The official has been detained, but has not yet been arrested. He remains under guard at the Military Medical Academy as he suffering from flu, BNR reported.
The Internal Security section head had allegedly eavesdropped on the police deputy director for six months. He stands accused of illegal usage of special intelligence devices, a crime for which the Bulgarian penal code prescribes a maximum of three years’ imprisonment. In a search of his home, explosives and ammunition were discovered.
Military prosecutors have questioned Brigadier-General Milko Chulev, Director of the Military Police, and Deputy Chief Inspector of the Defense Ministry. Earlier they had announced that the employee was being investigated for criminal breach of trust. Details about the person and about the alleged deeds are subject to secret investigation, the prosecutors stated. According to Darik Radio, the detained officer is Major Krasen Fenerov.
Socialist Party had deals with Saddam Hussein, Bulgaria’s former intelligence top official alleges
Bulgaria's former intelligence head Dimo Gyaurov told in Sofia that there was evidence that the Bulgarian Socialist Party had had dealings with the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein, Focus News Agency reports. Gyaurov marked that he had alerted the prosecutors about this several times. The former top intelligence official, however, refused to say whether the current Bulgarian President Georgi Purvanov, who headed the Socialist Party at the time, had signed the deal.
The Iraqi money scandal first broke in Febuary 2004 when the Baghdad-based newspaper Al-Mada published the names of more than 200 individuals and organizations in more than 40 countries who allegedly received oil payoffs from Saddam Hussein in exchange for their support. The surviving records of Hussein's regime revealed that the Bulgarian Socialist Party have received 12 million barrels of oil in 1998, worth about $250 million at the time, as a "gift" from Saddam back, news agency notes.
President Purvanov, who headed the Socialist Party at the time, denied the charge, naming it "inappropriate black humor." Meanwhile the parliamentary committee for control of Bulgaria’s National Agency for Security (DANS), Ivan Kostov, urged the government of Prime Minister Boiko Borissov to demand all documentation about the UN Oil for Food program from the Iraqi government in order to find out whether Purvanov was involved in any illegal dealings in the late 1990s, news agency adds.
Money from Romanian intelligence service appeared in ‘skillful hands’ when paying ransom, new book reveals
The former prosecutor of the Romanian Direction for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) Ciprian Nastasiu unveils in Victor Gaetan's book, Pradarea Romaniei (Stealing Romania), details of the kidnapping of three Romanian journalists in Iraq and President Traian Basescu's implication, daily Cotidianul reports. The book, launched during the last week of presidential campaign in Romania, argues that Basescu was the one who controlled the game in Baghdad.
Nastasiu tells the author of the book that businessman Omar Hayssam planned the kidnapping of the three Romanian journalists in March 2005, who were lured to Iraq with promises to interview high profile Iraqis and Syrians. Nastasiu speaks about a ransom, worth of $13 - 14 million, from a special fund of the Romanian Foreign Intelligence Service (SIE). Only $9 million are said to have reached Baghdad, the rest of the money landing in "skilled hands", the paper marks.
Bomb reportedly found in surroundings of Armenia’s nuclear power plant
A bomb was found near Armenia’s nuclear power plant, online paper Aysor reports, referring to Armenia’s Rescue Service.
According to report, the National Security Service of Armenia, employees of the police, Defense Ministry and Rescue Service immediately took control of the surrounding territory, 300 meters around the plant.
The spokesman of the Rescue Service said that combat engineers of Armenia’s Defense Ministry transported the bomb to separate area and neutralized it, Aysor adds.
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