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Vladimir Putin’s speech to the Federal Security Service, February 16, 2017

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From the Kremlin
February 16, 2017

Vladimir Putin took part in an annual expanded meeting of the Federal Security Service (FSB) Board to discuss the FSB’s results for 2016 and the priority tasks for ensuring Russia’s national security.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon.

These annual FSB Board meetings give us a chance to meet and not only thoroughly analyse and review the results of the agency’s work over the period, but also to discuss at length all important national security issues in general and outline the priorities for the immediate future and the longer-term.

The FSB plays a key part in protecting our constitutional order and our country’s sovereignty, and in protecting our people from threats at home and abroad.

Let me say from the start that last year’s results were positive and show good development. This concerns your work to counter terrorism and extremism, a series of successful counterintelligence operations, your efforts to combat economic crime, and other areas.

You ensured a high standard of security for major public events, including the State Duma election and regional and local elections.

I would like to thank both the executives and staff for their conscientious attitude towards their work and their timely and efficient performance of their duties.

At the same time, demands on the quality and results of your work grow constantly. The global situation has not become any more stable or better over the past year. On the contrary, many existing threats and challenges have only become more acute.

Military-political and economic rivalry between global and regional policy makers and between individual countries has increased. We see bloody conflicts continue in a number of countries in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. International terrorist groups, essentially terrorist armies, receiving tacit and sometimes even open support from some countries, take active part in these conflicts.

At the NATO summit last July in Warsaw, Russia was declared the main threat to the alliance for the first time since 1989, and NATO officially proclaimed containing Russia its new mission. It is with this aim that NATO continues its expansion. This expansion was already underway earlier, but now they believe they have more serious reasons for doing so. They have stepped up the deployment of strategic and conventional arms beyond the national borders of the principal NATO member states.

They are provoking us constantly and are trying to draw us into confrontation. We see continued attempts to interfere in our internal affairs in a bid to destabilise the social and political situation in Russia itself.

We also see the recent serious flare-up in southeast Ukraine. This escalation pursues the clear aim of preventing the Minsk Agreements from going ahead. The current Ukrainian authorities are obviously not seeking a peaceful solution to this very complex problem and have decided to opt for the use of force instead. What is more, they speak openly about organising sabotage and terrorism, particularly in Russia. Obviously, this is a matter of great concern.

The events and circumstances I have mentioned require our security and intelligence services, especially the Federal Security Service, to concentrate their utmost attention and effort on the paramount task of fighting terrorism.

We have already seen that our intelligence services dealt some serious blows to terrorists and their accomplices. Last year’s results confirm this: the number of terrorism related crimes has decreased.

Preventive work has also brought results. The FSB and other security agencies, with the National Antiterrorist Committee acting as coordinator, prevented 45 terrorism related crimes, including 16 planned terrorist attacks. You deserve special gratitude for this.

You need to continue your active efforts to identify and block terrorist groups’ activity, eliminate their financial base, prevent the activities of their emissaries from abroad and their dangerous activity on the internet, and take into account in this work Russian and international experience in this area.

The murder of our ambassador to Turkey was a terrible crime that particularly highlighted the need to protect our citizens and missions abroad. I ask you to work together with the Foreign Ministry and the Foreign Intelligence Service to take additional measures to ensure their safety.

You must also work to take our counterterrorism cooperation with partners abroad to a new level, despite the difficulties that we see in various areas of international life. It is a priority, of course, to intensify work with our partners in organisations such as the UN, the CSTO, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

It is in our common interests to restore dialogue with the US intelligence services and with other NATO member countries. It is not our fault that these ties were broken off and are not developing. It is very clear that all responsible countries and international groups should work together on counterterrorism, because even simply exchanging information on terrorists’ financing channels and sources and on people involved in or suspected of links with terrorism can substantially improve the results of our common efforts.

Our priorities include firmly suppressing extremism. Security methods must go hand-in-hand with constant prevention work. It is essential to prevent extremism from drawing young people into its criminal networks, and to form an overall firm rejection of nationalism, xenophobia, and aggressive radicalism. In this context, of great importance is open dialogue with civil society institutions and representatives of Russia’s traditional religions.

Counterintelligence services also face greater demands today. Operational data show that foreign intelligence services’ activity in Russia has not decreased. Last year, our counterintelligence services put a stop to the work of 53 foreign intelligence officers and 386 agents.

It is important to neutralise foreign intelligence services’ efforts to gain access to confidential information, particularly information concerning our military-technical capabilities.

This makes it a priority to improve our system for protecting classified information comprising state secrets, particularly with agencies going over to an electronic document circulation system.

I would like to note that the number of cyberattacks on official information resources tripled in 2016 compared to 2015. In this context, each agency must develop its segment of the state system for detecting and preventing cyberattacks on information resources and eliminating their consequences.

The public expects greater results in such key areas as economic security and the fight against corruption. I ask you to be particularly thorough in monitoring the funds allocated for state defence procurement (a subject I have spoken about before), major infrastructure projects, preparation of big international events, and implementing federal targeted and socially important programmes. Regrettably, we still see many cases of state funds being embezzled or misappropriated.

Reliable protection of our state borders plays a big part in ensuring our country’s comprehensive security. The priority here is to close off channels through which members of international terrorist and extremist groups enter Russia, and put a firm stop to all forms of smuggling, from weapons to drugs and various bio-resources.

Of course, we must continue the work to develop border infrastructure where it is not yet sufficiently developed, particularly in the Far East and in the Arctic.

Colleagues, let me stress that we will continue to bolster the FSB’s central and regional branches and ensure you have the most advanced arms and equipment. We will also continue to give attention to social provisions for FSB personnel and their family members.

I wish you success in protecting our national interests and the security of our country and our people. I am confident that you will continue working towards your targets with dignity.

Thank you for your attention.

http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/53883

The real meaning behind Putin’s “Ukrainian terrorism” speech

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“…We also see the recent serious flare-up in southeast Ukraine. This escalation pursues the clear aim of preventing the Minsk Agreements from going ahead. The current Ukrainian authorities are obviously not seeking a peaceful solution to this very complex problem and have decided to opt for the use of force instead. What is more, they speak openly about organising sabotage and terrorism, particularly in Russia. Obviously, this is a matter of great concern…”

Vladimir Putin’s speech at meeting of Federal Security Service Board, February 16, 2017
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/53883

From Fort Russ

February 18, 2017 – Fort Russ –
Rostislav Ishchenko, RIA Analytics – translated by J. Arnoldski –
February 16, 2017

On Thursday, February 16th, at the annual meeting of the Collegium of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), Vladimir Putin drew particular attention to the situation in South-East Ukraine. According to the president, Ukrainian authorities are deliberately aggravating the situation in the conflict zone in Donbass in order to disrupt the Minsk Agreements and are betting on a military solution to the problem.
The head of state also emphasized that the Kiev authorities “are openly speaking of the organization of sabotage and terroristic, subversive work, including in Russia.”
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A signal to the West
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It is clear that anti-terrorist and counter-intelligence work lies at the heart of the FSB’s operations. But it is also clear that such statements by the president, by being made public, were aimed primarily at an external audience.
After all, the FSB leadership can be instructed in secret. Moreover, no one doubts that since the very beginning of the civil war in Ukraine, the FSB has followed attempts to spill the war over into Russian territory. Since 2014, the press has periodically been given information on the arrest of both Ukrainian and Russian citizens caught trying to conduct intelligence reconnaissance on the territory of Russia in the interests of Kiev, as well as prepare terrorist attacks.
Thus, the president’s statement was intended not for a Russian, but for a foreign audience. But this audience is not Ukrainian. If there was a desire to appeal to the Ukrainian government, then this would be done through diplomatic channels. And this statement is also not a threat of military response to Ukrainian provocations. Otherwise it would have been made at the collegium of the Ministry of Defense of Security Council.
The choice of place and format for this statement clearly indicates that it is a signal sent to our Western partners. 
 
The FSB has great capacity for conducting counter-terrorist operations. It should be noted that preventative actions against terrorists and their masterminds are one of the main work components of the FSB not necessarily limited to Russian territory.
Sure, their operations on the territory of another state are limited by stringent conditions. In order for preventative counter-terrorism measures on a foreign territory to be justified from the point of view of international law, the concerned state must either be in a state of war or have suffered an unprovoked attack. 
There is yet another scenario which is enshrined at the level of the UN Security Council: the loss by an acting government of control over territory from which terrorist activities are being conducted. This scenario is not relevant in this case, however, insofar as the international community does not consider the Kiev government to be incapable of controlling the situation on the territory of Ukraine.
Yet to this day Kiev has explained away all sorts of provocations against Russia, including bloody ones (in Crimea) as the independent initiatives of individuals and refused to recognize their belonging to Ukraine’s security agencies. Russia’s reaction, however, has been limited to diplomatic protests, documenting the facts of provocations, collecting evidence on the involvement of Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR), SBU, and General Staff in them, and presenting these reports to relevant international organizations.
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State Terrorism
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Apparently, a critical mass of facts has been collected and a second aspect – international law – is now going to be activated. 
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Russia taking measures against potential terror attacks after Syria bombing raids – Peskov

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From RT
October 1, 2015

Russian special services are working tirelessly to prevent potential terrorist attacks by extremists in retaliation to Moscow’s operation in Syria, Dmitry Peskov, presidential press secretary, has said.

Peskov noted the situation was similar to other places in the world – in all nations special services are constantly taking steps to counter terrorism in all of its manifestations. In Russia, this task is being fulfilled by the Federal Security Service and the National Anti-Terror Committee, he said.

The Russian Air Force mounted several strikes on terrorist positions in Syria on Wednesday, soon after the country’s upper house unanimously voted to endorse President Putin’s request to use the nation’s military in Syria to fight terrorism. The head of the presidential administration Sergey Ivanov emphasized that Russia would not be involved in any ground operation – aid would only be in the form of airstrikes.

READ MORE: 8 ISIS targets hit during 20 combat flights in Syria – Russian military

In press comments on Wednesday, President Vladimir Putin called the operation in Syria “preemptive strikes against terrorists” adding that the use of military forces abroad had been prompted by the fact that a relatively large number of Russian citizens had joined the terrorist groups in Syria, and these people could potentially pose a threat to Russia’s national security. The president said that extremists must all be defeated in the Middle East and not allowed to return to their home countries.

In late February, the head of Russia’s Federal Security Service, Aleksandr Bortnikov, urged deeper professional cooperation between special services in their common fight against the Islamic State terrorist group (IS, previously known as ISIL and ISIS). He noted that Russia was especially interested in cooperation with the United States in the common fight against IS and added that the existing intelligence exchange was already helping to achieve positive results.

READ MORE: FSB chief urges international campaign to discredit ISIS ideology and leaders

http://www.rt.com/politics/317181-russia-taking-measures-against-potential/

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Nemtsov’s killer was hired by the commander of Dzhokhar Dudaev Battalion in Ukraine, Adam Osmaev

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Posted on Fort Russ

Adam Osmaev

March 12, 2015
Anna Veligzhanina for Komsomolskaya Pravda
Translated by Kristina Rus

FSB source to “Komsomolskaya Pravda”: “the customer of Nemtsov’s murder was preparing an assassination of Vladimir Putin”

The main suspect in the organization of the high-profile crime – is a commander of the Ukrainian battalion in the name of Dzhokhar Dudayev, Adam Osmayev.

The correspondent of “Komsomolskaya Pravda” met with the FSB agent, who is part of the team investigating the murder of Boris Nemtsov. In an exclusive interview he spoke about the new details of the crime and named the most likely customer of the murder.

The pistol was found

Today the investigators have irrefutable proof that all persons detained on suspicion of murder of the politician are the perpetrators, – said our source in the FSB. First of all, billing (data about calls and movements of the subscriber. – Ed.) from their mobile phones showed that they conducted surveillance of Nemtsov before the murder, following him closely. The suspects were tracked with their phones at the location where Nemtsov was present with his phone. During the murder all the detainees “were in the area”: some under the bridge, some in a car, some nearby.

Zaur Dadaev pulled the trigger. He first made a confession, and then, on the advice of his lawyers, took it back. But it changes nothing, the investigation has already collected compelling evidence of his guilt. I will not give details of how this was done. The pistol was thrown into the river after the crime, it was later recovered by divers. That Zaur Dadaev immediately said to the TV cameras: “I love prophet Muhammad” – is just a cover. There was no religious motive for the killings. They cynically carried out an order. They are far from devout Muslims. In fact, just real gangsters.

And the most important thing. The executor of the murder was in close contact with Adam Osmaev, who recently became the commander of the Ukrainian battalion in the name of Dzhokhar Dudayev. They met, talked a lot on the phone. Zaur Dadaev and his cronies worked with Osmaev on Ukrainian affairs. And also with Chechens, who fought on the territory of Ukraine for the new regime. Zaur Dadaev was listed in the battalion “North” (“Sever”) of the Chechen Interior Ministry, but while serving in it, in fact, was engaged in activities against Russia. He was associated with Osmaev by a certain relationship and mutual obligations.

Непосредственно нажал на курок Заур Дадаев, который сначала дал признательные показания, а потом, по совету адвокатов, отказался от них
Zaur Dadaev

When the journalists from the Russian TV channel “Life News” were recovered from Ukraine, Zaur Dadaev was involved in this operation. Held direct communication with Osmaev. I don’t have the right to disclose the details. The evidence is still being gathered. But I can say that today the main suspected customer of Nemtsov’s murder is Adam Osmayev.

“The main purpose of the crime is to show Russia in a bad light”

– The perpetrators were told to execute the order in the place where it was committed, – continues our source. – Another words not just to kill him in the alley, but do it in the heart of Moscow across from the Kremlin – deliberately to cause outrage around the world. Before the crime they received the advance payment, it was agreed that the remainder of the money for the “job” will be transferred to their bank account.

– Why did they have to kill Nemtsov, who spoke out against Putin’s policies? It turns out, they had killed their ideological ally!

– [Ultra-] Nationalists and criminals will not stop at anything. To kill their ally for them is not a question of morality. Nemtsov became a bargaining chip. The goal was – to slander Russia, to show it in a bad light, to prevent peace in Donbass (especially after talks with Merkel and Hollande). To show the President of Russia in the eyes of the world community as the “ultimate evil” – to show: look, how he strangled the opposition. The world just began to warm up to Putin’s politics, which he is following in relation to Ukraine. And this cynical murder of Nemtsov has caused a wave of discontent, fueled by the world media. The American and European press immediately began to show this murder in their own light, placing the responsibility on the President of Russia.

Националисты и бандиты не брезгуют ничем. Убить своего союзника для них - не вопрос морали. Немцов стал разменной монетой

Preparing to blow up the President’s motorcade

Adam Osmayev was previously suspected in the attempt to organize the 2012 assassination of Vladimir Putin, at that time a Prime Minister and presidential candidate. Osmayev  planned to blow up Putin’s motorcade, which was confirmed by a video, found in his laptop, of Prime Minister’s motorcade travelling through Moscow. Then Osmaev cooperated with the investigation – admitted he came to Odessa from the United Arab Emirates with instructions from field commander Doku Umarov. But in court Osmayev refused to testify, claiming he gave his testimony after a beating. His lawyers wrote a complaint to the Prosecutor’s office and the European Court of Human Rights.

– Osmaev failed to get to Putin himself, but it seems that he did not calm down, – says our source in the FSB. – And later the most accessible target to attack the President was selected – Boris Nemtsov. Nemtsov lately was not seen as an active member of the opposition, was no competition to Putin, but his name was known. The choice of a sacrificial lamb was quite successful. The gangsters do not stop at anything. And gangsters involved in politics is a devilish blend.

Адам Осмаев ранее подозревался в попытке организации в 2012 году покушения на Владимира Путина
Adam Osmaev

– Will Osmaev be charged?

– Now everything is in the stage of investigation and evidence collection. Some of the evidence we already gathered, but I don’t want to tell everything in order not to hinder the investigation.

“KP” Files

What was Adam Osmayev “famous” for…

In 2007 in Moscow on the eve of Victory Day a terrorist attack was averted – explosives were found in a parked car. A native of Grozny, Adam Osmayev, a suspect in the case, was arrested in absentia by the Lefortovsky district court of Moscow and declared for international search. The investigation found that Osmayev with a group of Chechens and Ingush was also preparing an assassination on May 9 of the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov.

According to the press, after that Osmayev was hiding in the UK, where he was contacted by associates of Doku Umarov and was offered to organize a new terrorist attack. Adam agreed and went to Ukraine with a fake passport. In 2012, he was arrested after an explosion in a rented apartment – the terrorist was preparing homemade bombs. Osman and his “right hand”, a Kazakh citizen, Ilya Pyanzin, admitted: they were preparing an assassination of the head of the government of Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin. The suspects also reported that they recruited fighters for future terrorist attacks in Russia. But later they took back their testimony.

Russia demanded to extradite Adam Osmayev, however, the European Court of Human Rights had blocked it, declaring: “In Russia the detainee may be subjected to torture”. Pyanzin eventually was extradited to Russia, and in September 2013 he was sentenced to ten years in a colony with a strict regime.

On November 18, 2014, the court of Odessa declared a sentence for Osmaev: 2 years and 9 months imprisonment. He was released in the courtroom “for lack of evidence of preparation of assassination” – he was credited the time he already spent in jail. The court room reacted to the sentence of Osmaev with applause, and he, in turn, encouraged them to “protect Ukraine”.

In February of this year Osmayev headed the Ukrainian battalion  in the name of Dzhokhar Dudayev, succeeding the general, deceased under Debaltsevo, Isa Munaev.

OFFICIAL COMMENT

Dmitry Peskov: In the coming days, the prosecutors will announce the motives for the murder

“We hope that in the coming days all legal formalities will be completed and prosecutors will announce their versions of the murder, will name those who are behind this,” said the President’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov to the journalists of “AP”, answering the question about the prospects of completing the investigation of the murder of Boris Nemtsov.

Readers Comments:

– You can’t make up a better plan to frame Kadyrov through Osmaev (Kadyrov’s worst enemy) and Dadaev  (a traitor), and most importantly to smear Russia

– This looks like the truth. The volunteer battalion is likely curated by the SBU. And SBU is a branch of American special agencies. Classic sacrificial lamb. Technologies of color revolutions are very cynical. The fifth column doesn’t realize that it is just disposable material for the puppet-masters.

– What a present to Kadyrov and Putin – Nemtsov’s murder! How could Kadyrov be so fooled!

– If you continue down the trail, it might lead to the UK or Americans

Kristina Rus: 

 Another important point to make, is that although in Russia Nemtsov was virtually forgotten, except to the old-timers and his direct followers (he complained that he has not been on Russian TV in 8 years), Nemtsov was quite popular in Ukraine, and was frequently invited on Ukrainian TV as a Putin’s critic and a supporter of the current regime, creating a perception that he was a major opposition player in Russia. Although it is true that Nemtsov was in charge of organizing the anti-Putin rallies in Russia, he himself admitted in personal conversations in his wire taps that he had no future chances in politics, because of his disastrous track record in the 1990’s, when he was a Deputy Prime Minister at the time of the economic collapse in 1998. It is possible that to Ukrainian and foreign observers Nemtsov’s importance looked more exaggerated then it was in reality, making him a likely candidate for a sacrificial lamb.

 No matter how little attention was paid to Nemtsov by the Russian media, there is no one that the Western mainstream media can not make a celebrity overnight (even after their death) – and it was achieved.

 The investigation, of course, learned about the connection to Ukraine much earlier. We can wonder if Putin tried to withhold these revelations until two weeks after the murder and after the Western media had a chance to pour all the dirt that they had on Putin and Russia, ending with the European Parliament resolution to demand independent investigation. 

 Now Putin can get his popcorn and watch the West change their tune after the trail lead to Ukraine. Perhaps they will try to quickly forget about it and ignore it, just like the Boeing. 

 

http://fortruss.blogspot.com/2015/03/nemtsovs-killer-was-hired-by-commander.html