Moscow Times: Medvedev Dismisses GRU Spymaster
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posted by eagle on April, 2009 as ANALYSIS / OPINION
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The Moscow Times
Medvedev Dismisses GRU Spymaster27 April 2009Combined Reports  |
Itar-Tass / Reuters Putin and Korabelnikov, center, listening to an officer
during a visit to GRU's headquarters in Moscow in 2006.
President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday dismissed the country's military intelligence chief, a veteran who opposed Kremlin plans for sweeping military reform.
Medvedev signed a decree relieving General Valentin Korabelnikov, 63, of his post as director of the GRU, a Kremlin statement said. Korabelnikov had held the position since 1997 and was replaced by Lieutenant General Alexander Shlyakturov, a first deputy in the organization.
The dismissal of the respected spymaster is one of Medvedev's highest-profile dismissals since he became president in May 2008, and the Kremlin gave no explanation for the decision.
The GRU, created in 1918 under Leon Trotsky, is controlled by the General Staff of the armed forces and reports directly to the president. It is Russia's largest spy agency and has a dense global network of agents. It also has thousands of special forces troops inside Russia, some of whom were deployed ... |
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Moscow Times: FSB Under Fire For List Of Terrorist Tactics
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posted by eagle on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Updated at 28 April 2009 0:38 Moscow Time.
The Moscow Times
FSB Under Fire for List Of Terrorist Tactics27 April 2009By Nikolaus von Twickel / The Moscow TimesThe Federal Security Service has published a detailed list of terrorist tactics and activities on its web site that it says are typical of recent attacks.
But some critics say the document could serve as a how-to manual to would-be terrorists, telling them exactly what they should focus on and what to avoid.
The nearly 1,000-word document, titled "About Tactics Used For Diversionist-Terrorist Acts," was apparently only recently added to the FSB's web site under the heading "Professional Advice," which also contains articles advising citizens how to behave in a terror attack or a hostage situation.
The authors say the document is the result of FSB investigations into recent, unspecified terrorist attacks.
The tactics list includes a collection of indications of a terrorist plot, like the purchasing of nuts and bolts for bomb-building, and an overview of the advantages of suicide ...
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The Other Russia: Sochi Election Results Called Into Question
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posted by eagle on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
April 27th, 2009 The Black Sea resort town of Sochi held mayoral elections on Sunday, in a race widely seen as the most exciting political event of the Spring in Russia. Despite official results that indicate a landslide  victory for the pro-Kremlin candidate, observers believe the numbers may have been largely padded and falsified. Official figures from the local electoral commission say that Anatoly Pakhomov, of the United Russia party, took a staggering 76.86 percent of the vote. Boris Nemtsov, an opposition candidate and member of the Solidarity movement, is listed as trailing with 13.6 percent of the vote. Yury Dzaganiya, of the Communist party, had 6.75 percent. The total turnout for the election was roughly 40 percent of registered voters. Exit polls conducted by Nemtsov’s staff call the numbers into question. Ilya Yashin, Nemtsov’s chief campaign officer, wrote in his LiveJournal blog that polling station surveys indicated around 46 percent of voters had chosen Pakhomov. Around 35 percent of respondents said they had voted for ...
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StrategyPage: The Spy Who Annoyed Me
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posted by eagle on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
The Spy Who Annoyed Me
April 26, 2009: While the fighting has died down in Chechnya, a lot of it simply moved next door to Ingushetia. There, over fifty people have died so far this year in terrorist related incidents. The violence is caused by a combination of anger against corrupt local government, and criminal, religious and terrorist groups moving from Chechnya, to less dangerous hideouts in Ingushetia.The government is willing to work with the U.S. to further reduce each nations nuclear weapons stockpiles, with the goal of reducing each other's nuclear weapons arsenal to 1,700 warheads. The current reduction goal, stipulated in a 2002 treaty, is 2,200 warheads. It costs several hundred thousand dollars per warhead per year for maintenance, security and other expenses. So taking warheads out of service, and recycling their nuclear material as power plant fuel, can save lots of money. Currently, Russia has 4,100 warheads in service, and the U.S. has nearly 6,000. Reducing the number of active warheads does not ...
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NY Times: Russian Mayor Walks Into Chess Master’s Trap
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posted by eagle on as ANALYSIS / OPINION
Russian Mayor Walks Into Chess Master’s Trap
By ELLEN BARRY Published: April 26, 2009 SOCHI, Russia — For all the intrigue that had surrounded the mayoral elections in Sochi, Acting Mayor Anatoly N. Pakhomov managed to avoid confronting his critics — or even acknowledging their existence — until Friday, when he was outfoxed by a grandmaster.
Mr. Pakhomov, who has the support of the Kremlin, appeared to sail to victory in Sunday’s election and would lead the city during the 2014 Winter Olympics here. With little time left in the campaign, he attended a ceremony on Friday in a village near Sochi commemorating theArmenian genocide during World War I, a crucial gesture to the city’s large Armenian population. He delivered a short address that was respectful, if a bit wooden, and then stepped back to polite clapping, making room for a row of schoolgirls to recite verses that they had memorized. But an animated gray-haired man had edged his way alongside the podium, and then he stepped onto it, sending whispers ...
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