U.S. Intelligence releases secret document on Putin-sanctioned operations
The U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence
declassified a report on targeted killings of opponents to Russian dictator
Vladimir Putin, Bloomberg
reported on Nov. 22.
This is the first time that internal U.S. government
documents have confirmed suspicions that Putin is involved in the deaths of
high-profile Kremlin critics.
The two-page document, dated July 11, 2016, is titled “Kremlin-Sanctioned
Killings Abroad Likely to Continue” and claims that Putin likely authorizes the
murders of senior figures abroad. It examines potential political killings
since the Russian leader came to power in 2000. Some parts of the report are
redacted to protect classified information.
According to intelligence estimates, the first “explicit
case” of a killing ordered by Putin abroad occurred in 2004 in Qatar. There,
several officers of Russian military intelligence were convicted for the murder
of Chechen leader Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, whom the U.S. and the U.N. recognized
as a terrorist.
The document also references the killing of Alexander
Litvinenko, which “almost certainly was ordered by Moscow.” Intelligence also
suggests the Kremlin may have been involved in targeting other high-profile
figures for political killings, but there is insufficient direct evidence to
confirm this.
The report notes that Putin targets defectors from
intelligence services or dissidents, such as businessman Oleksandr
Perepelychniy, who was killed in 2012 in the U.K. with a biological toxin
shortly before he was scheduled to testify about a Kremlin tax fraud scheme.
Journalists had previously reported that Perepelychniy was killed on Putin’s
orders, but a British investigation concluded that he died “from natural
causes.”
U.S. intelligence officials noted that Russia “has the
capability to kill people using chemical and biological agents.”
The report also mentions other individuals Putin likely
ordered to be eliminated. Intelligence sources believe the Russian dictator
aims to eliminate “recalcitrant separatists” in Ukraine, including the
so-called defense minister of the terrorist group “LNR,” Oleksandr Bednov, who
led a terrorist unit called Batman and was killed in 2015.
The report also concludes that the Kremlin may target
political and opposition leaders in key post-Soviet countries perceived as
threats. “A key example is former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, who
survived a near-fatal poisoning in 2004. His supporters concluded that Russian
intelligence added chemical dioxin to his food during his presidential
campaign, when he advocated for Ukraine’s integration with the West,” the U.S.
intelligence report states.
The document also suggests that Putin likely allowed his
Kremlin puppet, Ramzan Kadyrov, to independently kill Chechens abroad.
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