-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"> </A> -Cui Bono?- Spies fall out as KGB colleague dishes up dirt Moscow: A former KGB veteran who spent decades spying on the West has launched a blistering attack on Vladimir Putin, his former colleague. He described the man who expects to become Russia's president tomorrow as prone to riding roughshod over the law and accused him of running a "corrupt and criminalised" Russia. As a prominent liberal commentator, Alexander Minkin, warned that the KGB was returning to rule Russia under a Putin presidency, Oleg Kalugin, a retired KGB major-general who was once the chief of Soviet espionage in the United States, rounded on Mr Putin, saying he displayed a "purely Soviet approach" to questions of justice and the law. "I don't believe in the Russia of Putin, criminalised and corrupt, with its lame justice and due process," Mr Kalugin said in an open letter to the Acting President. "In this situation, I'll be bound to seek political asylum in the free world." In a recent interview, Mr Putin called Mr Kalugin a traitor because a decade ago he broke with the world of KGB secrecy and, during the perestroika years under Mr Mikhail Gorbachev, campaigned for public accountability in the security services. Mr Kalugin served the KGB for 30 years and was highly decorated for his service. But he was stripped of his awards by KGB hardliners in 1990, before having them restored the following year. He now works in the United States. As well as spending years as a spy in Washington before becoming the head of Soviet foreign counter-intelligence, Mr Kalugin also spent seven years as deputy head of the KGB in Leningrad, now St Petersburg, Mr Putin's native city. Mr Putin started his 16-year KGB career there in 1975. Since Boris Yeltsin's prot�g� became Acting President on New Year's Eve, Mr Kalugin has spoken contemptuously of his KGB career, calling his contribution to the intelligence service that of a mediocrity. The falling out among spies worsened when Mr Putin turned aggressively on Mr Kalugin. "Kalugin is a traitor. I saw Kalugin in my time in Leningrad, where he was deputy head of the directorate - an absolute idler. "He doesn't remember anything. He can't remember me. I had no contacts with him and did not communicate with him. It is I who remember him, because he was a big boss and everybody knew him." The Communist leader, Gennady Zyuganov, who is expected to be second in tomorrow's election, said the poll amounted to a contest between "the KGB and the Soviet Communist Party". Mr Kalugin said Mr Putin's recurring use of the term traitor when describing his foes showed a "dulled awareness of the law", and a "selective approach to the presumption of innocence" that recalled the Soviet era. "The situation in Russia has changed substantially [since Mr Putin's rise to power]. "The forces of revanchism are on the offensive. It's become the norm to discredit honest people." He said Mr Putin had raised a toast to Stalin, and had had a plaque in honour of the late Soviet KGB chief and Soviet leader Yuri Andropov - "a symbol of communist despotism" - returned to its place at the security service headquarters in Moscow. He had also paid a friendly call on Vladimir Kryuchkov, the "state criminal" who, as the hardline KGB chief, led the coup attempt against Mr Gorbachev in August 1991. The Guardian <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soap-boxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
