Russia 101111 Basic Political Developments
Third man suspected of role in Krasnodar mass murder detained – source
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Third man suspected of role in Krasnodar mass murder detained – sourcehttp://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=201094 MOSCOW. Nov 11 (Interfax) - Police have detained the third man suspected of involvement in killing 12 people in the village of Kushchyovskaya, the Krasnodar territory, last weekend, a law enforcement source told Interfax. "One more local has been detained under an investigation into the criminal case dealing with the mass murder in Kushchyovskaya," he said. Two of the detainees were earlier convicted for committing serious crimes, he said. Interfax has yet to immediately obtain official confirmation of this information. Va November 10, 2010 Spy Sandal Version 2.0 http://www.russiaprofile.org/page.php?pageid=International&articleid=a1289408649 By Tom Balmforth Russia Profile For Countries of Georgia’s Size with Enemies the Size of Russia, Soft Power Swipes Like a Well-Timed Spy Bust Are a Useful Weapon The recent bumper crop of Russian spy busts reaped a fresh harvest on Friday with the arrest in Georgia of a 13-man spy ring, accused of passing military intelligence to the Russians. Moscow dismisses the charges as political theater, which Tbilisi has no reputation for shying away from. Total fabrication does seem far-fetched, but whatever the truth, the bust could squeeze an old pressure point in U.S.-Russian relations ahead of two key world summits and in the wake of the crossroad U.S. congressional elections. Thirteen spies, including four Russian citizens and a number of Georgian air force pilots, were arrested after the ring was infiltrated by a Soviet-trained spy, and are being detained in Tbilisi for leaking military intelligence to Russia for years, the Georgian Interior Ministry said Friday. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed the arrests as a “provocation.” In a statement on November 5, the Foreign Ministry accused Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s regime of “chronic anti-Russian spy-mania,” saying that the bust was made to stoke anti-Russian hysteria at home and was especially timed to derail the upcoming OSCE Summit in December. While not denying Saakashvili’s predilection for political theater, analysts could not agree that the spies were simply fabricated. “It looks awfully serious,” said one Western expert on the region based in Tbilisi who requested anonymity. “They name people and most of them are Georgian citizens. And they happen to be air force pilots. I don’t think it looks tremendously flattering for the Georgian government to have to arrest seven of its own air force pilots.” Alexander Rondeli, the president for the Tbilisi-based Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies, agreed. “You cannot invent something about this many people. And there are still more to come: I think there is another installment of this serial yet. They were all recruited when the Russian army was still in Batumi. These are not today’s people – they are the old cadre. Why invent something if it exists?” he asked. The New York Times cited an estimate from the Georgian Interior Ministry that there were 20,000 active KGB agents in Georgia when the Soviet Union collapsed, and they have been difficult to weed out. In various gleeful interviews since Friday, Saakashvili has praised the strength of his counterintelligence forces and emphasized the waning power of Russia’s foreign intelligence services. Russia’s print press is touting a possible spy swap with Georgia similar to the one that took place between America and Russia after the espionage saga with Anna Chapman et al. Moskovsky Komsomolets today named three possible Georgian spies who are serving time in Russia for alleged espionage in the North Caucasus. But meanwhile, predictably bellicose rhetoric has ensued from Russia. “This is a very serious situation, and those who have undertaken this last provocation in Georgia should recall very clearly that Russia does not abandon its citizens when they are in trouble,” Russian lawmaker Konstantin Kosachev told Interfax, referring unambiguously to the pretext on which Russia went to war with Georgia just over two years ago. Moscow stubbornly refuses to admit that those detained are its spies, and is demanding (unsuccessfully so far) consular access to them. But Russia really flew off the handle because of the timing of the bust, ahead of the key OSCE Summit in Astana on December 1, which is expected to focus on the South Caucasus peace resolution process in Nagorno-Karabakh. Russia evidently suffers a blow to its credibility as it goes into the summit bearing allegations of spying on its South Caucasus neighbor. To that extent Georgia has landed another soft-power blow to Russia only weeks after it infuriated Moscow by offering a visa-waiver to Russia’s North Caucasians. “A small country is only able to use soft power, to use diplomatic channels. It’s diplomacy. We are practically at war with Russia because Russia did not fulfill its obligations of the post-war plan,” said Rondeli, referring to the ceasefire terms negotiated by French President Nicolas Sarkozy in the wake of the August war. “Then on Georgian territory we had this operation, so I think the Georgian government is just making use of it to attract attention to show that we are still under pressure,” he added. The bust also comes at a key time for Russia’s transatlantic relations. In the recent congressional elections, the Republican Party won a small victory over the Barack Obama administration, which has championed improved relations with Russia. Writing today, Kommersant cites analysts who see Saakashvili’s move as trying to capitalize on the Republican comeback in the United States to “toughen the U.S. stance on Russia” and bring Georgia back into the foreground of U.S. foreign policy, as it was under Republican ex-president George Bush. But most significantly, perhaps, Russia is due at the landmark NATO Summit in Lisbon in less than two weeks, where NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen will unveil the new strategic concept for the alliance. With Medvedev earnestly pushing for a new European security architecture, Moscow could do without spy briefings landing on the desks of western politicians, especially in relation to countries seeking, however improbably, membership in the alliance. But it isn’t clear if this story will make waves internationally, if that indeed is what Tbilisi is strategizing on. Meanwhile in Georgia, Rondeli said, the local reaction was not one of surprise. “The people who got this news about the spy scandal are very calm. No one is surprised – it’s just normal. It would be strange if there wasn’t this kind of operation on our territory from the enemy. Enemy is a bad word, but that’s what it is,” said Rondeli. EU to have another stab at forming untied energy front http://www.businessneweurope.eu/dispatch_text13579 bne
The European Commission unveiled its new vision for energy strategy over the next decade on November 10. The plan intends to implement a shared gas and electricity supply network, which it hopes would help countries coordinate energy policy, particularly in relation with key partners. The plan evidently has its relations with Russia at the forefront of its mind in compiling the vision. To the delight of Moscow, over the last decade the EU has utterly failed to pull itself together sufficiently to present a united front in energy policy. Apparently referring to the physical hardwiring of energy infrastructure - although it could just as well be speaking of politics and economics - a European Commission statement read: "By 2015, no member state should be isolated." Instead, despite many tough words, Russia has picked off targets at its leisure, with several individual EU members signed up to help build more infrastructure linking Europe to Russian energy suppliers, despite the bloc having an official strategy to reduce its dependence on Moscow. Unveiling "Energy 2020", EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger called for investment of EUR 1tn over the next decade to "Europeanise energy policy," reports the BBC, with the cash coming from both public and private sources. Correspondents note that the plan for a shared network is not new, but claim that it's significant that it is endorsed by Germany's Oettinger. The country has previously lobbied hard to weaken legislation, and has one of the closest relationships with Moscow amongst EU members. Directory: gifiles -> attach attach -> British Forces – Akrioti, Greece Griffin Fighter Squadron (84 Squadron raf) MoD announced possible Typhoon and Tornado arrivals to the base France attach -> Russia 110204 Basic Political Developments attach -> Unclassified//for official use only attach -> Adaptability Sustainment attach -> Pop-up 1 ("C" Chechnya) Header Text: Emir of the Caucasus Emirate Doku Umarov Image attach -> Russia and Islam are not Separate attach -> Chapter 13: The Northern Caucasus attach -> Russia 100209 Basic Political Developments attach -> The evolution attach -> The devolution Download 237.43 Kb. Share with your friends:
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