Turkish Forum

Category: Russian Federation

  • Kadyrov denies ordering killing of Chechen rebel

    Kadyrov denies ordering killing of Chechen rebel

    By Shaun Walker in Moscow

    Chechnya’s Kremlin-backed leader has denied the triple murder of Chechens linked to terrorism in an Istanbul suburb last month was carried out by a hit squad working on the orders of either Grozny or Moscow.

    An investigation by The Independent into the 16 September killings found Turkish police believe a team of up to nine professional killers working for the Russian government was behind the assassination of Berg-Khadzh Musayev, a leading figure in the Caucasus Emirate Islamist terrorist movement.

    But Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen President, said yesterday that he had information that they had been carried out on the orders of Doku Umarov, the rebel leader of the Caucasus Emirate, possibly in collusion with Akhmed Zakayev, part of the more moderate wing of the Chechen independence movement who lives in exile in London.

    “We have information that this is an internal settling of scores among bandit groups,” said Mr Kadyrov. “It can’t be excluded that Zakayev is also involved in this. It’s possible that it’s all about money.”

    There will be scepticism over Mr Kadyrov’s version of such a carefully planned assassination. A source close to the investigation in Istanbul claimed the operation was led by two Russians, travelling under the names of Alexander Zharkov and Nadim Ayupov.

    The source also named a Chechen, Ziyauddin Makhayev, who was believed to be aiding the group. Mr Makhayev is known as an aide to Mr Kadyrov, although the Chechen leader’s spokesman has denied the two are close. When contacted last week, Mr Makhayev referred to the allegations that he took part as “propaganda”.

    Prior to the killings, three other prominent Chechen exiles have been killed in Istanbul in the past three years. Istanbul is home to around 2,000 Chechens, including members of Mr Umarov’s family and inner circle.

    via Kadyrov denies ordering killing of Chechen rebel – Europe, World – The Independent.

  • Turkey detains man in attempted murder of Chechen

    Turkey detains man in attempted murder of Chechen

    By SUZAN FRASER

    Associated Press

    A Turkish court on Wednesday began questioning a man and three alleged accomplices suspected of attempting to kill a former Chechen separatist leader in Istanbul, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported.

    Shamsuddin Batukayev, a 55-year-old Muslim scholar and a leader in the Chechen separatist movement in the 1990s, said this week that his bodyguards had foiled an attempt to assassinate him by overpowering an armed man who came to his home in Istanbul posing as a Chechen seeking his help.

    The alleged assassination attempt came weeks after three Chechens were gunned down near a park in Istanbul on Sept. 16. Chechen groups have blamed Russia’s secret service for the killings of the men, who were allegedly involved with Chechen militants. Turkish authorities have refused comment, saying an investigation is ongoing.

    The deaths increased to six the number of Chechens who have been killed in Turkey since 2008.

    Anatolia said police detained the latest suspect and three other people and seized a gun with a silencer during a search of the suspect’s hotel room. On Wednesday, the four were being questioned by a court that will decide whether to charge them or set them free.

    Anatolia identified the suspect as Barhram B. There was no information on the other three.

    Anatolia said the man told police during an initial questioning that he was given the task in Russia of killing Batukayev by someone he “did not know” and that another Russian _ whose identity he also did not know _ gave him the gun in Istanbul.

    Kavkaz Center, a website sympathetic to the North Caucasus insurgency, identified the alleged would-be-killer as Barham Batumayev. It claimed the other detained suspects included Uvais Akhmadov, an alleged associate of Chechnya’s Moscow-backed strongman Ramzan Kadyrov.

    Kadyrov has relied on ruthless tactics to fight the Islamic insurgency after two separatist wars in Chechnya. Rights activists accuse his black-clad security forces of systematic abductions, torture and extrajudicial killings.

    A ballistic examination of the weapon in Istanbul showed that it had not been used in any other previous attacks in Turkey, Anatolia reported. The agency did not cite a source for its report.

    Batukayev chaired the Supreme Sharia Court of the separatist Chechen government between 1995 and 1997. In the early 2000s, he was part of the so-called Caucasus Emirate, a group of Islamist fighters seeking to establish an independent Muslim state in the Caucasus region. Experts say the group maintains links to al-Qaida.

    Turkey has a large ethnic Chechen community, and hundreds of people fleeing fighting in Chechnya, a restive region in Russia’s North Caucasus, have taken refuge here.

    Russian intelligence officials have not responded to allegations about their involvement in the Sept. killings.

    A Russian lawmaker said, however, the man detained in Batukayev’s house appeared more like an amateur driven by vendetta rather than a professional killer.

    “The job of a sharia judge during a civil war was about making tough decisions,” Maxim Shevchenko, an expert on the Caucasus region, was quoted as saying in Wednesday’s Izvestia newspaper.

    “Perhaps, one of the war children grew up and … decided to avenge” his relative’s death, Shevchenko was quoted as saying.

    ___

    Associated Press writer Mansur Mirovalev in Moscow contributed.

    via Turkey detains man in attempted murder of Chechen – Taiwan News Online.

  • Russia, Turkey Discuss Use of Ruble and Lira in Bilateral Trade

    Russia, Turkey Discuss Use of Ruble and Lira in Bilateral Trade

    Russia and Turkey discussed ways to boost the use of the ruble and the lira in bilateral trade.

    Central bank and government officials from the two countries met in Moscow Sept. 26-Sept. 28 to consider “proposals on possible ways to increase settlements in the national currencies and measures needed to broaden interbank cooperation,” Bank Rossii said today in a statement on its website. Policy makers asked commercial banks to help them study the most promising industries for trade to shift to the ruble and lira, according to the statement.

    Russia has sought to bolster the use of the ruble and other emerging-market alternatives to the dollar in trade, including through the so-called BRICS group of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Central bankers met officials in Brasilia in August and agreed that using the ruble and real in trade was more “appropriate” than the dollar.

    Russia and Turkey traded $17.46 billion of goods in the first seven months of 2011, 26 percent higher than a year earlier, according to Russia’s customs service. Turkey accounted for about 3.8 percent of Russian trade, down from 4.1 percent in the same period last year, customs data show.

    To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Rose in Moscow at [email protected]

    To contact the editor responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at [email protected]

    via Russia, Turkey Discuss Use of Ruble and Lira in Bilateral Trade – Bloomberg.

  • Gazprom’s Istanbul supplies canceled over pricing dispute

    Gazprom’s Istanbul supplies canceled over pricing dispute

    Turkey has canceled a deal to supply overpopulated Istanbul with Russian gas over a pricing dispute. The cancellation means Turkey loses supply for some 15% of the gas it needs, causing a price hike for consumers. EurActiv Turkey contributed to this article.

    The state-owned Turkish Petroleum Pipeline Corporation Botaş announced on Saturday (1 October) that it had canceled a natural gas supply deal with Russia’s Gazprom after it failed to obtain discounts.

    The gas was meant to be delivered via the West line, a pipeline which passes through Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria.

    “Price increases should be bearable. We will revise our contracts that are nearing their end. Western Line is one of them. If our demands of price reduction are not met, we will terminate it,” Turkey’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yildiz said.

    Gas prices had increased by around 39% during the past 29 months, Yildiz indicated.

    The dispute ended a contract for the yearly distribution of 6 billion cubic meters of gas, Gazprom’s press service confirmed Sunday, without elaborating. The West line, which had been supplying gas since 1986, has already caused problems to Turkey because of the recurrent disputes between Russia and Ukraine.

    But Turkey will continue to import gas via the Blue Stream pipeline, which carries gas across the Black Sea from the Beregovaya compressing station in Russia to the Durusu terminal, near the Turkish city of Samsun, the daily Hürriyet reported. Turkey buys nearly 16 billion cubic meters (bcm) of Russian gas via Blue Stream, under a contract which was set to expire 23 years after the pipeline’s construction.

    Turkey’s annual natural gas consumption is nearly 37 bcm. Last year, Turkey imported 18 bcm from Russia, about 60% of its total domestic gas consumption.

    However, Botaş announced on Saturday it would raise residential natural-gas prices by 12.3% to 14.3%, citing increases on international markets and the declining value of the Turkish Lira. The new pricing started taking effect the same day. Fees for industrial clients will go up 13.7% to 14.3%, the company also said.

    Relations to develop nevertheless

    The cancellation doesn’t mean natural gas purchases from Russia will stop, Taner Yıldız said.

    The minister also made it clear that when Russia delivers the documents Ankara requested, the permission to build the South Stream pipeline trough Turkish waters would be granted.

    “There are no problems in this respect,” he pointed out, adding that Turkey’s “strategic relationship” with Russia “cannot be affected by a few contracts.”

    Russia has overtaken Germany as Turkey’s primary trade partner as bilateral trade is expected to surpass $40 billion (€30 billion) by the end of 2011, the daily Zaman reported. As well as a total of more than two-thirds of its natural gas, 20% of Turkey’s imported oil is provided by Russia. Nearly three million Russian tourists visit Turkey every year, and the two countries reciprocally removed visa requirements in mid-April.

    Moreover, Turkey has also removed Russia from its list of external threats. Turkish

    contractors have already completed some 1,200 projects around Russia, representing a total value of $32 billion (€24 billion).

    Russia and Turkey also clinched a deal for the construction of Turkey’s first nuclear power plant in the coastal town of Akkuyu, in the southern province of Mersin. A consortium led by state-controlled Russian builder AtomStroyExport will construct the plant in Akkuyu, paying all of the construction costs for the plant, which is estimated to be some $20 billion (€15 billion).

    Meanwhile, natural gas expert Alexei Gromov from Russia’s Institute for the problems of Natural Monopolies commented that Turkey was bluffing and gas prices had to be adjusted in relation to the increase in oil prices in May and June, Cihan News Agency reported.

    Positions:

    In a written statement, Gazprom Deputy CEO Alexander Medvedev said that private Turkish companies had in the meantime shown interest in buying Russian gas directly.

    “We note that gas delivered through the Western line is required by Turkish commercial and industrial consumers. We are ready to deliver these volumes to our existing and new clients- private companies, for further delivery to end users on the Turkish market”, Medvedev said.

    via Gazprom’s Istanbul supplies canceled over pricing dispute | EurActiv.

  • Gay Russian agent killed 3 Chechens in Istanbul

    Gay Russian agent killed 3 Chechens in Istanbul

    Gay Russian agent killed 3 Chechens in Istanbul

    By cumhur Ozkaya

    opednews.com

    3 Chechens were killed at Istanbul (Turkey). Prosecutor and police find murder. Murder suspects are 8 Russian agents.

    ::::::::

    3 Chechens ( Musaev Berkhazh , Rüstem Altemirol , Zaurbek Amriev) were killed at September 16 in Istanbul. According to Haberturk site’s news, 3 Chechen who has joined and directed some bloody attacks at Russia were killed by 8 Russian agents. Searching on security cameras by police and prosecutor appeared the murder suspects. Camera visuals appear how 8 agents planned the attack. Police had the information about when 8 agents came to Turkey and when they leaved the country after attack.

    The police control in hotels where murder suspects stayed before attack appeared some interesting materials about one of Russian agents. He is seen naked and with men in a close embrace in his photo album. The claim is these men are his boyfriends. He uses swastikas at motorcycle and computer and he does victory sign often.

    According to news there are 8 people at assassination group. Names of 2 are explained and claimed killers are these two agents. Not only names but also their photos and security videos are watched in Turk news sites again and again.

    Also 2 Afghan citizens were killed in Turkey (Aksaray) 3 days ago but there is any information yet about why they were killed and who might be killers.

    These murders are discussed now by public union at Turkey and people ask how foreign agents could kill someone so simply.

    via OpEdNews – Diary: Gay Russian agent killed 3 Chechens in Istanbul.

  • Leaked document reveals plans to ‘eliminate’ Russia’s enemies overseas

    Leaked document reveals plans to ‘eliminate’ Russia’s enemies overseas

    Russia ‘gave agents licence to kill’ enemies of the state

    The Russian secret service authorised the “elimination” of individuals living overseas who were judged to be enemies of the state and ordered the creation of special units to conduct such operations, according to a document passed to The Daily Telegraph.

    The directive refers specifically to the European Union and western Europe and appears to be signed by the head of counter-intelligence of the FSB, the successor to the KGB.

    It is dated March 19, 2003 – four years before the killing of the former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in London. It sets a provisional deadline of May 1 2004 for the new units’ work to begin.

    It is understood the document is also in the possession of Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism command which is investigating the Litvinenko case.

    A hearing is to be held next week into whether a full inquest should take place into Mr Litvinenko’s death, as the Russian government has insisted that Andrei Lugovoi, the former KGB bodyguard who is a main suspect in the case, will never be extradited back to Britain.

    Labelled “Secret documentation. For internal use only. Do not copy”, the leaked document refers to a law on “countering extremist activities” passed eight months earlier, although that law does not refer to the use of force.

    The objectives, the directive says, are “observation, identification, possible return to the Russian Federation” of their targets.

    But it also allows for “under special directives” the “elimination outside of the Russian Federation in the countries of Near Abroad [former Soviet states] and in the European Union, of the leaders of unlawful terrorist groups and organisations, extremist formations and associations, of individuals who have left Russia illegally [and are] wanted by federal law enforcement”.

    Apparently with leaders of rebellions in the Caucasus in mind, among others, it names the crimes of those sought as terrorism, “extremist activity,” murder, kidnapping and “others classified as especially serious crimes against citizens of the Russian Federation and directed against the Russian state and government”.

    The order sets up the “intensive training of the newly formed groups and units in relation to specific conditions of work in Western Europe and countries of the European Union”.

    It says there will be “in-depth training of individual agent-analysts for work in the countries of European Union”.

    It is signed at the bottom by Col General Nechaev, First Deputy Head of the FSB counter-intelligence branch and also bears the organisation’s stamp.

    Colonel General Nechaev is a former civil and military health minister who was invited to London by the then health minister Virginia Bottomley in 1993 to “see the operation of the NHS at first hand”.

    Vladimir Putin, then the Russian president and now the prime minister, pushed a law on “counteracting terrorism” through the Russian Duma in March 2006 which gave the FSB the power to kill “terrorists” abroad.

    However, the latest document suggests an extensive secret programme was already in place.

    The Russians have conducted controversial assassinations against Chechens in Dubai, Qatar, and Vienna. The latest, in Istanbul, was just last week, when a gunman shot a Chechen rebel leader and his two bodyguards dead in a busy street in Istanbul.

    Mr Litvinenko died in a hospital bed in London in November 2006 after allegedly being poisoned by a former FSB bodyguard using radioactive polonium 210.

    Other potential Russian targets in Britain include the oligarch Boris Berezovsky, who was the subject of a suspected assassination plot in 2007, and the Chechen dissident Akhmed Zakaev.

    Mr Zakaev said: “I knew anytime that something like this could happen to me. They want to eliminate me before 2012 when Putin comes back to the Kremlin [as president]. They need to solve these ‘problems.’ That is what they call us and it doesn’t matter where we are.”

    Mr Berezovsky said: “I knew this a long time ago and there were several attempts to kill me. I was lucky, I was warned and I am safe.”

    He said he had been told again only a month ago not to travel abroad.

    via PIC AND PUB PLS: Leaked document reveals plans to ‘eliminate’ Russia’s enemies overseas – Telegraph.