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The Economist

09.03.2002. The world this week

Boris Berezovsky, one of Russia's richest men, in exile because of fraud charges, accused Russian special services of the apartment bombings in Moscow and elsewhere in 1999. He stated that the bombs were a pretext for then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, now the Russian president, to restart a winning election war against rebellious Chechnya.

Photo: Berezovsky against the background of a house skeleton

Le Figaro, Paris

06.03.2002. Berezovsky lays out his evidence against Moscow. Russia: Exile oligarch in London presented a documentary film implicating Putin in the 1999 attacks

Moscow: Karim Talbi.
"You know well that Russian politics and Russian roulette are one and the same," Boris Berezovsky recently told "Figaro". Yesterday, the former grand manipulator of the Yeltsin family, the oligarch who helped get Vladimir Putin elected, presented a documentary film in London, where he found refuge to escape Russian justice. Promised many weeks earlier, this film presented, according to the oligarch, evidence of the involvement of Russian special services in the deadly 1999 attacks in Moscow and Volgodonsk.

Under the guise of evidence, this nine-minute film presents primarily a selection of articles from the Russian and French press, as well as statements from an anonymous witness regarding the apartment bombings. Boris Berezovsky, meanwhile, went further than usual, claiming that Russian President Vladimir Putin knew that the FSB was involved in the 1999 attacks.

Let's recall the facts. On September 9 and 13, 1999, explosions of two residential buildings caused 234 deaths in Moscow. On the 16th, 19 people died in an attack of the same type in Volgodonsk. "At the very least, the President of Russia knew that the FSB was behind the campaign of bombings that occurred in Moscow, Volgodonsk, and Ryazan," Boris Berezovsky stated.

The former oligarch also cited as special evidence an incident detailed in the film that occurred on September 22, 1999, in Ryazan, when FSB agents were involved in planting what their superiors later presented as a "fake bomb" as part of anti-terrorist exercises. According to Berezovsky, this bomb was, on the contrary, quite real and was supposed to explode in the same way as the other shells. Why were the attacks financed by the Russian authorities? To justify a new war in Chechnya and dress candidate Putin in a "presidential savior" outfit. "The special services decided to organize these attacks," Berezovsky recently told "Figaro". "To make emotions soar, to raise Russian public opinion against the Chechens and unleash a war in Chechnya."

Forced to respond to these accusations, the FSB, the former KGB, contented itself with classifying Berezovsky's claims as "complete nonsense." For the official thesis of the Russian authorities remains the involvement of Chechen terrorists. The only problem: the authorities have never succeeded in putting them out of action. On the contrary, two suspects who appeared in court last fall were acquitted. At the end of January, the FSB stated that "all those responsible for the explosions are known and some of them have been arrested," but refused to provide more extensive information.

The Kremlin, which had long been preparing for Boris Berezovsky's speech, could have reacted in two ways: silence or counterattack. By sending a request to the prosecutor's office, it chose the second solution. A few hours before Boris Berezovsky's press conference in London, the Russian prosecutor's office announced that it possessed materials proving that the Russian billionaire financed military...

Chechen invasion of Dagestan in 1999.

"When all the evidence is gathered, we will bring charges against him and seek him worldwide for financing terrorists," a representative of the prosecutor's office said yesterday.

Anticipating these charges, the tycoon, involved in a "fight to the death" with the Russian president, admitted to contributing a million dollars to Shamil Basaev, the head of the Chechen war, to "finance a cement plant."

It is not without doubt that it was a coincidence that he chose March 5, the anniversary of Stalin's death, to give his press conference - he, who regularly exposes the march toward "fascism" led by Vladimir Putin. In Moscow and many cities in Russia, rallies were held exposing the "return of Stalinism" in Russia. And at the very moment when Boris Berezovsky was presenting his film, two hundred protesters gathered in front of the Lubyanka, the FSB headquarters, to call for the organization of human rights protection.

"Financial Times", London

06.07.2002. Berezovsky makes allegations about bomb blasts (Arkady Ostrovsky in London, Robert Cottrell in Moscow)

Boris Berezovsky, once one of Russia's most powerful oligarchs, yesterday made a bid from exile in London to return to the Russian political scene.

At a press conference, the sidelined media mogul threw his weight behind allegations that Russian special services blew up several apartment buildings in Moscow and other Russian cities in 1999 to create a pretext for Russia's military action in Chechnya.

• "I am sure that these explosions [in Moscow and Volgodonsk] were organized by the Federal Security Service (FSB)," he said, accusing Mr. Putin of knowing about them.

Meanwhile, in Moscow, officials tried to beat Mr. Berezovsky with his own weapon, renewing allegations that he provided money to "Chechen criminal groups" in 1999.

Mr. Berezovsky showed journalists part of a film titled "Assassination of Russia," in which two French film journalists link the September 1999 attacks to the FSB. Mr. Berezovsky called for an international investigation into the bombings.

Mr. Berezovsky, who was close to Boris Yeltsin, the former Russian prime minister {as they have it}, has since fallen out of favor with the Kremlin and now lives in self-imposed exile in Europe.

In January, his TV6 television company was declared bankrupt by a court and closed, giving the Kremlin de-facto control over all nationwide television channels for the first time since the Soviet era and sparking international protests over civil liberties violations.

The FSB shrugged off Mr. Berezovsky's appeals regarding the bombs, stating that it saw "no need to engage in polemics with a private individual."

"International Herald Tribune", Frankfurt

06.03.2002. Berezovsky accuses Putin of the Bombs. Allegations of knowledge of state involvement (David Hoffman, "Washington Post")

London: Russian businessman Boris Berezovsky said on Tuesday that President Vladimir Putin knew that the country's special services were involved in

Apartment Bombings in Russia

• Apartment bombings in Moscow and other cities in September 1999, in which about 300 people died.
• Berezovsky, feuding with Putin since autumn 2000, threw accusations at a press conference in London, in which he offered what seemed to be extremely fragmentary and circumstantial evidence suggesting that the authorities were behind the bombings to help Putin get elected.
• Earlier, the Kremlin condemned Chechen rebels for these attacks.
• Putin previously rejected the accusation as "delirious nonsense," and a Russian prosecutor said Tuesday that Berezovsky made the accusations to distract attention from investigations into his financial affairs.

The Bombings and Political Impact

• The horrific bombings in Moscow, Volgodonsk, and Buinaksk in September 1999 stunned Russia and marked a turning point in war and politics.
• Although Russian officials said their investigation pointed to Chechnya, they never found evidence or arrested the perpetrators.
• The bombings galvanized support for a military offensive against Chechnya in late 1999, and also played a key role in boosting the popularity of Putin, who was then the newly appointed prime minister.
• Vowing to exterminate the Chechens, Putin became terribly popular and far outstripped all other contenders for the legacy of President Boris Yeltsin.
• On New Year's Eve 2000, Yeltsin resigned and appointed Putin acting president.
• Putin was elected President in March 2000.

Berezovsky's Accusations

• Berezovsky, who initially supported Putin and was close to Yeltsin's inner circle, previously spread the accusation that Russian special services might be involved in the bombings.
• On Tuesday, he said he was sure Putin did not give the order for the bombings, but "at a minimum, he knew, he was aware of the FSB's involvement."
• FSB is the Russian abbreviation for the Federal Security Service, the domestic successor to the KGB, which Putin headed for a year before being appointed prime minister.
• Berezovsky, who left Russia and now lives and works in London in self-imposed exile, is co-chairman of a new party, Liberal Russia, which sponsored the press conference.
• Berezovsky said his goal was to draw attention to unanswered questions about the bombs.
• He brushed off questions about his motives, saying he did not want to discuss them, but the highly specialized press conference seems like a deliberate challenge to Putin.
• Berezovsky also released a film about the bombs and presented several new hints about the mysterious explosions, but without decisive evidence.

Evidence and Claims

• Part of the material was a statement by Nikita Chekulin, at one time the executive director of a Russian scientific institute, who stated that he was recruited by the FSB to become part of a secret anti-terrorist operation.
• He stated that he became acquainted there with a secret scheme for transferring tons of extremely explosive hexogen from military bases to other, unnamed organizations, and that the hexogen was loaded under false labels, hinting that the explosives used in the bombings came from the state, not from Chechens.
• Chekulin stated that efforts to investigate these transfers were later cornered (or reached a dead end) by FSB Director Nikolai Patrushev, who succeeded Putin in his post.
• Earlier, officials stated that hexogen was used in the bomb explosions.
• But Chekulin's claim does not prove a link.
• Similarly, the film "Assassination of Russia" by two Frenchmen, Charles Gazelle and Jean-Charles Deniau, focuses on many mysteries regarding the bombs but does not resolve them.
• The film was originally prepared for broadcast on NTV, an independent television station, later taken over by the partially state-controlled natural gas monopoly Gazprom.

Photo - portrait: Boris Berezovsky, former media mogul, said Tuesday that Moscow planned the bombs to lead to war in Chechnya.

Lidove Noviny ("People's News"), Prague

06.03.2002. Influential Entrepreneur accused Putin of supporting terrorism

London. - Russian entrepreneur Boris Berezovsky stated yesterday that the Russian secret service (FSB) was behind the series of assassination attempts [bombings] that cost the lives of three hundred people in Russia in 1999. And that the current president, Vladimir Putin, who was prime minister at the time, "at the very least knew" about this action. Putin built his campaign before the presidential elections, which elevated him to the head of the country, on the slogan of restoring order. Berezovsky, who is now in disgrace in Russia, observing Kremlin affairs, attributed responsibility for these attacks to the FSB, which, however, did not coordinate with Putin. The Russian prosecutor's office did not lag behind and reported yesterday that it has at its disposal evidence of Berezovsky's participation in preparing the invasion of Chechen radicals into Dagestan in 1999. His participation in Russian assassination attempts in the Caucasus is also being checked (CTK agency).

Le Monde, Paris

07.03.2002. Former associate of Boris Yeltsin accuses special services of the 1999 assassination attempts. Mr. Berezovsky calls himself "at war to the death" with Mr. Putin (Sophie Shihab)

The Russian President seeks more than anything else the oblivion of the way in which he came to power

London (from our special correspondent)

A completely discredited person who regularly promises "revelations" on a burning topic, never presenting them—is he not doing a disservice to the cause he claims to serve? This question could be raised following the press conference organized on Tuesday, March 5, in London by the former Russian oligarch, now in exile, Boris Berezovsky.

The stated object of the exercise: to bring about the start of an investigation into the September 1999 assassination attempts [bombings] in Russia, the 300 deaths in which served to justify tens of thousands of deaths in the subsequent war in Chechnya, all this to install Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin. The attacks that served to create all this were allegedly not Chechen, as the authorities claim without having evidence, but by the special services, and in particular the FSB, the successor to the KGB. Vladimir Putin himself "was at least informed about the role of his services," Mr. Berezovsky stated.

Beside him is allegedly a "surprising witness" to the case, not necessarily related to the attacks, French journalist Jean-Charles Deniau, who has just finished a documentary film on this subject, a British explosives expert, and two Duma deputies who, having failed to stir their colleagues, wished to inform international authorities. Despite their reinforcement, the fallen tycoon with haggard features did not meet the expectations he himself had generated on December 14, promising to showcase {or produce, create} - in February - new documents about the attacks. In the autumn, he had already sponsored the publication of a book which, while presenting an abundance of signs and details collected for the first time, added almost nothing to what had already been said by various mass media.

Once again, on Tuesday, third parties did not present {or create} anything that could serve as evidence before a court, as evaluated in the corridors of the Royal United Services Institute, where dozens of journalists responded to the ex-oligarch's invitation. Mr. Berezovsky smiled, guaranteeing that suspicions regarding the FSB "do not just come to his mind, as they did recently." While a significant part of Russia itself had already harbored these suspicions immediately after the attacks,

Assassination Attempts and Political Accusations

• Many Russians accused Boris Berezovsky of organizing the assassination attempts.
• He boasted that he orchestrated Vladimir Putin's rise to power.
• He was also accused of ensuring that the first television channel incited racial hatred against Chechens.
• According to Chechen President Maskhadov, the leaders of the radical Islamic war, his opponents received support from Boris Berezovsky in various ways, including indirectly through hostage-taking and financing their invasion of Dagestan, which was another prelude to the war.
• These accusations were added on Tuesday by the Russian Prosecutor's Office to those that motivated the search warrant already issued by Russia against the ex-magnate, who now declares himself to be in a "fight to the death" with Vladimir Putin.

Political Commentary

• The text questions whether the Russian president congratulates himself on such an enemy, compromising for the defeated opposition democrats who accept his help, suddenly generous.
• It suggests that perhaps this is why Moscow does not bother Interpol regarding Boris Berezovsky, contrary to what was stated.
• The text notes that Vladimir Putin seeks more than anything else the oblivion of the way he came to power, yet he cannot prescribe silence to foreign mass media.

Statements on the Ryazan Case

• Jean-Charles Deniau clarified for "Le Monde": "It may be true that our film does not lead to revelations, but there is no need for that; it is enough to put together the pieces of the mosaic of the Ryazan case, it speaks for itself."
• He added that after receiving death threats in the city where the FSB arrested them, and knowing what the Russians who helped them were subjected to, "things I have never seen in fifteen years of reporting in Russia, my conviction about the role of the Kremlin is formed."

Calls for Investigation

• Deputy Yuri Rybakov emphasized: "There is more material than necessary to start an investigation," calling on the "European Parliament to take an interest in this avalanche of deaths that comes from us and that could flood it."
• Yeltsin's special services are accused of the 1999 assassination attempts.
• Boris Berezovsky calls himself "at war to the death" with Vladimir Putin.

Library of Doubtful Criminal Cases: Doubt

To the home page somnenie.narod.ru

To the beginning of the section "September Terror"

Dossier

AKIMOV Vladimir

Former driver for Max Lazovsky [11], co-founder of the firm "Lanako".

• In February 1996, he was detained by MUR while attempting to sell a pistol.
• While in custody, in August 1996, under the impression of the trolleybus bombings that occurred in Moscow in June and July, he reported that on 27.12.1994, together with Vladimir Vorobyov, he carried out a bus bombing [11, 13].

• He later changed his testimony [13].

• At the end of April 1999, the Moscow City Court, presided over by Irina Kulichkova, found A. insane and released him [12] or sentenced A. to 3 years of imprisonment for attempting to sell a pistol.

• Since he had already served this term, Akimov was released in the courtroom [11].

• On 4.12.2001, a trial began in the Moscow City Court charging A., Marat Vasilyev, Marsel Kharisov, and two others with banditry.

• A. refused a lawyer [own info].

VOROBYOV Vladimir Lvovich

• Born in 1952 or 1953 [8].
• Has children, a sister [13].
• Until 1920, his grandfather headed the Tula arms factory "Arsenal" [11].
• During his studies at the Kiev Military School, he manufactured an explosive device that exploded in his hand; the consequences were the amputation of the nail phalanges of two fingers of his right hand [8].
• He worked at the N.E. Zhukovsky Air Force Academy on an anti-missile defense system [11], and taught [13].
• Candidate of Technical Sciences [11, 13].

• Retired Colonel [7, 9, 10] or Lieutenant Colonel [11, 13].

• Detained in August 1996 [13] (on 28.8.1996 by the head of the MUR department V.I. Tskhai [11]) on suspicion of the bus bombing in Moscow on 27.12.1994.

• V. Akimov identified Vorobyov as the perpetrator of the bombing.
• The bus driver [13] Dmitry Trapezov [11] was slightly injured in the explosion.

• Vorobyov committed this terrorist act under pressure from an unidentified Chechen [7, 8, 9, 13].

• The court of first instance sentenced V. to 5 years of imprisonment [7, 11].

• Vorobyov called this sentence a "mockery of the special services" [8].

• In 1999 [7] (at the end of August 1999 [11]), the Moscow City Court [13] or the Supreme Court [11] in a closed session (state prosecutor - Nina Barkova from the Moscow City Prosecutor's Office [13], presiding judge - Irina Kulichkova [12]) reduced the sentence to 3 years, and Vorobyov was released in the courtroom [11, 13].

ZAOSTROVTSEV Yuri Evgenievich

• Born in 1956 into the family of a KGB officer.
• Graduate of the Leningrad (as some claim) KGB school.
• Served in the Economic Counterintelligence Directorate of the FSB - supervised the State Customs Committee.
• In 1993, with the rank of colonel, he resigned from the agencies from the position of head of a branch of the UBKK (Directorate for Combating Contraband and Corruption).
• He received a management position at Tveruniversalbank, where he headed the security and protection service.

• In early 1996, he moved to the firm "Medox", part of the "Siberian Aluminum" group.

• In November 1998, he was reinstated in the FSB personnel and assigned to the Economic Counterintelligence Directorate, while continuing to be listed as an employee of the presidential administration, where in July 1998 he was accepted for the position of assistant to Nikolai Patrushev (then head of the Main Control Directorate), head of a GKU department with the rank of State Councilor of the 1st Class.

• He then headed the Directorate for Counterintelligence Support of the Financial and Banking Sphere of the FSB.
• Currently, with the rank of Deputy Director of the FSB, he heads the Department of Economic Counterintelligence.
• He planned and conducted the operation against Gusinsky and "Media-MOST". [14]