Russian version
| |
|
 |
|
Vladimir Putin and
Kurmanbek Bakiyev |
|
The Russian special services are going to engage in tracking and whenever possible overlapping of the foreign sources of financing of the Kyrgyz opposition. They will be paying the main attention to the western non-governmental organizations and the funds sponsoring opponents of the President Kurmanbek Bakieyev. Support of a similar sort has been guaranteed to the head of Kyrgyzstan during his meeting with Vladimir Putin on April 24 in Moscow. On the content of the conversation Bakiyev has informed some of his most entrusted assistants. One of them has conveyed this information to the closest adviser of the Kyrgyz Prime Minister Felix Kulov. He in turn, from the sanction of his boss, has shared the received information with a representative of business circles of one of the western countries, visiting Bishkek this week. And it is known, that the mentioned businessman keeps in contact with one of the secret services of his country.
FSB Concerned About Bakiyev
As follows from the information conveyed by the Kulov’s adviser, at a meeting in the Kremlin, Putin has informed his counterpart about an estimation of the situation in Kyrgyzstan, presented by the analysts of the Federal Security Service of Russia. From this it follows that the activity of some the western non-governmental structures assisting the Kyrgyz opposition is supervised by the US Department of State and the CIA. Besides the analysts from Lubyanka suspect, that through the formally neutral research centres and humanitarian organizations the opponents of Bakiyev are sposored by the disgraced Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky living in Britain. Representatives
| |
|
| |
 |
| |
Kurmanbek Bakiyev |
of the FSB are claiming that Americans, without advertising their activities, have been trying to achieve a revenge and to bring to power in Bishkek a person loyal to them. It is noted, that in the spring of the last year they pursued similar purposes supporting the opponents of President Askar Akayev, but have miscalculated, as the new head of the republic has kept adherence to strategic partnership with Russia. Representatives of the FSB are maintaining that at present rendering assistance to the Kyrgyz opposition from abroad has noticeably become more active, as Bakiyev is ready to unilaterally break off the agreement with Washington on the presence in Kyrgyzstan of the American air base. Therefore the FSB analysts rather skeptically perceive the statement of the National Democratic Institute of the USA on the termination of financing of Edyl Baisalov, the most pro-Western leader of the Kyrgyz opposition. They are assured, that the given announcement is nothing but purposeful disinformation. The FSB representatives are convinced that the most part of the foreign financial assistance is delivered to the pro-Western figures of the Kyrgyz opposition through the channels unknown to official Bishkek. They believe that the authorities of the republic are unable to resist to the "intervention of the West". This allegedly ows to the low operative level of the special services of Kyrgyzstan, caused by numerous structural reorganizations and personnel rearrangements of the postrevolutionary period. As consequence, the FSB analysts are afraid that the authorities of the republic have come to an emergency situation. On their belief, the protest actions planned in Bishkek for April 29, will become the beginning of large-scale antigovernmental rallies aimed at Bakiyev’s overthrow.
The Secret Fighter With Opposition
According to the available information, rendering of the confidential assistance to the Kyrgyz regime will be provided by the head of the Service of the Operative Information and
| |
|
 |
|
| Viktor Komogorov |
|
International Relations of the FSB Colonel-General Viktor Komogorov. Before the last reform of the Federal Security Service in 2004, he was an assistant to its director. Three years ago, some Russian mass-media even called him the most probable candidate to the post of the head of the FSB. Under the presidential decree in March 2005, Komogorov entered the interdepartmental commission of the Russian government on interaction with the NATO. In August of the same year he has been enlisted in Organizing committee on preparation of Russia’s presidency in the G-8. However most often last years one could see Komogorov at various forums on interaction of special services of the CIS, and also among the members of delegations of the President and Prime Ministers of Russia during their visits to the former Soviet republics.
The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is just the priority of Komogorov’s job. Here he acts both as the official curator of cooperation in the field of special services, and as the head of secret operations of the FSB on maintenance of the political influence of Moscow and gathering of intelligence information. The special attention is paid by Komogorov to the countries of Southern Caucasus and the Central Asia. Besides, according to the Chechen separatist sources, with the beginning of the military conflict in the Chechen Republic in the autumn 1999, Komogorov participated in secret contacts with the clan of Yamadayevs that was supervising Gudermes, the second-largest city in the republic, and come over to the side of federal forces.
At the same time, Victor Komogorov has a wide experience of struggle against the NGOs. Still in April 2001 he has drawn attention to his person by accusing "some employees of the non-governmental organizations in Northern Caucasus of gathering information on the behalf of foreign special services". It was then when he also declared that the FSB had revealed "at least 14 persons who, being employees of the NGOs, support contacts with the Chechen separatists from the territory of the neighbouring Ingushetia". At the end of last year Komogorov has played one of the key roles in the supply with information of the law on the non-governmental organizations in Russia. The document has been signed by President Putin on January 10 and has enabled authorities to tangibly toughen the control over the NGOs activities, especially those enjoying foreign financial assistance. The main purpose of the legislative innovation consisted in stopping financing the opposition from abroad and by this means the implementation of the Georgian-Ukrainian scenario of the "Velvet revolutions" in Russia.
Publicly supporting acceptance of the law, Komogorov has again accused the NGOs of providing of interests of the foreign special services. As he said: "In half of the cases the Russian non-governmental organizations arose not under the initiative of our citizens, but at the will of our foreign partners, the main point - for their money ". Komogorov has emphasized, that some of the NGOs "are the means of monitoring the situation in the country and influence of the public opinion".
| |
|
 |
|
| Raul Hajimba |
|
He has paid special attention to the activities of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), functioning at the US Department of State. According to Komogorov, this organization "has get down to realize the programs focused on transformation of the political system in Russia and an establishment of the control over the Russian information space".
The former Deputy Director of the FSB has given a taste of his quality also in the political fighting outside Russia. In 2004 he already carried out actually the same functions in the South Caucasus that now have been assigned to him in Kyrgyzstan. Then in Abkhazia on the eve of the presidential elections in autumn, Moscow has counted on Raul Hajimba, the former KGB colleague of Vladimir Putin. Komogorov, together with the representatives of the Security Council of Russia, supervised rendering the financial and propaganda assistance to the preelection staff of the favorite of the Kremlin. Despite of it, Hajimba lost the elections with a great gap from his rival. As consequence, Komogorov and other Russian officials have tried to put pressure upon the Abkhazian leadership with an aim of holding repeated elections or appointment of Hajimba to the post of the Prime Minister. Finally a compromise solution was found and the protege of Moscow got the post of the Vice-President responsible for power structures.
The Kremlin Emissary
Though in the Central Asia Viktor Komogorov has still never organized similar activities, he perfectly knows the situation in this region, he is personally acquianted with many local leaders and heads of special services. Actually during Putin's rule, the former Deputy Director of the FSB has became one of key figures in the Russian secret policy on the given direction.
That fact eloquently testifies to role Êîìîãîðîâà in regional strategy of Moscow, that it was one of two Russian representatives participated on September, 22nd, 2001 in confidential negotiations with the leader of Afghani Northern alliance Muhammad Fakhim. Their meeting passed in capital of Tajikistan city Dushanbe. The fact that he was one of the two Russian representatives participating on September 22, 2001 in the confidential negotiations with the leader of the Afghan Northern Alliance Ìuhammad Fakhim eloquently shows Komogorov’s role in the regional strategy of Moscow. Their meeting took place in the Tajik capital city of Dushanbe. During the negotiations both sides agreed on the escalation of the technical and military help to the Tadjiks in Afghanistan. Komogorov and his fellow-traveller, the then Chief of the Joint Staff of the Russian army Anatoly Kvashnin, reported about the results of the trip to the President Putin personally. Results of the negotiations had invaluable value for the regional policy of the Kremlin.
Assisting Fakhim, Moscow aspired to strengthen positions of the Tadjiks after the overthrow of Talibs, in a counterbalance to the "moderate" Pushtuns on whom Washington was counting. The purpose consisted in providing the Russian influence in Afghanistan after the creation of a pro-American regime there. In many respects thanks to the Moscow’s assistance and, despite of the US protests, in November 2001 the Tadjik armies as the first have captured Kabul, even before the arrival of the allies of the counterterrorist coalition. Some weeks prior to that, Russian President arrived to Dushanbe for a meeting with the
| |
|
| |
 |
| |
Burhanuddin Rabbani and
Vladimir Putin |
political leader of the Northern Alliance Burhanuddin Rabbani. Among the officials accompanying him, one could see Viktor Komogorov.
Having left behind the USA in Afghanistan, Russia has lost them on its own former territory, in the post-Soviet republics of the Central Asia. Air bases of the Pentagon appeared there at the end of 2001 in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Since this very moment the regional strategy of Moscow has been aimed at restoration of its own influence in the region and squeezing out Americans from there. Special significance was given to the activization of cooperation with the Central Asian states on security issues. Russia aspired to make alternative to the USA in rendering assistance to the regional regimes in the given area. Komogorov became one of the key figures responsible for implementation of the problem. In April 2002 he was taking part in the organization and management of the first large-scale antiterrorist exercises of the CIS countries in the Central Asia ("South - Anti-terror 2002"). They were held in the territory of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The initiator was the Antiterrorist Center (ÀÒC) of the CIS, headed by Boris Mylnikov, having a rank of the Deputy Director of the FSB. In a consequence such exercises began to be hold on a regular basis. Then, in April 2002, Komogorov declared that "the CIS has a good chance to unite in the struggle against terrorism as not so long time ago we were united within the USSR".
The following month Komogorov headed the Russian delegation at session of the heads of the law enforcement bodies and special services of the countries of the Shanghai Organization of Cooperation (SCO), taking place in the capital of Kazakhstan. The main result of the event became the decision on creation of the Regional antiterrorist structure (RATS). Documents on the occasion of its establishment were signed by the SCO’s leaders at their June summit of the same year. In October 2003 in Tashkent, with the participation of Komogorov, the first session of the RATS Council took place. At present the given structure is the principal body on coordination and information exchange between the special services of the memberstates of the Shanghai Organization of Cooperation. In the beginning of October 2003, before his arrival to Tashkent, Komogorov has had time to visit Kabul. He held meetings with heads of the Afghani power structures there. The longest conversations Komogorov had with Ìuhammad Fakhim, who held by this time the post of the Minister of Defence, and with his confidant Mohammad Sarvari who headed the Department of the National Security. Although in official Russian sources such details were not revealed, they noted that the main theme of the negotiations concerned the interactions in the struggle against the islamic groupings operating from the territory of Afghanistan on the Central Asian direction.
At the same time the fact attracts attention that Komogorov’s visit to Kabul took place on the background of actually full break between the Tadjiks from the Northern Alliance, supervising the power structures of the country, and the pro-American President Hamid Karzai. The latter, being afraid of influential Tadjiks, especially Ìuhammad
| |
|
 |
|
| Muhammad Fakhim and Sergey Ivanov |
|
Fakhim, had tried to cut down their powers. They in turn, declared the termination of support of the President, and having openly risen in opposition, had decided to nominate their own nominee from the Northern Alliance for the presidential elections.
Komogorov’s visit to Afghanistan peculiarly had coincided with the first so serious aggravation of confrontation between the pro-American Pushtuns and the and Tadjiks who were built on the support of Russia and Iran. It is indicative that it was Ìukhammad Fakhim and his protege in the Department of the National Security with whom Komogorov had lead the main negotiations. By the way, some months later Ìîhammad Sarvari was displaced from his post, exactly as the representative of the antipresidential opposition in the power structures.
In September 2004 Viktor Komogorov was a member of the Russian delegation accompanying Vladimir Putin on his visit to Astana. There, the FSB representative held meetings with his Kazakh colleagues.
In 2005 Komogorov was engaged in the development of contacts with the special services of the Central Asian Cooperation Organization (CACO) that has been joined by Russia in October 2004. In January he participated in the session of the representatives of the CACO countries special services in Tajikistan, and in November he was present at a meeting of the heads of the security services and law enforcement bodies of the organization member states in Kazakhstan.
This year, according to the information received by us, on the Central Asian direction Viktor Komogorov would have to devote himself mostly to the “Kyrgyz project" of the FSB.
Main Page | News Page | 007 News | Print
|
