Read Blowing Up Russia Online
Authors: Alexander Litvinenko
Tags: #History, #Europe, #Russia & the Former Soviet Union, #Political Science, #General, #Intelligence & Espionage, #Terrorism, #World, #Russian & Former Soviet Union, #Social Science, #Violence in Society, #True Crime, #Espionage, #Murder
They needed a Chechen connection. Even in my documents as a wanted man I was described as a Chechen, although my identity documents were issued by the Karachayevsk ROVD (District Department of the Interior) and consequently in the FSB they knew that I am a Karachayevan. They needed to link me with Chechnya. It was done for that. I never knew either Khattab or his group and I had nothing to do with them. Now it is obvious what they required this for.
Question; You say that you are innocent. For what reason are you hiding?
Answer: The reason is that the special services are searching very intensively for me.
After the explosions in Moscow I went back to my own country and knowing that they had set me up I realized that now I had to hide. I lived for a while in my own country and hid - that was after the events in Moscow in 1999. My own brother was working as the head of the Criminal Investigation Division of the district and he warned me through relatives that they had a secret order not to take me alive, i.e. to eliminate me, he warned me to be careful. Now I know that he was fired from his position. I also know that the Russian FSB is offering big money to have me eliminated.
Question: But why do they need to have you eliminated?
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Answer: Because I possess information, I know certain facts, the names of these people, the employees - the real perpetrators of what happened. It s not hard to check.
To this day they are still active employees of the FSB who often visit Moscow.
Question: Why shouldn t you contact the Russian embassy and tell them the way things really were?
Answer: There is no point. This system, the NKVD, KGB, FSB - is all one system. The name changes, but the essence, the working methods and the goals are the same. They really have a rich pedigree, and there is no sense at all in trusting them. I know it would not do me any good at all. I am simply talking now just so that the world can know the truth, how it all was. That is what I am hoping for.
Question: Do you feel any guilt for not trying earlier to tell the world about these events in Moscow? After all, these bombings were one of Russia s motives for the invasion of Chechnya. Why did you not speak out about this sooner?
Answer: Only now have people appeared who are willing to listen, interested in the truth being made public. Earlier nobody wanted that. I made attempts, but the business wasn t allowed to proceed - people were afraid to expose themselves Question: Afraid precisely of the Russian authorities?
Answer: Yes. They are afraid now, and very much afraid.
Question: What else would you like to say? Are there facts that are more convincing?
Answer: I ve already mentioned some facts. There are others, a great deal has been left unsaid.
Question: What was it that finally led you to hide from the authorities? When did you realize that it was precisely you they wanted to set up? When did you come to believe this?
Answer: Immediately after the second explosion I realized that I had been set up for certain. After the first explosion I didn t understand anything completely. The only thing that put me on my guard was that (K.) didn t tell me what had really happened there. He phoned my mobile and said, Come over, there s been a little fire, although in actual fact right then I saw on television that something terrible had happened. Later I went there and had a look - it was a horrible sight. But I didn t meet with (K.). I came, looked and went away. All those false documents that I supposedly used were prepared by him in advance so their operation would be a success and nothing would go wrong along he way. They didn t think that they wouldn t find me at home, or I wouldn t be talking to you now, or to anybody else.
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Question: After what happened did anyone get in touch with you?
Answer: No. After the 13th I left Moscow. I know that afterwards there were Moscow FSB employees working in our republic. They tried to break down my relatives, frightened them very badly. At first, I heard, they offered my sister money. Then when she refused the threats began and the demands for her to give an interview and say that I was capable of it. First bribery, then menaces. I know they took her out to the cemetery with her little child, who wasn t even three yet, so that she would give testimony discrediting me, otherwise they would kill her and her child. Those are the methods the FSB works with.
Question: What do you friends and acquaintances think about this?
Answer: As for my friends and acquaintances: no one who knows me believes that I could have done it.
Question: There is testimony against you from several prisoners?
Answer: I know that there are several people who are supposedly also accused of terrorist acts, and these prisoners are giving testimony against me. But knowing the system of the KGB and FSB, there are150 million people living in Russia and with that system it s always possible to manufacture witnesses for a specific case. For the FSB it would not be a problem. And there is another point too: when they say how it all happened there, the thing that amazes me most of all is the naivete of our Russian citizens. How can they think that it is possible to bring, as they say, ten tons of explosive into Moscow and carry out an explosion - it isn t possible. Apart from the special services nobody could do it. This naivete of our citizens surprises me greatly.
Question: The mass media are saying that in Western Georgia in Adjaria one of the men suspected of involvement in the terrorist attacks in Russia has been arrested and supposedly he is now giving testimony that satisfies the Russian special services. Do you not think it possible that he can give testimony against you? And in general, are you acquainted with this man?
Answer: All I know is that a certain Adam Dekkushev has been arrested and he is giving some kind of testimony. I do not doubt in the least that he is giving precisely the testimony that is in the FSB s interests. And that is not surprising, knowing this system.
Let us recall one example from history, the arrest of Beria. On the second day after his arrest Beria had confessed that he worked for 10 foreign intelligence services.
Consequently, everyone who falls into the hands of the FSB will say what suits the FSB and everything they want to hear.
Question: Does it follow from this that all of these testimonies are fabricated and beaten out of the suspects under investigation by force?
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Answer: Of course. Any man who has fallen into their hands even once or has come up against this system in at least some way, for him it s no secret.
Question: Are you not afraid for your life? Are you not afraid of falling into the hands of the special services?
Answer: Of course, I do not rule it out. I know that the special services are offering big money to have me eliminated.
Question: Is it a question of elimination?
Answer: In the special services it is only a question of elimination. That is, it is not in their interest to take me alive, because I will talk. But it is not ruled out that the same thing could happen to me as to this man. And I will say what they want to hear from me, even if I am signing my own death sentence with my words. The truth is what I am saying now, while I am free. Not in their hands.
Question: So you do not offer any guarantee for your own self, that if you are caught you will not give false testimony against yourself?
Answer: Of course not. If I end up in their hands, in the hands of the FSB, I will not be saying what I am saying now, I will be saying what they want.
Question: Well if Beria was unable to resist these tortures I think there are probably not many who could stand up against the FSB. And they have a lot of ways of beating information out of you.
Answer: Of course.
Correspondent: Thank you for agreeing to give us an interview. Thank you very much.
And we hope that this very interview of yours will cast light on the true perpetrators and the instigator of this crime.
Answer: I very much hope so too.
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Appendix 19
Questions for A. Gochiyaev 1. Three group photographs have been placed on the site FSB.ru. In two of them Gochiyaev (according to the FSB) is photographed together with Khattab. In the third Gochiyaev (according to the FSB) is photographed together with a different man. Can you tell us if it is you that was photographed in these photographs? If it is you photographed in them, when and in what circumstances were these photographs taken and were you really photographed together with Khattab? Why were you photographed with Khattab and why was Khattab photographed with you?
2. Was the testimony published by us on the Grani.ru site and presented by us to the commission written by your own hand?
3. Do you confirm that it is your testimony?
4. Can you indicate the name of your friend who in your opinion is an FSB agent?
5. Can you prove that your friend was a member of the FSB?
6. Who else in your opinion was connected with this operation? In your opinion were these people employees or agents of the Russian special services?
7. Does the name Laipanov mean anything to you and what relationship does Laipanov have to you?
8. Describe in detail your actions after your acquaintance phoned you at night on your mobile and told you there was a fire at your storage premises, until the time when you fled from Moscow.
9. Can you remember the number of your mobile phone and the telephone number (numbers) of your friend? What was his home address, where and when and how often did you meet with him? How can we find him now? 10. State in detail exactly which services you telephoned and warned about possible explosions, what exactly you told them, exactly which addresses you gave, whether you gave your own name and the reason why you were calling. Describe these calls in as much detail as possible, indicating the time of day, the date and the circumstances in which the calls were made. 11. From which telephone did you call? What answer did the operator give you? (telephone service operator) (emergency services operators). 12. Are you acquainted with Krymshamkhalov and (or) Batchaev? If yes, how and when and in what circumstances did you make their acquaintance? What was the connection between you? At what intervals did you meet? 13. What do you know and can tell us about these men? 14. From your testimony it follows that you did not know there was explosive in the storage premises you had rented. Do you confirm this? 15. Do you know exactly what explosive, what type of explosive and what quantity was located in your storage premises? 16. When exactly was it delivered, can you remember the schedule of these deliveries, who exactly delivered it? Can you state the surnames of these people?
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17. If you are correct in believing that your friend was an FSB agent, who in your opinion was behind him and to what end was this operation planned and carried out? 18. What do you know today about the involvement (or non-involvement) in this operation of the FSB or any other special services of the Russian Federation or any other states? When and to what end was this operation commenced? 19. Can you prove that you knew nothing about the preparation of the terrorist acts? 20. Can you name people who could have or definitely did take part in this operation? 21. What response could you give if any of these people testified in a face to face confrontation that you were aware that there was explosive, and not sugar, in the storage premises rented by yourself. 22. What response could you give if any of these people testified in a face to face confrontation that he was under your command and received his instructions concerning the transport of the explosive from you? 23. Are you a relative of the R. Gochiyaev who was convicted a few days ago and are you connected in any way with his arrest and conviction?
The answers to all the questions are ready, you can discuss them in detail at the meeting with Tsoriya. [Written by A. Gochiyaev.] Aug. 04.02
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Appendix 20
DECLARATION
On March 5, 2002 I, Nikita Sergeevich Chekulin, the former acting director of the scientific Research Institute Roskonversvzryvtsentr of the Ministry of Education of Russia, made a statement criticizing Russian officials for having concealed facts and prevented the investigation of the system of theft of explosive substances, their illegal distribution on the territory of Russia and also the illegal export from the country components of jet-propelled projectiles and rockets.
Over the last year I have not received any reply.
During this time certain of the mass media have spread slanderous assertions about me on the basis of materials supposedly received from the Federal Security Service and supposedly stamped secret.
No denials from the FSB were forthcoming.
At the same time officials of the FSB, MVD and the Public Prosecutor s Office, in response to requests from State Duma Deputy S.A. Kovalyov, provided him with false information relating to my statement.
Thus for instance the Deputy General Public Prosecutor Kolmogorov in a letter of August 13, 2002, referring to the check supposedly carried out by the FSB, claims that army unit No. 92 919 and the Roskonversvzryvtsentr Research Institute supposedly have never had and do not have anything to do with each other.
I am in possession of authentic documents which confirm the facts of the systematic signing of contracts between the commander of army unit No. 92 919, Shatov, and the director of the Roskonversvzryvtsentr Research Institute, Shchukin, for the supply of explosive substances beginning from 1997. I have data on the payments made from the account of the Research Institute to the account of the army unit concerned, information on the volumes and types of explosive substances supplied, included those sent abroad, in 1998, 1999 and 2000.
On March 5, 2002 I first made public the fact that there were indications of the theft of 5 tons of hexogene slabs from this same army unit No. 92 919. But they were not investigated at all. These named examples and others demonstrate that Russian officials are, as previously, performing actions in clear contravention of Russian law in investigating the facts stated by myself.
The analysis I have carried out of the statements made by official spokesmen for the Russian special services concerning the origin of the explosive substances used in the
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detonations of apartment blocks in 1999 makes it possible to conclude that they are unreliable.
London, March 5, 2003 Nikita Sergeevich Chekulin
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Appendix 21 The Terrorist Attacks of 1999: What Explosives Were Used?