REVIEW TOPICS:
Russian President charged to Federal Security Service, General Prosecutor to investigate crash of express train
Second explosion went off at site of Russian express passenger train crash
Death of reserve Russian military intelligence officer, arms and local conflicts expert, may not be caused by natural reasons - website
Russian Federal Security Service detained agent of non-existent national security agency
Propaganda film with participation of children found in East German Stasi archive
Iraq's Saddam Hussein was planning terrorist attack at US Congress-funded radio in Prague
Russian President charged to Federal Security Service, General Prosecutor to investigate crash of express train
The President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev has charged to the Federal Security Service (FSB) chairman General Alexander Bortnikov, Prosecutor General Yury Chaika and Extraordinary Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu to clear out circumstances of the crash of passenger train running from Moscow to St. Petersburg, news agencies are reporting.
The head of the Russian Railways, Vladimir Yakunin, reported to the President on the crash of the Nevsky Express train in the Tver area.
According to the Kremlin press service, emergency measures have been undertaken by the Russian Railways for evacuation of passengers. The reason for the derailment is not yet clear.
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| Nevsky Express at crash site |
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President Medvedev has instructed the FSB head Alexander Bortnikov and General Prosecutor Yury Chaika to carry out all necessary investigatory actions and to provide investigation of the reasons of crash, the press service says. Russia's official RIA Novosti news agency notes that a power outrage might have caused the accident. Security forces do not exclude a possibility of an act of terror.
In 2007, a similar incident already occurred with the Nevsky Express. Then it was recognized an act of terrorism, and the trial has been going on regarding the case, online paper NEWSru adds. 27 people were injured then in the result of a bomb blast on the same line.
Second explosion went off at site of Russian express passenger train crash
It has been found out yesterday that on the site of the train crash there were two explosive devices, the Russian Railways head Vladimir Yakunin has confirmed, according to news agency ITAR-TASS. The second explosive took effect yesterday afternoon at the site where emergency teams were working. It did not cause destructions and claimed no victims. It appeared that the small explosion occurred during inspection of the crash site by the head of Investigatory Committee of the Russian General Prosecutor’s Office Alexander Bastrykin, news agency Interfax marks, referring to the Investigatory Committee’s official Vladimir Markin. He said that Bastrykin and some other Investigatory Committee’s employees and policemen "had not suffered only by a lucky chance".
Supposedly fragments of an explosive device have been found at the Nevsky Express crash site, according to the Investigation Committee's spokesman Vladimir Markin, ITAR-TASS adds.
The deputy head of Russian State Duma Security Committee, Gennady Gudkov, considers that the Caucasian trace or, on the contrary, an imitation of the Caucasian handwriting, with the purpose of diversion of public opinion in support of nationalists, can be traced in the act of terrorism, radio Ekho Moskvy reports.
Residents of the nearby villages and settlements have been questioned. It was found out that last days the locals had noticed a few strangers in the area, NTV channel reported, referring to Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev.
In August 2007, the Nevsky Express was blown up precisely by a similar bomb. According to experts, its capacity has made 8-9 kg. Last time the size of the crater was almost the same, 1.5 meters in diameter, Life News reports.
The observer of radio Ekho Moskvy, Yulia Latynina, considers that the Nevsky passenger train could be blown up either by Wahhabists, or fascists.
According to the latest available information, 26 persons were killed, 96 people were injured at the crash; 18 people have gone missing. No new bodies of victims have been revealed at the site, news agency Interfax says, referring to the source in the Federal operative staff on liquidation of the train crash.
The explosive, used in undermining of the Nevsky Express train has been planted most likely into one of the carriages, news agency Rosbalt reports, referring to a source in the Russian Railways. The source told that approximately an hour before the crash of the express train a regular high-speed train passed the site. After that the bay was examined by railroad inspectors who did not detect neither damages of the railway track, nor any traces of extraneous penetration to the railway, news agency expands.
Russian Federal Security Service detained agent of non-existent national security agency
Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) detained a certain Vladimir Barinov, who probably having watched enough television serials presented himself as an agent of non-existent, “deeply secret” security agency, Moscow-based newspaper Komsomolskaya pravda (KP) reports.
Presenting certificates on the name of Colonel-General of the non-existent National Security Agency, Barinov flaunted on his ties in all of Russian security services. He also suggested to arrange for compensation for interested persons a good job with high salary. For example, one of Barinov’s "clients" desired to receive a post in one of sectors of the Presidential administration. This person expressed readiness to pay 250,000 euro for this service. The false Colonel-General promised his patronage, however at reception of money he was taken red-handed by the FSB agents.
During the detention a certificate of the deputy chief of the National Security Agency, biographical materials, the resumes, copies of documents, inquiries to information branches of the Ministry of Interior were withdrawn from Barinov. A criminal case on an attempt of swindle in especially large amount has been brought aginst him, the paper notes. The Russian Federal Security Service does not exclude that it was not Vladimir Barinov's first deal and other episodes will be revealed during investigation, Komsomolskaya pravda adds.
Death of reserve Russian military intelligence officer, arms and local conflicts expert, may not be caused by natural reasons - website
Anton Surikov, the director of the Centre for the Study of Conflicts with the Moscow Institute for Globalization Problems and shareholder of the company Far West LLC, has died in the city of Izhevsk at the age of 48. He was also a member of Russia’s National Assembly, a commentator and an assistant to former Russian First Vice-Premier Yury Maslyukov.
Kavkaz Center which names Surikov a high-ranking Russian military intelligence (GRU) officer, adds that he was involved in counteractions to the idea of Caucasian Islamic state by means of «a Circassian nationalist card». It says he was considered one of the best Eastern European experts on arms and adjacent markets.
The official biography of Surikov, who worked with Forum.msk online publication, mentions only his rank of Colonel, without any reference to the structure in which has served. Kavkaz Center website alleges Surikov was in reserve of the Russian military intelligence. In 1999, daily Tribuna wrote that Surikov has dealt with arms deliveries to Afghanistan, North Africa, Upper Karabakh, etc.
An observer of the Kavkaz Center has no doubts that Surikov has been liquidated. The online paper names three main versions: inner struggle within the FarWest, LLC for the control over certain shadow spheres; result of decision of curators from the western secret services or action of certain domestic circles which once did not allow his appointment to the post of Rosvooruzheniye (Russian armament state company) head and the top post in the GRU.
In one of photos on the Internet Anton Surikov alias Natkhoyev is pictured together with the GRU officer Ruslan Saidov (Sadullayev) who has been specializing in propaganda against separatists in the Caucasus.
Many Russian mass media outlets simply have not noticed the news on Surikov’s death or have been keeping silence. Those media which have mentioned the fact have been naming him in obituaries «a brilliant publicist, one of the most outstanding experts in the field of strategic armaments, defence industry and local conflicts».
Surikov was buried at Moscow’s Vostryakovsky cemetery yesterday. Officials from the government of the Russian Federation, the State Duma, Rosvooruzheniye, security services members, industrialists and militaries, Communist Party officials and journalists have been reportedly present at the funeral.
Propaganda film with participation of children found in East German Stasi archive
The Stasi, Communist state security service of the German Democratic Republic, used children for propaganda activities, daily Bild online edition reports. A short film filmed by Stasi in 1977 shows East German pioneers in tiny tanks and with replicas of automatic guns participating in staged combat, the paper expands.
The black-and-white film has been found in the Stasi archive and is titled Let Always be Sun (Immer lebe die Sonne). Right at the end of the film a voice calls the children for whom the film has been made to rise on defence of "the socialist motherland".
British newspaper The Daily Telegraph marks that the age of some of children filmed in the propaganda film did not exceed five years. According to director of Berlin Memorial museum Gedenkstatte Berlin-Hohenschonhausen, Hubertus Knabe, the purpose of this film was "development of potential of violence in the following generation from an early age".
Iraq's Saddam Hussein was planning terrorist attack at US Congress-funded radio in
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RFE/RL headquarters in Prague in 1995-2009 |
Prague
The former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein planned a terrorist attack on the Prague headquarters of the US Congress-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Czech television channel Nova website reports today, citing the domestic counter-intelligence service BIS. The planned attack on the radio building was one of the three terrorist attacks that threatened in the Czech Republic, according to Nova TV.
The failed attacks ordered by Saddam Hussein were to take place in 1999 or later when the BIS monitored agents of the Iraqi secret service DGI who had diplomatic passports. The BIS says it prevented all three attacks; one of the other attacks was to be targeted at Jewish sites in Prague.
The counter-intelligence service revealed that DGI wanted to shoot a RPG-7 anti-tank missile from a window of an apartment some 80 metres from the radio's building in central Prague. The anti-tank rocket would have definitely killed people, military police spokesman Jan Cermak told Nova TV. The terrorists also had at least six machine guns, 11 pistols and 2000 bullets, Nova TV says. The weapons were reportedly smuggled to the Czech Republic in a diplomatic vehicle. In April 2003, the Iraqis at the Prague embassy voluntarily gave up the weapons that they wanted to use.
"Hussein ordered his secret service to stop the Iraqi broadcasting of Radio Free Europe by violent means. He earmarked a lot of money for this purpose," Czech news service CTK cites BIS spokesman Jan Subert.
In May, 2009, RFE/RL moved to a new, tight-security building in a different area of the Czech capital city.
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