Moscow revives long and bloody history of silencing its enemies
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posted by zaina19 on July, 2007 as ANALYSIS / OPINION
Times Online Logo 222 x 25 From The Times July 19, 2007 Moscow revives long and bloody history of silencing its enemies Michael Binyon Russian exiles have always feared that the Kremlin would try to silence them, wherever they were living. They cite the murder of Trotsky in Mexico, when a hitman sent by Stalin plunged an icepick into his head, and mysterious killings by Soviet agents in communist times. In the past year their fears have had solid legal grounds. Twelve months ago the Duma passed a law allowing Russian security agents to pursue “terrorists” overseas and to kill them if they were deemed a threat. The clear aim was to kill Chechen fighters who had sought refuge in neighbouring countries. ButaFrom: MSN NicknameEagle_wng (Original Message) Sent: 7/20/2007 1:38 AM Times Online Logo 222 x 25 From The Times July 20, 2007 Moscow Retaliates Russia is doing itself serious damage Moscow’s decision to expel four British diplomats and to suspend cooperation on counter-terrorism will come as no surprise. Russia had already announced that it ... >> full
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Susanna Yager reviews crime fiction
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posted by zaina19 on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng (Original Message) Sent: 7/20/2007 8:56 AM Uncovering the truth, whatever the cost Last Updated: 12:01am BST 19/07/2007 Susanna Yager reviews crime fiction During the quarter of a century since his first appearance, Martin Cruz Smith's introspective detective Arkady Renko has survived the disintegration of the Soviet Union, as well as his own fall from favour. In Stalin's Ghost, Renko is even more out of step with the new regime and struggling to maintain his fragile relationships with the only two people he cares about. He has been assigned to investigate claims by some travellers on the metro that they have seen Stalin at one of the stations. It's a delicate situation; Stalin still has his admirers, Russian nationalism is on the rise and an election is coming. The sightings seem to be connected with the political campaign of Isakov, a police officer and a hero of the war in Chechnya, whom Renko suspects of involvement in several murders. The fact that Renko's lover has left him for ... >> full
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We will survive this mini-crisis, says Putin after Moscow expels four diplomats
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posted by zaina19 on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng (Original Message) Sent: 7/20/2007 12:26 PM Times Online Logo 222 x 25 From The Times July 20, 2007 We will survive this mini-crisis, says Putin after Moscow expels four diplomats undefined Tony Halpin in Moscow and Richard Beeston, Diplomatic Editor President Putin intervened last night to try to defuse the escalating diplomatic row between Russia and Britain. He said that the two countries would soon recover from what he dismissed as a “mini-crisis”. In his first public comments since the tit-for-tat explusions of diplomats in London and Moscow plunged relations to their worst state since the Cold War, the Russian leader predicted that “everything will be alright”. He said: “I think that Russian-British relations will develop normally. On both the Russian side and the British side we are interested in the development of these relations. I’m sure we will overcome this mini-crisis.” His tone was in sharp contrast to the language used earlier when Sir Anthony Brenton, the British Ambassador to Moscow, was summoned to the Foreign Ministry and told that ... >> full
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Moscow revives long and bloody history of silencing its enemies
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posted by zaina19 on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
Times Online Logo 222 x 25 From The Times July 19, 2007 Moscow revives long and bloody history of silencing its enemies Michael Binyon Russian exiles have always feared that the Kremlin would try to silence them, wherever they were living. They cite the murder of Trotsky in Mexico, when a hitman sent by Stalin plunged an icepick into his head, and mysterious killings by Soviet agents in communist times. In the past year their fears have had solid legal grounds. Twelve months ago the Duma passed a law allowing Russian security agents to pursue “terrorists” overseas and to kill them if they were deemed a threat. The clear aim was to kill Chechen fighters who had sought refuge in neighbouring countries. But the law also allowed the FSB, the successor to the KGB, to resume a practice that had been officially halted since the disbandment of an organisation (well known to James Bond readers) called Smersh, an acronym for Death to Spies, that was set up by the Soviet ... >> full
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posted by zaina19 on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
Prev Discussion Next Discussion Send Replies to My Inbox Reply Recommend Message 1 of 1 in Discussion From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng (Original Message) Sent: 7/20/2007 5:10 PM For the Sake of One Man By Bret Stephens, July 17, 2007, The Wall Street Journal In the six or seven years in which they interacted on a regular basis, Vladimir Putin's police state and journalist Fatima Tlisova had a mostly one-way relationship. Ms. Tlisova's food was poisoned (causing a nearly fatal case of kidney failure), her ribs were broken by assailants unknown, her teenage son was detained by drunken policemen for the crime of not being an ethnic Russian, and agents of the Federal Security Services (FSB) forced her into a car, took her to a forest outside the city of Nalchik and extinguished cigarettes on every finger of her right hand, "so that you can write better," as one of her tormentors informed her. Last year, the 41-year-old journalist decided she'd had enough. Along with her colleague ... >> full
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