Beware of terrorists!

Vladimir Putin’s campaign program article on Russia’s foreign policy was followed Monday by an assassination attempt on the prime minister and number-one presidential candidate’s life. A field day for Russia’s media, particularly its government-run Channel One that played what could be best described as a well-directed documentary in the morning [Moscow time], showing how the special services of Ukraine and Russia combined efforts in tracking and apprehending in Odesa members of the gang allegedly involved in the assassination attempt, with all detainees making full video-taped confessions.

“The final goal was to go to Moscow and attempt to carry out an attack on Prime Minister Putin,” Adam Osmayev, one of the surviving detainees, said in a police interview on Channel One, adding that the terrorists had been trained by the Chechen terrorist leader, Doku Umarov.

The Day couldn’t get in touch with Channel One’s reporter in question, Anton Vernitsky (all the emails remained unanswered), but was amazed to hear the following response from the channel’s headquarters’ office: “Do you have any complaints to make?”

What makes one wonder is the timing of the assassination attempt, less than a week before the presidential elections in Russia, with Channel One zeroing in on it, while none of Ukraine’s channels made a big deal of it, even though Adam Osmayev had been actually apprehended by Alpha men [Alpha being the former USSR’s version of SWAT].

Sergei Goncharov, President of the Intentional Alpha Special Force Veterans’ Association, told Ekho Moskvy Radio Station: “A number of such statements have been made, including 12 attempts on Putin’s life. All of these have turned out to be election campaign stunts.” (The retired Major, Oleksandr Sharkov, disagrees with this, but on this further on.)

Goncharov is echoed by Dmitry Oreshkin, a political analyst: “This is a sign that the real leaders of Mr. Putin’s political structure, the people from the Federal Security Service, are trying to mobilize public opinion according to the logic that we are surrounded by enemies and that we have one decisive, effective and intelligent national leader that they want to destroy.”

Putin’s Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov in Moscow and SBU [secret police] spokesperson Maryna Ostapenko in Kyiv practically echoed each other, saying Russia and Ukraine’s clandestine agencies had combined effort in thwarting the terrorists’ plan.

Says political analyst Vadym Karasiov (Ukraine): “If this is Putin team’s another campaign stunt, it just won’t work in Ukraine – just as it won’t work in Russia. Russians see Ukraine as an oasis for Chechen guerillas, as a backyard where all kinds of terrorists and saboteurs can spend the night and then move on to carry out their horrendous missions. The big question is whether or not Ukraine is a European country. If this assassination attempt is part of Putin’s campaign scenario, with Ukraine playing its role, then this country is acting to destroy itself. Ukraine has to build a positive European image after the trials over Lutsenko and Tymoshenko; it has to make a stronger effort to remain in Europe’s cultural, legal, and civilizational gravitational fields, rather than remain an obscure buffer state between civilized Europe and Russia, with the latter drawing [Ukraine] into yet another round of [domestic political] instability, another round of a game aimed at containing domestic and foreign threats. Without playing this game, Putin can see no sense in making his power legitimate.”

POLITICAL REGIMES IN RUSSIA AND UKRAINE HAVE MUCH IN COMMON TODAY

Semen NOVOPRUDSKY, executive secretary, Moskovskiye novosti:

“This really looks like a campaign scenario. What’s important for Russia is the fact that Channel One was the only one to report [the alleged assassination attempt]. It had been played out as ordered from ‘upstairs,’ allowing the main government-run channel to put together a mini-documentary focusing on the attempt.

“Another strange thing is that the alleged architects of this act of terrorism, to be perpetrated after the presidential elections, knew who would win the campaign. In this context, considering that the assassination attempt was made a week before the election date, the whole thing looks like a marketplace show. In fact, it fits into Putin’s previous presidential campaign strategies… when strange things happened during his first campaign, followed by several acts of terrorism during his next presidential campaign (it was far more predictable than the first one, let alone the current one, even though Putin’s ratings are lower than back in 2004).

“Whichever way this [attempted assassination] affair is treated, the end result isn’t in Putin’s favor. If this [Channel One’s] report is true, it is indicative of Doku Umarov’s trace, that the terrorist underworld still exists in the Caucasus, contrary to the statements made by Vladimir Putin and Ramzan Kadyrov [the incumbent president of Chechnya] about having destroyed it, this being a major achievement in the political relations between Russia and the Caucasus. If this report is a lie, one has to assume that some immoral scenarios are being played out to show that the life of the number-one presidential candidate is endangered. Regrettably, all this is proof that those in power in Russia haven’t learned to win an election campaign in a civilized manner.

“Nor is there letting the cat out of the bag by saying that the clandestine agencies of Russia and Ukraine combined their efforts in a way that left much to be desired. This is further proof that the whole affair was a sham; just as there is no letting the cat out of the bag about Russia’s nationals seekeing and finding political asylum in Ukraine during Yanukovych’s presidency, let alone that of his predecessor [Yushchenko].

“Naturally, this is no proof of warmer or colder Ukraine-Russia relations, but the whole affair is weird, whichever way one looks at it. The incident was reported at the peak of the presidential campaign, by a channel whose reputation is generally known in Russia. Its report was, of course, something planned ‘upstairs,’ nothing to do with investigative journalism. Ordinarily, if such incidents occur, the clandestine agencies are reluctant to share any data [with the media]. Assuming that the terrorists were apprehended in early February, this doesn’t give one the whole picture. The clandestine agencies usually never share such information, unless acting on orders from ‘upstairs.’ The whole thing looks like a campaign stunt, considering that [Channel One’s] report leaves one wondering about the kind of arrangements that have to be made for an assassination attempt. Of course, this wasn’t an anti-Ukrainian action, but this is further proof that the regimes in Russia and Ukraine have much in common these days, despite their stated differences. Ukraine’s governance is getting closer to that of Russia, considering the methods.”

QUITE POSSIBLE

Oleksandr SHARKOV, Colonel General, veteran foreign intelligence officer, International Police Corporation of Public Security:

“There are arrangements between our clandestine agencies and those in Russia, concerning acts of terrorism. There is no ruling out an assassination attempt [on Putin’s life]. Those thugs were getting prepared to do something, weren’t they? We know that the Chechen extremists are bearing a number of serious grudges against Vladimir Putin. The Chechnya war – which is still underway – has given rise to various phenomena, including terrorism. We all know about the acts of terrorism in Russia, so one shouldn’t be surprised to learn about a Chechen team preparing an act of terrorism against Putin in Ukraine. The SBU succeeded in preventing this crime. This is proof of coordinated cooperation between the clandestine agencies in Ukraine and Russia.

“All events in regard to those apprehended in Odesa are proof that they were anything but amateurs. Of course, an attempt on a person of Putin’s caliber is easier said than done, considering the top-notch security arrangements. Each such attempt is very carefully studied, without any publicity. We know about the US presidents who were assassinated. There are psychos prepared to murder a ranking official. The SBU deserves every credit, if it did receive that information. Hopefully, we’ll get more information before long that will help us figure out the situation. Ukraine’s clandestine agencies have enough problems on their hands, yet this doesn’t mean that all their actions and statements should be criticized – as practiced by some politicians.

“Why this information was carried by the media? Because an election campaign is underway in Russia. Doubtlessly, this kind of information couldn’t have surfaced without having been okayed ‘upstairs.’”