Russia 090421 Basic Political Developments

UPDATE: Russia Intercepts Georgian Spy – Interfax

http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/stock-market-news-story.aspx?storyid=200904210343dowjonesdjonline000104&title=update-russia-intercepts-georgian-spy---interfax

MOSCOW (AFP)--Russia Tuesday said it had uncovered a Georgian spy on its territory carrying out reconnaissance and "subversive activities", news agency Interfax cited the FSB security services as saying.

"The Russian FSB uncovered and halted an agent of the Georgian security services...illegally trespassing on Russian territory with the aim of carrying out reconnaissance and subversive activities," said an FSB spokesman.

The FSB said the Georgian agent had entered Russian territory on a Ukrainian passport and was working undercover as a businessman in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi.

Russia’s FSB reported on ten branches of Hizb ut-Tahrir movement eliminated in 2008

http://www.axisglobe.com/article.asp?article=1805

20.04.2009

Ten branches of the Hizb ut- Tahrir al-Islami terrorist organization were eliminated in Russia in 2008, news agency Interfax reports, referring to Colonel-General Alexei Sedov, head of the Russian Federal Security Service's (FSB) service for constitutional regime protection and counter-terrorism, who talked to journalists in Moscow.
He marked that currently, 18 organizations were recognized by Russia as terrorist and therefore were illegal. Terrorist organizations are merging with transnational criminal groups, which increases terrorists' potential, Colonel-General Sedov added.

Turkish emissary of Al-Qaeda was killed in Dagestan last week: Russia’s FSB

http://www.axisglobe.com/article.asp?article=1805

20.04.2009

A militant who was killed in Dagestan last week was a Turkish citizen, an emissary of Al-Qaeda in that Russian republic and the financier of local religious terrorist groups, news agency Interfax reports from Makhachkala, referring to the Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia Dagestan directorate.
In addition, the FSB and police detained Ali Oidenirov, born in 1981, in Khasavyurt on suspicion of financing sabotage and terrorist groups acting in the region, Interfax says. Oidenirov studied at university in Syria. Before his arrest, he was the imam of the mosque in the village of Olimpiisky in Dagestan's Khasavyurt district. From January to March 2009, he traveled to Turkey twice, where he received $15,000 from local religious extremists, according to the news agency’s source in the security services. The money was used to buy weapons and ammunition and for other needs of Dagestan’s extremists, FSB says.
Anti-terrorist operation completed in Ingushetia

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=13857056&PageNum=0

NAZRAN, April 21 (Itar-Tass) -- An anti-terrorist operation was completed in Verkhny Alkun and its neighbourhood in Ingushetia on Tuesday, the public relations group of the republican department of the Federal Security Service told Itar-Tass.

A base under construction by gunmen and a ward for keeping hostages were found in the forest during the operation, no gunmen were detected there.

The operative republican headquarters introduced an anti-terrorist operation regime on Monday due to the information that several gunmen are staying in Verkhny Alkun.

Special regime of counterterrorist operation introduced in Russia’s Ingushetia village

http://www.axisglobe.com/article.asp?article=1805

20.04.2009

Today the special regime of counterterrorist operation has been declared in Ingushetia’s village of Verkhnyi Alkun, news agency RIA Novosti reports, referring to a spokesman of the press service of the Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia directorate in Ingushetia.
The special regime was introduced after the FSB directorate received reports that in the

settlement and forests adjacent to it there were armed militants who had made a number of especially grave crimes in Ingushetia. The special regime of counterterrorist operation assumes introduction of restriction on entrance of citizens and vehicles and their full examination at reception of permit to pass into territory of countryside area.

The representative of the FSB asked citizens living in area to keep calm and to not impede carrying out by law enforcement bodies of operations on neutralization of the alleged terrorists.
On April 16, in the neighbouring Chechen Republic the special regime of counterterrorist operation which was in force since 1999in the territory of republic was lifted. Online paper Polit.ru, referring to undisclosed sources, notes that 25,000 militaries, including the most experienced special-task troops of the FSB and GRU, military counterintelligence, and also regular army soldiers and the policemen who have arrived to Chechnya according to a contract will be withdrawn from the Chechen Republic.

Former Soviet KGB officer turned billionaire eyeing second British paper

http://www.axisglobe.com/article.asp?article=1805

20.04.2009

Alexander Lebedev, 49, the former Soviet KGB’s foreign intelligence officer who bought the debt-ridden London's Evening Standard tabloid newspaper, said in an interview that he was interested in buying British national daily The Independent. Lebedev was posted to London in the 1980s and rose to Lieutenant-Colonel in the KGB.
In an interview with the Financial Times newspaper, Lebedev commented on speculation that The Independent could be up for sale. He said he was “interested, theoretically," though he added he had no free resources right now.
Lebedev already co-owns with ex-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev a 49% holding in the Russian Novaya Gazeta newspaper which has been highly critical of the Kremlin. BBC marked that it continued to report on themes the Kremlin-controlled media prefer to ignore - corruption, human rights abuses in Chechnya, and the activities of the FSB, Russia's post KGB spy agency. Recently the Russian government critic has been struck from the mayoral ballot in the Winter Olympic city of Sochi.