Mary Dejevsky: Russia the bad guys? Who are the West trying to kid?

Taken from the Independent, UK
Friday, 15 August 2008

As Russian forces started to hand over control of the Georgian town of Gori yesterday, you could detect a note of surprise, even disappointment, in many media reports. So the all-out Russian invasion of plucky little democratic Georgia might not be going to happen after all. Could it be that the bear was drawing in his claws?

Well, Russia did not have long to worry about losing its reputation as backyard bully. Within hours, the United States envoy to Georgia was spinning a whole new myth to the BBC about how it was only decisive US intervention – by which he presumably meant the warplanes laden with humanitarian aid by then ostentatiously parked at Tbilisi airport – that the mighty erstwhile Red Army had been turned back.

The many Georgians who had counted on more timely and robust assistance from their US protector surely laughed a bitter laugh. But there were signs, with the arrival of the US Secretary of State in Georgia, that this version was gaining hold. The story of this war, it seems, will be that the US faced down a snarling, expansionist Russia, and forced it to limp back to its lair.

This is a travesty. But it is only the latest and most glaring in a series of Western misrepresentations and misreadings of Russian intentions throughout this sorry episode. They began with the repeated references to Russian "aggression" and "invasion", continued through charges of intended "regime change", and culminated in alarmist reports about Russian efforts to bomb the east-west energy pipeline. None of this, not one bit of it, is true.

Take "aggression" and "invasion". Georgia declared itself to be in a state of war with Russia.

War, regrettably, is war, and a basic objective is to reduce, or destroy, the enemy's military capability. This is what Russia was doing until it accepted the ceasefire. The positions it took up inside Georgia proper can be seen as defensive, not offensive. Gori houses the Georgian garrison on South Ossetia's border.

And anyway, how did hostilities begin? Georgia sent troops into South Ossetia. The status of that region – which declared unilateral independence – is anomalous. It is inside Georgia's borders, but outside its control. But one reason why the dispute has not been solved is that the "fudge" over independence brought with it a degree of stability. Georgia's action upset that stability. But did anyone describe it as "aggression"? Trying to explain Russian "aggression", many reports went further, observing a "new" mood of Russian aggressive nationalism. Today's Russia, they reasoned, was uniquely liable to lash out, because energy wealth had fuelled new national ambitions. Where, though, is the evidence that Russian national pride is automatically malign?

If you exclude Chechnya, which Russians have always regarded as part of Russia, then neither Putin, nor Medvedev, had sent troops outside Russian borders before this point. As for the idea that Putin wants to restore the Soviet Union – derived from his remark about the Soviet collapse being "among the greatest catastrophes" of the 20th century – nothing could be further from what he did. Far from hankering after a lost empire, Putin used his years as president systematically to fix Russia's post-Soviet borders, signing treaties with every neighbouring country that would agree – including, last month, China. Of course, Russia does not like the idea of another Nato member on its borders. But this is not the same as wanting to restore "ex-Soviet space". It reflects Russia's view of its legitimate security interests.

Perhaps the most pernicious assumption over the past week, however, is that Russia wanted to effect "regime-change". Russian officials categorically denied this, insisting that they had no business overthrowing an elected leader. You might scoff, but Russia has done nothing that would contradict this. The Kremlin would probably be delighted if Georgians eventually punished their President for his misguided enterprise, but Russia seems to accept that Georgians decide what happens in Georgia.

Why was it so difficult for outsiders to believe that Moscow wanted precisely what its leaders said they wanted: a return to the situation that had pertained before Georgia's incursion into South Ossetia – and does it matter that its intentions were so appallingly misread? Yes it does. If outsiders impute to Moscow motives and objectives it does not have, they alienate Russia even further, and make a long-term solution of many international problems that more difficult. It is high time we treated Russia's post-Soviet leaders as responsible adults representing a legitimate national interest, rather than assuming the stereotypical worst.

Gorbachev Says U.S. Is Sowing World ‘Disorder’

Ex-Soviet premier blasts Bush as helping create ‘very dangerous’ situation

Taken from MSNBC
By Reuters, 27.07.07

Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev criticized the United States, and President Bush in particular, on Friday for sowing disorder across the world by seeking to build an empire.

Gorbachev, who presided over the break-up of the Soviet Union, said Washington had sought to build an empire after the Cold War ended but had failed to understand the changing world.

“The Americans then gave birth to the idea of a new empire, world leadership by a single power, and what followed?” Gorbachev asked reporters at a news conference in Moscow.



“What has followed are unilateral actions, what has followed are wars, what has followed is ignoring the U.N. Security Council, ignoring international law and ignoring the will of the people, even the American people,” he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Bush say they are friends but ties have been strained by U.S. plans for a missile defense shield in Europe, disagreements over Kosovo and the war in Iraq, and competition for allies in the former Soviet Union.

Rival and enemy?
Many Russians view the United States as a rival and enemy.

Gorbachev, 76, who left politics after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, is deeply unpopular in Russia. Though feted abroad, he is blamed in Russia for sinking the Soviet empire and plunging millions into poverty.

“When I look at today’s world I have a worrying feeling about the growth of world disorder,” he said.

“I don’t think the current president of the United States and his administration will be able to change the situation as it is developing now — it is very dangerous,” he said.

‘Massive strategic mistake’Gorbachev said Russia’s hopes of building stronger ties with Washington had waned in the face of a series of U.S. administrations interested in building an empire.

“It is a massive strategic mistake: no single center can command the entire world, no one,” he said. “Current America has made so many mistakes.”

He said the U.S. administration was apparently unable to adapt to a swiftly changing world and had ignored — or was unable to see — the rise of Brazil, Russia, India and China as economic heavyweights.

Treaties limiting the number of nuclear weapons should be observed, he said, adding that officials in Washington should be wary of sparking a new arms race.

Gorbachev, who became Soviet leader in 1985, battled against the conservative wing of the Communist Party to push through reforms that dismantled the one-party system, freed the press and ended restrictions on religion.

The father of “glasnost” (openness) said he supported Putin’s policies but that the pro-Kremlin United Russia party had eroded democratic rights.

He said Putin’s “seriousness” as a leader would be assured if he left office according to the constitution. Putin says he will leave office in 2008 after two terms in office.

Bank Of New York Accused By Russians Of Money Laundering

Taken from The times, UK, 18/05/2007
Tom Bawden in New York

Russia’s customs service said that it was suing the Bank of New York for $22.5 billion (£11.3 billion) in compensation for an alleged money-laundering scheme in which US companies colluded with Russian banks to defraud its Government.

The Federal Customs Service said that the Bank of New York, the world’s largest “custodian” of assets, played a central role in a laundering campaign in the late 1990s to help clients to avoid Russian taxes and import duties and to hide money obtained through crime.

Maxim Smal, a lawyer for the customs service, said that between 1996 and 1999 “an illegal scheme was organised to legalise monetary resources that were brought into Russia without paying taxes.

“Violations were discovered that, I think, border on the criminal and this is why we decided to file a claim in the court and seek damages.”

Russia’s suit, which will be detailed at a press conference today, stems from a previous case involving the Bank of New York, which is in the process of merging with Mellon Financial.

Lucy Edwards, a former vice-president in the bank’s Eastern European division, and her husband, Peter Berlin, pleaded guilty last year to conspiring to help to move $7 billion to small US companies from Russian banks in order to hide the money from the authorities.

The couple were sentenced to six months’ house arrest, put on probation for five years and ordered to pay a $20,000 fine and $685,000 in compensation.

Their sentencing came after the Bank of New York had admitted failing to report $7 billion in suspicious Russian transactions and agreeing a $38 million payout.

Before a press conference yesterday, Andrey Strukov, head of the customs service legal department, would only say: “The Federal Customs Service confirms the filing of the suit against the Bank of New York. [It] is filing the suit for $22.5 billion in damages inflicted against the Russian Federation.”

However, the Bank of New York questioned the merit of the Russian lawsuit, which it said it had not seen.

“We understand from press reports that a lawsuit has been filed against the company by a Russian agency described as the Federal Customs Service,” the bank said.

“While we have not seen the complaint, based on our knowledge of the facts, we believe any such suit would be totally without merit, if not frivolous, and we would expect to defend it vigorously.

“The company was previously approached by lawyers purporting to represent this agency, who claimed to be able to dispose of the matter for a tiny fraction of the amount now claimed.

“It should be noted that the events related to the lawsuit occurred more than ten years ago and were previously resolved by the company.”

Bank of New York’s $16.6 billion takeover of Mellon, first announced in December last year, brings together New York’s oldest bank, founded in 1784, with the Pittsburgh institution that bankrolled the Pennsylvanian steel industry in the 19th century.

It revives a failed attempt by Bank of New York to buy Mellon in 1998 for $23.7 billion, which foundered with a disagreement over the carve-up of senior positions. Mellon went on to sell its consumer banking division to Royal Bank of Scotland in 2001 for $2.1 billion.

The new entity will have $16.6 trillion of assets under custody for which it will carry out low-margin back-office functions, such as record-keeping and fund accounting.

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Who said there was no such thing as a "get rich quick scheme" - It has been provenly tested by many exiled Oligarchies!

Chechnya Massacre Accused On The Run

Taken from The Sydney Morning Herald, April 20, 2007

MOSCOW: Three members of the Russian special forces who were being prosecuted for massacring a group of Chechen civilians have gone on the run. The three men in the highly publicised case had been granted bail despite protests by the victims' families.

Eduard Ulman, Alexander Kalagansky and Vladimir Voyevodin had previously admitted shooting six Chechens, including a pregnant woman, on a mountain road in southern Chechnya in January 2002.

However, they claimed they were innocent because they were following orders. Their escape is an embarrassment to the Kremlin, which has struggled to persuade its critics that it is serious about holding war criminals to account after more than 10 years of conflict in Chechnya.

A warrant was issued for the men's arrest after they failed to appear for two hearings. Last week, prosecutors demanded the soldiers receive prison terms of between 18 and 23 years.

Murat Musaev, a lawyer for the victims' families, said the court had repeatedly refused requests to detain the defendants during their prosecution. "We were afraid this would happen," Mr Musaev said. "It was clear they would be found guilty."

The soldiers are alleged to have mistakenly opened fire on a minibus carrying civilians, killing one and wounding two. The court heard that after bandaging the wounded, Captain Ulman's superiors instructed him to kill the five survivors, apparently in an effort to cover up the initial blunder.

Poison: KGB Men To Face Litvinenko Murder Charges

Taken from the Daily Mail, UK, 22nd April 2007
By CHRISTOPHER LEAKE

Scotland Yard detectives are to issue arrest warrants against three former KGB officers suspected of poisoning ex-Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko.

Police have told sources close to Mr Litvinenko's widow Marina that they intend to lay charges of murder and poisoning against the men, who met the victim three weeks before his death in London.

The move will damage the already strained relationship between Downing Street and the Kremlin, which is almost certain to block any request for the men's arrest and extradition.


Accusation: Tycoon Boris Berezovsky, bottom, claims Vladimir Putin is behind the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko, top

Warrants are expected to be issued against Andrei Lugovoy, Dmitri Kovtun and Vyacheslav Sokolenko within the next few weeks.

All three former agents have vehemently protested their innocence of any involvement in the murder plot. They all claim that they, too, were contaminated with the deadly radioactive material polonium-210 which poisoned Mr Litvinenko, a strong critic of President Vladimir Putin's regime.

Mr Putin's government is already furious with Tony Blair for granting political asylum to billionaire dissident Boris Berezovsky, who has continued to demand the overthrow of the Russian leader from his UK base.

Tensions increased further on Friday when EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson warned that relations with Moscow contained 'a level of misunderstanding, or even mistrust, we have not seen since the end of the Cold War'.

Forty-three-year-old Mr Litvinenko, himself a former KGB officer who had been granted political asylum to live in Britain, suffered a horrific death in a London hospital on November 23 last year after poison caused his hair to drop out and his vital organs to close down.

Mr Litvinenko had previously met the three prime suspects - who are now all wealthy businessmen based in Moscow - at the Millennium Hotel in Piccadilly and a nearby sushi bar.

The Metropolitan Police refused to comment on the murder inquiry, but Litvinenko family sources told The Mail on Sunday police had enough evidence to bring charges 'within three weeks'.

Britain has no extradition treaty with Russia, meaning that any trial would most probably have to be held in Moscow with the co-operation of the authorities there.

The Russians want Mr Berezovsky to face trial for calling last week for a revolution to overthrow President Putin and have twice demanded his extradition from Britain.

Mr Berezovsky, who has several substantial homes in the UK, said during a business trip to Israel last week: "I have no doubt that my extradition from Britain is impossible. However much the Russian prosecutors would want it, I didn't break Russian or British laws."

When asked about British unease over his comments on toppling President Putin, Mr Berezovsky said: "I did not get political asylum in Britain just to shut up." And, repeating earlier attacks on Mr Putin, whom he accused of corruption before escaping Russia, Mr Berezovsky added: "Any other way of changing this anti-constitutional regime, except for a coercive one which includes revolution, is impossible.

"I repeat it once again. And I am not scared at all that as a result I can be extradited."

Mrs Litvinenko, 44, who called her late husband by his pet name "Sasha', and her 12-year-old son Anatoly have been under police protection at a secret address ever since her husband's death.

Before he died, her husband blamed Mr Putin and his regime for his murder, a claim strongly denied by the Kremlin.

In December, nine Scotland Yard detectives flew to Moscow as part of their investigation. They were not allowed to interview Mr Lugovoy or Mr Kovtun directly, although they were present when Russian police officers interviewed them. They were not granted any access to Mr Sokolenko.

Senior Russian prosecutor Konstantin Nikonov told The Mail on Sunday last night: "We have no information yet that the British authorities have requested moves to bring charges against Mr Lugovoy, Mr Kovtun and Mr Sokolenko."

The Crown Prosecution Service said no decisions had been taken about charges in the Litvinenko case.

Interior Ministry: 'One-Tenth Of Russia Under Criminal Control'

Taken from The Independent, UK, 15 March 2007
By Andrew Osborn in Moscow

A leaked speech given by Russia's most senior policeman has revealed that almost one-tenth of the world's largest country is under the control of organised crime groups who often face little or no official resistance.

According to Rashid Nurgaliyev, the head of Russia's Interior Ministry, the Russian mafia is alarmingly well established in Moscow, St Petersburg, the south of the country, and in Siberia.

"This problem poses a threat to the state, society and the economy," he warned, adding that more than 3.8 million crimes were registered in 2006, up by 8.5 per cent on 2005.

He admitted that clear-up rates were less than satisfactory and said that criminals were caught in only 46 per cent of cases.

He listed dozens of districts of Moscow and other major cities where organised crime groups posed what he called "a serious threat to the safety of the region". In many cases law enforcement authorities were doing far too little to break the mafia's stranglehold on significant swaths of the economy, he said, adding that key sectors were already in criminal hands.

According to the daily newspaper Novye Izvestia, Mr Nurgaliyev's bleak assessment of the situation effectively means that one-tenth of Russia's regions are in criminal hands; in most cases the regions are among the country's wealthiest and most promising.

Experts in organised crime said separately that up to 25 per cent of Russia's gross domestic product is generated by the black economy, much of which is under the control of organised crime groups. It is a figure which dwarfs the size of the shadow economies in western European countries which typically account for between five and 10 per cent of countries' GDPs.

Aleksei Mukhin, a specialist in organised crime, added that Russia is home to up to 10,000 criminal groups employing 300,000 people. Most are paid to protect the businesses and assets of a small number of powerful mafia leaders.

Since the 1990s many of those leaders have legitimised their businesses. They clean up their image by setting up superficially normal companies and thereby acquire a veneer of respectability.

At the same time, crime rates have fallen as mafia groups have moved to maintain law and order on their own patches. They eschew messy shoot-outs which only attract attention for backroom deals and bribes.

Mr Nurgaliyev's revelations coincide with one of President Vladimir Putin's biggest anti-corruption drives of recent years. Across the country, local politicians and regional governors have found themselves charged with embezzlement and abuse of power.

Perhaps the most high-profile victim of this purge has been Vladimir Nikolayev, mayor of the far-eastern city of Vladivostok and a member of Mr Putin's United Russia party. Earlier this month, the mayor was arrested. He already had a criminal record, for beating a local official and threatening to kill another, and boasted the underworld nickname of Winnie the Pooh. This time he has been accused of funding his bodyguards from city coffers, of using police cars for private escort duty and of using expensive charter planes for family holidays at taxpayers' expense.

Mr Nikolayev denies all the charges, insisting he has been framed. The mayor owns some of the region's biggest seafood, meat processing and timber firms and came to power in 2004 after his closest rival for the job "tripped" on a powerful grenade that had been placed outside his office days before the election.

Usually, businessmen with backgrounds as colourful as Mr Nikolayev's tend to prefer lower-profile roles. They place trusted lieutenants in important political positions in order to attract less attention.

The 20 Journalists Who Have Lost Their Lives In Putin's Russia

Taken from the Independent, UK, 11 March 2007
By Andrew Osborn in Moscow

Ivan Safronov did not die immediately, despite falling four floors from a window in his Moscow apartment block. Witnesses say he tried to get to his feet after hitting the ground, but then collapsed for the final time. The police say the death of the well-respected journalist, who worked for the daily Kommersant newspaper, has all the hallmarks of suicide - though they are willing to consider the possibility that he was "driven" to kill himself. But his friends insist he was not the sort to take his own life. Why should he?

Safronov is one of 20 journalists/media workers who have died recently. Here is the full list...

Ivan Safronov
Military affairs specialist for daily national newspaper 'Kommersant'. Was investigating a Kremlin arms deal with the Middle East. Found dead on 2 March after 'falling' from a window in his Moscow home in suspicious circumstances.




Anna Politkovskaya
Crusading investigative reporter specialising in Chechnya, attached to fortnightly national newspaper 'Novaya Gazeta'. Shot dead in a contract killing outside her apartment block in Moscow on 7 October 2006.




Vyacheslav Plotnikov
Reporter for a local TV channel in Voronezh. His body was found in a forest on 15 September 2006, dressed in someone else's clothes. No signs of a violent death, but his colleagues are convinced that he was murdered.




Yevgeny Gerasimenko
Investigative reporter on regional newspaper 'Saratovsky Rasklad' who had been looking into shady local business dealings. Found dead on 25 July 2006 in his flat, where he had been tortured and suffocated with a plastic bag.




Alexander Pitersky
Presenter on the St Petersburg radio station Baltika, who sometimes covered criminal investigations. His body was found in his flat, where he had been stabbed to death, on 30 August 2005.




Magomedzagid Varisov
A press commentator in his native Dagestan, where he also ran a think-tank, Varisov had criticised local politicians. Killed in a machine gun attack in Mahachkala, the capital of Dagestan, on 28 June 2005.




Pavel Makeev
Cameraman for Puls, a local TV station in southern Russia. Died on 21 May 2005 while covering illegal street racing in the town of Azov. His car was rammed by an unknown vehicle and his camera and tapes taken.




Paul Klebnikov
US citizen of Russian extraction. As editor of the Russian edition of 'Forbes' magazine, he put together the country's first rich list and specialised in corruption investigations. Shot dead in a contract killing in Moscow on 9 July 2004.




Aleksei Sidorov
The second editor of local newspaper 'The Togliatti Overview' to be murdered in as many years. He was stabbed in the chest with an ice pick or similar sharp object outside his apartment block on 9 October 2003.




Yuri Shchekochikhin
Investigative journalist, liberal MP and deputy editor of 'Novaya Gazeta'. Specialised in investigating corruption in the general prosecutor's office. Died on 3 July 2003 after an unexplained allergic reaction. His colleagues believe he was poisoned.





Dmitry Shvets
A senior executive at a local Murmansk TV station, TV-21 Northwestern Broadcasting. Had been highly critical of local officialdom. Shot dead outside the station's offices on 18 April 2003.




Valery Ivanov
Editor of 'The Togliatti Overview' and managing editor of the independent channel Lada-TV, specialising in crime and corruption in the local car industry. Shot dead in his car on 29 April 2002.




Natalya Skryl
Business reporter on 'Our Time', a local newspaper based in Rostov-on-Don, investigating controversial dealings in a local metals plant. Died on her way home after being beaten with a heavy object on 8 March 2002.




Eduard Markevich
Editor of 'Novy Reft', a local newspaper in the town of Reftinsky, Sverdlovsk region, who was critical of regional authorities. After a series of threatening phone calls, he was shot dead in the back on 19 September 2001.




Adam Tepsurgayev
TV cameraman for Reuters who filmed exclusive footage of the conflict in Chechnya. Shot dead in the village of Alkhan-Kala on 23 November 2000 by masked gunmen who burst into his home.




Sergey Ivanov
Director of the Lada-TV station in Togliatti. Showed an interest in the area's notoriously corrupt car manufacturing business. Shot five times outside his apartment building on 3 October 2000.





Iskandar Khatloni
Journalist investigating human rights abuses in Chechnya for the Tajik- language service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Killed by an axe-wielding attacker in Moscow on 21 September 2000.




Sergey Novikov
Senior executive at the Vesna radio station in Smolensk. Claimed to be able to prove corruption among high-ranking local officials. Shot dead on 26 July 2000, in the lobby of his apartment building.




Igor Domnikov
Investigative reporter on 'Novaya Gazeta'. Died on 16 July 2000 after being attacked with a hammer in the lobby of his Moscow apartment block. His newspaper believes his murder was a case of mistaken identity.




Artyom Borovik
Senior executive at investigative magazine 'Completely Secret' that exposed the misdeeds of the rich and powerful. Died on 3 March 2000 in a plane crash that the authorities believe may not have been accidental.