Yushenkov shot dead

[halldor]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2957077.stm

[ethics]

And yet Russians care what happens in Iraq?

[Robert Harris]

Wonder who got him -- a Chechen terrorist or the KGB.

[halldor]

Unlikely to be a Chechen, as Yushenkov was a staunch critic of Putin's war against the Chechens.

[Robert Harris]

I am not sure that will stop the KGB boys and the captive media from blaming the Chechens.

[halldor]

Alas, it is so.

[Allene]

I didn't know about this until now. They are killing off all the good people over there. Sad! Wonder if Putin arranged to get rid of him?

Allene

[Robert Harris]

Interesting coverage in the Moscow
Times.

A couple of excerpts:

"The murder is purely political in nature. ... I call it a continuation because Yushenkov is the second Liberal Russia co-chairman to be murdered," Yuly Rybakov, a prominent member of Liberal Russia and an independent Duma deputy, said in a telephone interview from his home in St. Petersburg.

"Liberal Russia has obviously become a bone in the throat for someone," said Rybakov, who said he had been assaulted and felt his own life was in danger.

Rybakov alleged that Yushenkov was killed for his efforts to find evidence to back up allegations that the Federal Security Service was involved in the apartment bombings that killed some 300 people in 1999. The authorities maintain that the bombings were ordered by Chechen-based warlords, and several natives of the North Caucasus have been brought to trial on charges of preparing and executing the bombings.

I find that last suggestion interesting. There have been rumors since the day of the bombing that the FSS (aka KGB) was responsible -- and most of the Russians I know think that is quite likely -- but no proof has emerged. Wonder if he found any firm evidence.

The Kremlin press service reacted to the murder by saying that President Vladimir Putin had been informed and had expressed his condolences to Yushenkov's family and colleagues. "I am deeply shaken by the tragic news. ... A man who believed it was his duty to protect democratic freedoms and ideals is gone," the press service quoted Putin as saying.

Yuck. Kind of hard to take that seriously.

Both quotes from: http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2003/04/18/001.html

[ethics]

Chechen? He was offed by the new and improved FSB (KGB). Putin is a thug.

[Robert Harris]

Originally posted by ethics
Chechen? He was offed by the new and improved FSB (KGB). Putin is a thug.

Certainly seems that way. But he is a slick one, unlike some of the old timers.

[Robert Harris]

The assasination seems to have created a bit of a firestorm in Russia, RFE reports below.

DEPUTY'S SLAYING PROMPTS CALLS FOR TOP OFFICIALS TO RESIGN... Hundreds of people attended the funeral of slain Duma Deputy Sergei Yushenkov (independent) in Moscow on 20 April, according to ORT (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 18 April 2003). Duma Speaker Gennadii Seleznev was the highest-level official to attend the ceremony, gazeta.ru reported. On 18 April, Yushenkov's fellow deputies observed a minute of silence in his memory at the opening of a Duma session. Afterward, a number of deputies called for the resignations of several top officials in connection with the killing. Deputy Sergei Ivanenko (Yabloko) commented: "In a civilized country, an agency chief who fails to do his job properly resigns. I have a question: when will this happen?" Seleznev also commented that top law enforcement officials who fail to do their jobs or cannot do their jobs should tender their resignations, according to NTV. JAC

...AS THEORIES FOR SLAYING MULTIPLY... Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov told reporters in Blagoveshchensk on 20 April that investigators have made progress in investigating Yushenkov's 17 April killing. Experts have established the registration number of the pistol found at the scene, even though it had been scratched out, TVS reported. The next day, Interfax quoted Deputy Sergei Glaziev (Communist) and political analyst Valerii Fedorov as hinting that self-exiled tycoon Boris Berezovskii was somehow involved in Yushenkov's murder. On 18 April, commentator Andrei Cherkizov concluded on Ekho Moskvy that there are three groups who might have "needed" Yushenkov dead: some Defense Ministry officials, those who profit from the continuation of the war in Chechnya, and those who want to expedite the process of extraditing Berezovskii from Great Britain. Yushenkov opposed both conflicts in Chechnya and advocated sweeping military reform. Also on 18 April, People's Deputy faction leader Gennadii Raikov told the station that investigators should focus on radical nationalist youth groups to find Yushenkov's killer. JAC

...AND BEREZOVSKII PROFFERS HIS ASSISTANCE. Meanwhile, Berezovskii pledged on 22 April to send documents to the Prosecutor-General's Office, lenta.ru reported on 21 April. According to "The Moscow Times" that day, these documents include a letter signed by Yushenkov to Britain's home secretary requesting political asylum for Nikita Chekulin, who, according to Yushenkov, witnessed the "uncontrolled transfer of explosives, including hexogen" ahead of the 1999 apartment-building bombings in Moscow and other Russian cities. Yushenkov had been seeking evidence that the Federal Security Service (FSB) was behind the explosions, which served to galvanize public opinion in support of military intervention in Chechnya. Chekulin is a former government expert on explosives (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 8 March 2002), and, according to Yushenkov's letter, he feared being murdered. JAC

Unfortunately, each such murder sets off a firestorm of public complaints and the like, which fade after a while when the authorities do nothing. I suspect the same will happen here.

[ethics]

I was about to say that I've seen the same thing in the earlier incidence. They make a great display at being outraged but these are hollow.

[Robert Harris]

Sad, but I hold out little hope for Russia joining the reasonably decently run nations of the world as long they keep killing so many of the most talented people. Disgusting.

[Robert Harris]

Amazing. An arrest has been made in this case already, a student whose conviction would not embarrass any of the power centers -- whether or not he is guilty. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.


Student Arrested in Yushenkov Case
By Nabi Abdullaev and Oksana Yablokova
Staff Writers

A day after releasing a composite sketch of Sergei Yushenkov's killer, prosecutors on Wednesday arrested a 20-year-old Muscovite who they believe could have killed the lawmaker to avenge his father.

Artyom Stefanov, a student of the Moscow Academy of Enterpreneurship, was arrested in his apartment in northwestern Moscow at 3 a.m. Wednesday and placed in custody for at least 48 hours.

Stefanov is suspected of killing Yushenkov to avenge his father, who was jailed for six months in 1995 after sending a threatening letter to the lawmaker, Interfax said, citing a source close to the investigation. Investigators had said their main line of inquiry was into Yushenkov's party-related finances.

Stefanov might have an alibi. Rossia television showed a friend of his, Pavel Maslovets, saying he had met Stefanov at the Oktyabr Stadium just before 6 p.m. last Thursday. Yushenkov was shot on Ulitsa Svobody at 5:48 p.m. The stadium is a short drive away

More at: http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2003/04/24/011.html

[ethics]

Absolutely. I am not sure I agree with the "who" though?

[Robert Harris]

Another charge against the KGB -- the theater incident where over a 100 hostages were killed while being "rescued."

FORMER FSB OFFICER: SLAIN DEPUTY WAS PROBING FSB LINK TO THEATER SIEGE Former FSB Colonel Aleksandr Litvinenko believes that State Duma Deputy and Liberal Russia co-Chairman Sergei Yushenkov, who was shot dead in Moscow on 17 April, might have been killed because he received evidence that the Federal Security Service (FSB) was involved in the hostage taking by Chechen fighters at a Moscow theater in October, lenta.ru reported on 25 April. In a press release, Litvinenko stated that during a meeting in London at the beginning of April, he gave Yushenkov information about a former FSB agent named Khanpasha Terkibaev, who was with the Moscow theater hostage takers and who left the theater shortly before it was stormed by Russian special forces. According to Litvinenko, Terikbaev specialized in penetrating Chechen rebel groups to organize provocations and even worked in the press service of Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov at the end of 2000. Terikbaev, Litvinenko claimed, is currently in the entourage of Malik Saidulaev, a pro-Moscow Chechen leader who is close to Russia's special services, and he allegedly accompanied Duma Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Dmitrii Rogozin (People's Deputy) to a 31 March session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. "I handed over to Yushenkov definitive data on Terkibaev, and he [Yushenkov] intended to verify that information upon returning to Moscow," Litvinenko wrote in the press release. "I am convinced that they disposed of him for that investigation." Immediately after Yushenkov's slaying, Litvinenko, who has made many of the allegations against the FSB concerning the 1999 apartment-building bombings, told "Vremya novostei" that he met Yushenkov in London shortly after last August's murder of fellow legislator and Liberal Russia co-founder Sergei Golovlev and that Yushenkov was "clearly frightened" that he might be the next victim (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 18 April 2003). JB

From: RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 7, No. 80, Part I, 28 April 2003

[ethics]

Wow!

[Robert Harris]

Seems plausible, I suppose. There has been lots of speculation about how 50 guerillas got into the theater with all of their weapons and explosives without anyone noticing. Seems to imply some official assistance.

OTOH, I am sure somebody will one day accuse the KGB of instigating Pearl Harbor. :)

[ethics]

Well, you know what I say about extra-ordinary accusations. Problem is, with Russia, it's almost impossible to dig up evidence, any kind.

[Sacchiridites]

Originally posted by Robert Harris
Another charge against the KGB -- the theater incident where over a 100 hostages were killed while being "rescued." ......
.....From: RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 7, No. 80, Part I, 28 April 2003

I was about to say.. that's what I read. And did you see what Putin said this time?  nonsense.   Took the words right out of my mouth, er. rferl's mouth, that is.  Let us see what happens to  Litvinenko and Terikbaev. 

 

[ethics]

Originally posted by Sacchiridites
ILet us see what happens to  Litvinenko and Terikbaev. 

 

:love:

[Neo]

Originally posted by Robert Harris
....There has been lots of speculation about how 50 guerillas got into the theater with all of their weapons and explosives without anyone noticing.

Folks just thought it was Russian "mafia" family night at the movies.