Allegations of state terrorism by Russia
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Allegations_of_state_terrorism_by_Russia".

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. (November 2008) Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved.

The governments of Russia, and its predecessor state, the Soviet Union, have been accused of acts of state terrorism on many occasions. These allegations have come from human rights groups and critics of the Russian government.

Soviet Union

Red terror

Main article: Red Terror

The policy of Red terror in the Soviet Russia served to frighten the civilian population and exterminate certain social groups considered as "ruling classes" or enemies of the people. Martin Latsis, chief of the Ukrainian Cheka, explained in newspaper "Red Terror":

"Do not look in the file of incriminating evidence to see whether or not the accused rose up against the Soviets with arms or words. Ask him instead to which class he belongs, what is his background, his education, his profession. These are the questions that will determine the fate of the accused. That is the meaning and essence of the Red Terror."¹

One common practice was hostage-taking. A typical report from a Cheka department stated: "Yaroslavl Province, 23 June 1919. The uprising of deserters in the Petropavlovskaya volost has been put down. The families of the deserters have been taken as hostages. When we started to shoot one person from each family, the Greens began to come out of the woods and surrender. Thirty-four deserters were shot as an example".²

Internal Soviet terror

Main articles: Collectivization in the USSR, Great Purge, and Population transfer in the Soviet Union

The Soviet collectivization of agriculture was accomplished by terror against those peasants that resisted.^{citation needed}

The Great Purge refers collectively to several related campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin during the 1930s, which removed all of his remaining opposition from power.³ It involved the purge of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the persecution of unaffiliated persons, both occurring within a period characterized by omnipresent police surveillance, widespread suspicion of "saboteurs", imprisonment, and killings. In the Western World, this was referred to as "the Great Terror".

Promotion of terrorist organizations

Soviet secret services have been described by GRU defectors Viktor Suvorov and Stanislav Lunev as "the primary instructors of terrorists worldwide" ^{4 5 6} According to Ion Mihai Pacepa, KGB General Aleksandr Sakharovsky once said: "In today’s world, when nuclear arms have made military force obsolete, terrorism should become our main weapon." ⁷ He also claimed that "Airplane hijacking is my own invention". He claims that in 1969 alone, 82 planes were hijacked worldwide by the KGB-financed PLO. ⁷ George Habash, who worked under KGB guidance, ⁸ explained:

"Killing one Jew far away from the field of battle is more effective than killing a hundred Jews on the field of battle, because it attracts more attention." ⁷

Lt. General Ion Mihai Pacepa described operation "SIG" (“Zionist Governments”) that was devised in 1972, to turn the whole Islamic world against Israel and the United States. KGB chairman Yury Andropov allegedly explained to Pacepa that

"a billion adversaries could inflict far greater damage on America than could a few millions. We needed to instill a Nazi-style hatred for the Jews throughout the Islamic world, and to turn this weapon of the emotions into a terrorist bloodbath against Israel and its main supporter, the United States."

The following liberation organizations have been allegedly established by the KGB: PLO, National Liberation Army of Bolivia (created in 1964 with help from Ernesto Che Guevara); the National Liberation Army of Colombia (created in 1965 with help from Cuba), Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine in 1969, and the Secret Army for Liberation of Armenia in 1975. ⁹ The leader of the PLO, Yasser Arafat, established close collaboration with the Romanian Securitate service and the Soviet KGB in the beginning of the 1970s.¹⁰ The secret training of PLO guerrillas was provided by the KGB.¹¹ However, the main KGB activities and arms shipments were channeled through Wadie Haddad of the DFLP organization, who usually stayed in a KGB dacha BARVIKHA-1 during his visits to Russia. Led by Carlos the Jackal, a group of PFLP fighters accomplished a spectacular raid the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries office in Vienna in 1975. Advance notice of this operation "was almost certainly" given to the KGB.¹⁰

A number of notable operations have been conducted by the KGB to support international terrorists with weapons on the orders from the Soviet Communist Party, including:

• Transfer of machine-guns, automatic rifles, Walther pistols, and cartridges to the Provisional Irish Republican Army by the Soviet intelligence vessel Reduktor (operation SPLASH) in 1972 to fulfill a personal request of arms from Michael O'Riordan.¹²
• Transfer of anti-tank grenade RPG-7 launchers, radio-controlled SNOP mines, pistols with silencers, machine guns, and other weaponry to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine through Wadi Haddad who was recruited as a KGB agent in 1970 (operation VOSTOK, "East").¹³
• Support of the Sandinista movement. The leading role here belonged to the General Intelligence Directorate of Communist Cuba.¹⁴

Political assassinations

The highest-ranking Soviet Bloc intelligence defector, Lt. Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa claimed to have had a conversation with Nicolae Ceauşescu, who told him about "ten international leaders the Kremlin killed or tried to kill": Laszlo Rajk and Imre Nagy from Hungary; Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu and Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej from Romania; Rudolf Slansky and Jan Masaryk from Czechoslovakia; the Shah of Iran; Palmiro Togliatti from Italy; John F. Kennedy; and Mao Zedong. Pacepa described a plot to kill Mao Zedong with the help of Lin Biao organized by the KGB and alleged that "among the leaders of Moscow’s satellite intelligence services there was unanimous agreement that the KGB had been involved in the assassination of President Kennedy." ¹⁵

The second President of Afghanistan Hafizullah Amin was killed by KGB OSNAZ forces. Presidents of the unrecognized Chechen Republic of Ichkeria organized by Chechen separatists including Dzhokhar Dudaev, Zelimkhan Yandarbiev, Aslan Maskhadov, and Abdul-Khalim Saidullaev were killed by FSB and affiliated forces.^{citation needed}

Other widely publicized cases are murders of Russian communist Leon Trotsky and Bulgarian writer Georgi Markov.

There were also allegations that the KGB was behind the assassination attempt against the Pope John Paul II in 1981.

Preparations for terrorism and sabotage against Western countries

Large-scale sabotage operations have been prepared by the KGB and GRU against the United States, Canada and Europe, as described by intelligence historian Christopher Andrew in Mitrokhin Archive ¹⁶ and in books by former GRU and SVR officers Victor Suvorov¹⁷ and Stanislav Lunev, and Kouzminov. ¹⁸ Among the planned operations were the following:

• Large arms caches were allegedly hidden in many countries for the planned terrorism acts. They were booby-trapped with "Lightning" explosive devices. One of such cache, which was identified by Mitrokhin, exploded when Swiss authorities tried to remove it from woods near Berne. Several others caches (probably not equipped with the "Lightnings") were removed successfully.¹⁹
• Preparations for nuclear sabotage. Some of the allegedly hidden caches could contain portable tactical nuclear weapons known as RA-115 "suitcase bombs" prepared to assassinate US leaders in the event of war, according to GRU defector Stanislav Lunev.⁴ Lunev states that he had personally looked for hiding places for weapons caches in the Shenandoah Valley area⁴ and that "it is surprisingly easy to smuggle nuclear weapons into the US" ether across the Mexican border or using a small transport missile that can slip undetected when launched from a Russian airplane ⁴
• Extensive sabotage plans in London, Washington, Paris, Bonn, Rome, and other Western capitals have been reveled by KGB defector Oleg Lyalin in 1971, including plan to flood the London underground and deliver poison capsules to Whitehall. This disclosure triggered mass expulsion of Russian spies from London ²⁰
• FSLN leader Carlos Fonseca Amador was described as "a trusted agent" in KGB files. "Sandinista guerrillas formed the basis for a KGB sabotage and intelligence group established in 1966 on the Mexican US border".²¹
• Disruption of the power supply in the entire New York State by KGB sabotage teams, which would be based along the Delaware river, in the Big Spring Park.²²
• An "immensely detailed" plan to destroy "oil refineries and oil and gas pipelines across Canada from British Columbia to Montreal" (operation "Cedar") has been prepared, which took twelve years to complete.²³
• A plan for sabotage of Hungry Horse Dam in Montana.²²
• A detailed plan to destroy the port of New York (target GRANIT); most vulnerable points of the port were marked at maps.²²

According to Lunev, a probable scenario in the event of war would be poisoning of the Potomac River with chemical or biological weapons, "targeting the residents of Washington DC". ⁴ He also noted that it is "likely" that GRU operatives have placed already "poison supplies near the tributaries to major US reservoirs." ²⁴ This allegation was supported by Alexander Kouzminov, who was responsible for transporting dangerous pathogens from around the world for Russian program of biological weapons in the 1980s and the beginning of 1990s. He described a variety of biological terrorism acts that would be carried out on the order of the Russian President in the event of hostilities, including poisoning public drinking-water supplies and food processing plants. ²⁵At the end of the 1980s, the Soviet Union "was the only country in the world that could start and win a global biological war, something we had already established that the West was not ready for.", according to Kouzminov.

Contemporary Russia

According to politologist Julie Anderson, "under Russian Federation President and former career foreign intelligence officer Vladimir Putin, an "FSB State" composed of chekists has been established and is consolidating its hold on the country. Its closest partners are organized criminals. In a world marked by a globalized economy and information infrastructure, and with transnational terrorism groups utilizing all available means to achieve their goals and further their interests, Russian intelligence collaboration with these elements is potentially disastrous." ²⁶

Allegations relating to the wars in Chechnya

Australian journalist John Pilger described the alleged use of illegal "Vacuum Bombs" in Chechnya as State Terrorism ²⁷.

Alexander Litvinenko poisoning

Main article: Alexander Litvinenko poisoning

Former KGB operative Alexander Litvinenko was murdered in London by poisoning with a radioactive substance. The British Government requested the extradition of chief suspect, but the request was turned down by the Russian government, who said that doing so would be against their constitution.²⁸ When the story broke, western media immediately pointed its finger at Moscow. First Deputy Press Attaché Dmitry Peskov says the media was "not willing and not ready to dive into details". The Times claimed ²⁹ that a "senior British official was unequivocal. The murder of the former KGB man Alexander Litvinenko was “undeniably state-sponsored terrorism on Moscow’s part. That is the view at the highest levels of the British government”.

Vladimir Putin's aide Sergei Yastrzhembsky commented:

"The excessive number of calculated coincidences between the deaths of people, who defined themselves as the opposition to the Russian authorities, and major international events involving Vladimir Putin is a source of concern. I am far from believing in the conspiracy theory, but, in this case, I think that we are witnessing a well-rehearsed plan of the consistent discrediting of the Russian Federation and its chief. In such cases, the famed 'qui bono'^sic question has to be asked."³⁰

1999 Russian apartment bombings

Main article: Russian apartment bombings

The Russian apartment bombings were a series of bombings in Russia that killed nearly 300 people and, together with the Dagestan War, led the country into the Second Chechen War. The five bombings took place in Moscow and two other Russian towns during ten days of September 1999. None of the Chechen field commanders accepted the responsibility for the bombing. Chechen president Aslan Maskhadov denied involvement of his government.

The bombings had stopped after a controversial episode when a similar bomb was found and defused in an apartment block in the Russian city of Ryazan on September 23. Later in the evening, Vladimir Putin praised the vigilance of the Ryzanians and ordered the air bombing of Grozny, which marked the beginning of the Second Chechen War³¹. A few hours later, three FSB agents who planted the bomb were caught by the local police. This incident was declared to be a "training exercise" by FSB director Nikolai Patrushev.

Former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko, Johns Hopkins University and Hoover Institute scholar David Satter,³², Russian lawmaker Sergei Yushenkov, historian Felshtinsky, and political scientist Pribylovsky asserted that the bombings were in fact a "false flag" attack perpetrated by the FSB (successor to the KGB) in order to legitimize the resumption of military activities in Chechnya and bring Vladimir Putin and the FSB to power.³³

An official investigation of the bombings was completed only three years later, in 2002. It was conducted by the Russian FSB agency. Seven suspects were killed, six have been convicted on terrorism-related charges, and one remains a fugitive. According to the investigation, all bombings were organized and led by Achemez Gochiyaev - who as of 2007 remained at large.^{citation needed}

The Russian Duma rejected two motions for parliamentary investigation of the Ryazan incident. An independent public commission to investigate the bombings chaired by Duma deputy Sergei Kovalev was rendered ineffective because of government refusal to respond to its inquiries.^{citation needed} Two key members of the Kovalev Commission, Sergei Yushenkov and Yuri Shchekochikhin, both Duma members, have since died in apparent assassinations in April 2003 and July 2003 respectively.

The Commission's lawyer Mikhail Trepashkin has been arrested in October 2003 to become one of the better-known political prisoners in Russia.^{citation needed}

Viktor Yushchenko poisoning

Russia backed a pro Russian candidate, Victor Yanukovych, in the Presidential elections in Ukraine in 2004 ³⁴ and was accused of complicity in the poisoning of Viktor Yushchenko. Viktor Yushchenko came to power following the Orange Revolution, after mass protests against election results, which were deemed fraudulent, were overturned.³⁵

Other cases

Former FSB officer Aleksander Litvinenko and investigator Mikhail Trepashkin alleged that Moscow theater hostage crisis was directed by a Chechen FSB agent.³⁶³⁷ Yulia Latynina and other journalists also accused the FSB of staging many smaller terrorism acts, such as market place bombing in the city of Astrakhan, bus stops bombings in the city of Voronezh, and the blowing up the Moscow-Grozny train,³⁸³⁹ whereas innocent people were convicted or killed. Journalist Boris Stomakhin claimed that a bombing in Moscow metro in 2004⁴⁰ was probably organized by FSB agents rather than by the unknown man who called the Kavkaz Center and claimed his responsibility.⁴¹ Stomakin was arrested and imprisoned for writing this and other articles.⁴²

Many journalists and workers of international NGOs were reported to be kidnapped by FSB-affiliated forces in Chechnya who pretended to be Chechen terrorists: Andrei Babitsky from Radio Free Europe, Arjan Erkel and Kenneth Glack from Doctors Without Borders, and others.⁴³

See also

• Terrorism in Russia
• Communist terrorism
• Active measures
• Poison laboratory of the Soviet secret services

References