Article 1 eurasia insight tbilisi claims russian troop movements in response to spy dispute diana Petriashvili 9/29/06



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  • Article 29






Tbilisi court denies entry to lawyer defending Russian detainee

Author: Eka Mekhuzla

TBILISI, September 29 (Itar-Tass) - One of the two lawyers defending a Russian officer detained together with another three officers in Georgia on charges of <espionage>, was not allowed to attend a closed session of Tbilisi city court hearing the case, a spokesman for the Russian Consulate in Georgia said.

"International legislation says the citizens of the country of sojourn - which, in this case, is Georgia - can act as defenders," he said.

"Representing the interests of Russian officers are two lawyers, both of them Georgian nationals," the spokesman said. "One of them was provided by the government, while the other was hired by <Russia>."

"It was the second lawyer who was not let into the courtroom," he said. "We're currently trying to clear out the causes of it."

In the meantime, the Councilor-Minister of the Russian embassy, Ivan Volynkin, said the fact of non-admission of the defender was bewildering.

"The Russian side will take all the necessary steps so that the judiciary authorities let him get into the courtroom," he said.

At the time of reporting, the closed session of the Tbilisi city court was holding trial of two Russian officers, Colonel Alexander Savva and Lieutenant-Colonel Dmitry Kazantsev, and four Georgians whom the authorities accuse of <espionage.

Another trial will be held later in the day. It involves two more Russian officers - Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Zavgorodny and Major Alexander Baranov - and seven Georgian nationals.



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  • Article 30




RUSSIA-USA-SPY

US citizen arrested for spying in Russia> (adds).

MOSCOW, April 5 (Itar-Tass) -- Agents of the Federal Security Service (FSB) have arrested a U.S. citizen on charges of <espionage>, Itar-Tass learned in the FSB public relations centre on Wednesday.

The agents also detained a Russian who is suspected of divulging state secrets, a centre official said.

According to the FSB, the American is a former U.S. intelligence agent who currently heads a private company. The Russian detained with him is "an expert in defence technologies employed by a Moscow organisation."

The FSB claims that the American has been establishing contacts with Russian scientists in Moscow, Novosibirsk and other cities for a long time. The agents believe he was trying "to obtain information that is considered a state secret in <Russia," the official stressed.



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  • Article 31




RUSSIA-US-SECRET-SERVICE

American held for spying to face trial.

By Olga Semyonova

MOSCOW, December 4 (Itar-Tass) - American citizen Richard L. Bliss, who was arrested in November on charges of conducting topography with illegally imported equipment near classified facilities in Rostov-on-Don, apparently is not the first American detained for such activities in the vicinity of Russian classified facilities after the end of Cold War.

However, he is likely to be the first one to face a court trial.

Another such case was in August 1995 when a U.S. citizen, Jason Lynch of the West Point military academy's geography department, was detained by Russian secret services near the city of Zheleznogorsk (formerly Krasnoyarsk-26) while carrying out

unauthorized topographical survey using special geodesic equipment."

Lynch, however, was soon released since he had a substantial

ecological cover," which turned out to be enough in the then euphoria among Russian politicians who were too enthusiastic in respect of brilliant prospects for cooperation with the West.

Lynch was an official member of an international ecological expedition working under the Russian Academy of Sciences' auspices. The expedition "in conformity with its schedule, carried out radiation monitoring of the local mining and chemical works" (one of Russia>'s largest nuclear centres). The expedition sailed down the Yenisei river studying the radiation contamination in the river flood-lands and bottom sediment following the disposal of waste water used for cooling the plan's power generators.

In both cases, U.S. officials claimed no spying activity was underlying U.S. citizens' actions. It is, however, quite natural since neither of the world countries' secret services has ever confirmed involvement of its agents in <espionage>, Russian experts said.

In Bliss' case, there is also a good story covering his activity: Bliss was an engineer of the San Diego-based Qualcomm telecommunications company which has recently signed a contract with <Russia>'s Electrosvyaz to set up a radiocommunications network in Rostov.

According to Qualcomm representatives, Bliss' job was to carry out long-distance topographical survey of the region using a global positioning device (GSP) to find optimum places to install antennae.

Although these data may be necessary for a the creation of a high-tech wireless network, the information Bliss managed to collect is deemed to be "secret," experts from the Russian Federal Geodesy and Cartography Service said.

According to FSB director Nikolai Kovalyov, the FSB directorate for the Rostov region had performed its duties since

all outer indications" to <espionage> were present.

Apart from this, FSB investigators said a company representative's allegations that all devices used by Bliss had been brought to the country with due legal formalities aroused suspicion. Bliss' customs declaration, presented by the FSB chief at a news conference, had no mention of these devices. Later, Bliss admitted that he had brought in the equipment in his personal luggage.

In any case, Bliss turned out to be less lucky then Lynch for, according to well-informed sources, he will have to face <espionage charges and after the investigation is over he will be brought to trial.



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  • Article 32




Suspected spy worked for FSIN for past 3 years

MOSCOW, October 24 (Itar-Tass) - The Lieutenant-Colonel detained for cooperation with Lithuanian secret services has been working for the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service /FSIN/ for the past three years, a FSIN representative told Itar-Tass.

"The man detained by Baltic Fleet counterintelligence agents on October 18, occupied the position of senior supervisor of Inspectorate # 11, FSIN department in the Kaliningrad region, in the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel," the FSIN representative said.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Russian Federal Security Service said Lt-Col Vasily Khitryuk, caught red-handed, had cooperated with Lithuanian secret services for a long time.

"During the arrest, FSB agents confiscated from Khitryuk electronic recording media containing military data, thus preventing a leak of secret military information about the combat and mobilization readiness of the Baltic Fleet," the FSB public relations center underlined.

Specialists said this information is classified. "To obtain it, the traitor used his former colleagues or acquaintances serving in the Russian army or law-enforcement bodies, and at the instructions from a Lithuanian secret services talked them into passing him copies of secret documents, for remuneration," it added.

The FSB opened a criminal case over high treason. "The detainee is giving confession evidence," the FSB said.

The FSB also said its operation "prevented a leak of secret military information about the combat and mobilization readiness of the Baltic Fleet and the troops deployed in the territory of the Kaliningrad region, and incontrovertible proofs of espionage> by an agent of Lithuanian secret services have been obtained."

Spokesman for Lithuania's State Security Department /VSD/ Vitautas Malakauskas said the VSD "will not comment on the detention in Kaliningrad of responsible FSIN officer, Lt-Col of internal service Vasily Khitryuk, for his alleged cooperation with Lithuanian secret services."

Head of the committee on international affairs under the Seim /parliament/ Justinas Karosas told Tass "Lithuania does not engage in <espionage> against <Russia."

In his view, the fact of detention of Lt-Col Khitryuk in Kaliningrad is most likely a retaliatory move, or Moscow' provocation for the recent decision by Lithuania to expel a Russian diplomat from Vilnius for spying.


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  • Article 33




RUSSIA-JAPAN-FM-INCIDENT. Spying scandal serving certain forces in Japan--Russian FM.

Author:


MOSCOW, September 8 (Itar-Tass) -- Spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Alexander Yakovenko on Friday told Itar-Tass that the arrest of a Japanese naval officer on suspicion of espionage> for <Russia was connected with "certain forces in Japan airing discontent over the current positive trends in the Russian-Japanese relations, which clearly showed during a recent meeting of the two countries' leaders."

"These forces resort to provocative means to cast suspicion on the constructive work being done in the interests of developing partnership between our countries," the spokesman noted. According to Yakovenko, "the Russian Foreign Ministry is closely following the situation" around the incident.

A senior Japanese naval officer was arrested on Friday on suspicion of passing military secrets to a Russian embassy official for money. Police said Shigehiro Hagisaki, a 38-year-old lieutenant commander in the Maritime Self Defence Forces "has basically admitted to the allegations."


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  • Article 34




RUSSIA-TRIAL-ESPIONAGE. Russian spy case referred to European Human Rights Court.

Author: By Yelena Napreyenko, Irina Chumakova

MOSCOW, November 9 (Itar-Tass) -- Lawyers of Russian diplomat Valentin Moiseyev, brought here to trial on charges of espionage> against <Russia, have lodged a complaint with the European Human Rights Court, Head of the Moscow-based centre of support for the international defence Karinna Moskalenko told Tass on Thursday.

Moskalenko, also Moiseyev's lawyer, said there were "solid grounds" for the appeal as "the European Human Rights Convention has been violated in the course of the legal proceedings on the case."

The Moscow City Court will meet in its next session over the case on Friday, November 10. However, Moskalenko was sure that no final judgement would be pronounced. She said that the triumph of justice might take long, and expressed hope in that the court would base its decision on reliable data. "Anyway, the verdict can be only that of not guilty," she said in conclusion.


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  • Article 35




FSB: 4 British Spies Uncovered

Author: Simon Saradzhyan. Staff Writers

The Federal Security Service said Monday that it had uncovered four British spies working under diplomatic cover in Moscow and that one had authorized grants for Russian nongovernmental organizations.

The four - all staff members at the British Embassy - downloaded information from transmitters concealed inside rocks, Sergei Ignatchenko, the chief spokesman for the Federal Security Service, or FSB, said at a news conference for select Russian journalists.

A Russian national recruited by British intelligence left the information, Ignatchenko said.

He hinted that the four would be expelled because "their activities were incompatible with their diplomatic status" - a standard euphemism used by government agencies to accuse foreigners of <espionage>.

"The situation will be resolved at the political level," Ignatchenko said.

He said the Russian national had been arrested and admitted to spying for British intelligence.

The British Embassy declined to comment, and none of the four staff members responded to questions sent to their e-mail accounts at the British Embassy. It was unclear whether they were still in Moscow.

The Foreign Office in London said it was "concerned and surprised" at the FSB allegations.

"We reject any allegation of improper conduct in our dealings with Russian NGOs," the Foreign Office said in a statement.

"It is well known that the U.K. government has financially supported projects implemented by Russian NGOs in the field of human rights and civil society," it said. "All our assistance is given openly and aims to support the development of a healthy civil society in <Russia>."

A Foreign Office spokesman declined to comment further, saying it was Foreign Office policy not to discuss intelligence matters.

Prime Minster Tony Blair also declined to comment at a London news conference, saying he had only heard about the claims from media reports.

Rossia, the state television channel, first reported the allegations on its investigative show "Special Correspondent" on Sunday night. The channel showed footage of four men as they walked by what it said was a transmitter hidden in a hollow rock on a Moscow street. One man was shown purportedly trying to establish a connection with the transmitter using a hand-held computer.

Rossia identified the four as Marc Doe, Chris Peart, Andrew Fleming and Paul Crompton. Crompton was referred to as the assistant to the embassy's intelligence service representative, Doe as second secretary of the political section, and Pear and Fleming as archivists.

Rossia said the FSB cracked the <espionage> operation at the end of last year. It appeared that the videotape was filmed in early fall.

Rossia showed one rock that it said Doe had used for <espionage>. Ignatchenko said the FSB was aware of two rocks and had seized one.

Rossia also said Doe had authorized transfers of grants from the Foreign Office's Global Opportunities Fund to Russian NGOs, including the Moscow Helsinki Group and the New Eurasia Foundation.

The FSB has repeatedly accused foreign intelligence services of using NGOs as cover for <espionage>, and the latest allegations served as another warning to Russian recipients of foreign funds.

A Rossia journalist concluded Sunday's report by saying that oversight over civil society "should be exercised by incorruptible people who care about the interests of their homeland and not an alien country."

Ignatchenko said a total of 12 Russian NGOs had received payments authorized by Doe. He said they included the Committee Against Torture, the Center for Development of Democracy and Protection of Human Rights and International Criminal Reform, in addition to the Helsinki group and Eurasia.

Representatives of the NGO community reacted with anger.

"It is a horrible TV program," said Lyudmila Alexeyeva, a veteran human rights campaigner and head of the Moscow Helsinki Group, who had read a transcript of the Sunday night show.

"It's a special campaign against NGOs that has been going on for a long time," Alexeyeva said.

Citing recent controversial cases against scientists accused of spying, she said FSB officials had proved themselves inept in capturing alleged spies before and she was not convinced of the veracity of the charges this time, either.

"It sounds very ridiculous," said Dmitry Surnin, the head of the media development department at the New Eurasia Foundation, which received funding to develop small-town newspapers from the Global Opportunities Fund.

"It's clearly a provocation, another PR activity to support current attempts to tighten the grip on NGOs or eliminate them altogether," he said. "It also seems a way to answer pressure from the West."

"I think that the 'patriots' who say human rights activists are not patriots now have a new way to make their argument," said Igor Kalyarpin, the head of the Committee Against Torture, a Nizhny Novgorod-based NGO. "We don't have an easy time, and this is like a knife to the back."

The FSB might have planned the leak to Rossia as a way of preparing a defense for the new law that will place NGOs under stricter state control, said Ivan Safranchuk, head of the Moscow branch of the Washington-based Center for Defense Information. He said the leak might have been planned as early as November, when the State Duma first started considering the legislation and criticism was mounting among Russian NGOs and in the West.

President Vladimir Putin signed the NGO law this month, and it goes into force in April.

Intelligence officers are often told not to assume certain cover identities. Safranchuk noted that the KGB was told not to send spies under the cover of the Pravda newspaper to avoid discrediting the main Soviet propaganda vehicle in case they were caught.

General Nikolai Leonov, former deputy head of the KGB's foreign intelligence department, said Monday that the Rossia report had dented his opinion of British intelligence.

"What I saw really disappointed me," said Leonov, a Duma deputy from the nationalist Rodina party. He derided the stone as not quite "super technology."

If <Russia> does expel the four, Britain will almost certainly be forced to respond tit-for-tat by expelling diplomats from the Russian Embassy in London.

Moscow and London have a history of expelling scores of alleged spies. The record was set in 1971, when Britain declared 105 Soviet diplomats personae non grata.

In 1994, Britain expelled a Russian diplomat in response to the expulsion of a man whom Russian counter-intelligence described as the chief British spy in <Russia>.

Two years later, <Russia> arrested Platon Obukhov on charges of passing secrets to British agents while working at the Russian Foreign Ministry. That year, <Russia also expelled nine British diplomats for allegedly running a spy ring. Britain responded by ordering four Russians to leave.

In 2000, the FSB announced that it had arrested a Russian on charges of working as a spy for Britain. Former intelligence officer Valery Ojamae was convicted of high treason by a Moscow court in 2001.


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  • Article 36




NEWS. NAVAL OFFICER SENTENCED TO TWO YEARS FOR SELLING CLASSIFIED REPORT

Author:


A military court has sentenced Major Valeriy Sarkisyan, an employee of the Pacific Ocean Military and Naval Institute, to two years at a penal colony for disclosing state secrets, the Information Agency Novosti reported.

The Pacific Fleet military court also barred him from holding state jobs for one year, an aide to the military prosecutor of the Pacific Fleet, Yelena Sharlay, told RIA.

Sarkisyan was a researcher at the institute's laboratory for missiles and naval air force anti-ship systems. According to military prosecutors, Sarkisyan allegedly sold the text of a thesis on military hardware designs for $1,500 in September of 2002.

The act was a breach of his obligation not to reveal the state secrets he had access to.

He used the money to buy a computer.

Rights groups have expressed concern over the imprisonment of leading science figures in Russia> for supposed <espionage allegations.

MosNews.com


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