>Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2000 08:17:30 -0700 >From: Green Left Parramatta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Tuesday, April 11, 2000 > > Western spies help fight Chechens > > By Lucian Kim, Special to The Christian Science Monitor > > While the West has been verbally hammering Russia over human rights >abuses in > Chechnya, its intelligence agencies have been providing Moscow with > information on Chechen Islamic "terrorists." > > News reports here that the head of the German intelligence service paid >a secret > visit to Chechnya last month are putting the West's policy toward >Moscow's > campaign in the Caucasus in an awkward light. > > Over the weekend news leaked out that August Hanning, chief of German > intelligence, visited Chechnya for two days in late March, apparently >to find out > whether Chechens were obtaining weapons and money from international > Muslim contacts or from the drug trade. > > The reports underscore the close post-cold-war cooperation that is >developing > between Western and Russian agencies in the fight against global >terrorism. But > they also highlight a dilemma that emerges when the country on the >receiving > end of the help is accused of human-rights abuses in routing out the >alleged > terrorists. > > Human-rights proponents and opposition parties here are crying >duplicity, having > found another reason to criticize the West's slow and timid criticism >of the > bloody Russian campaign. Intelligence experts and the government, >however, are > claiming that the visit was business as usual for spooks in the >post-cold-war > world. > > "The Russians and Western Europeans share a common problem in terms of > terrorism and organized crime," says Paul Beaver of Jane's Intelligence >Review in > London. > > At recent G-8 summits, the world's seven richest industrial nations, >including the > United States, and Russia have pledged to work together to fight >terrorism and > organized crime. In September, following a devastating string of >terrorist attacks > on apartment blocks in Russian cities, Boris Yeltsin reportedly phoned >Chancellor > Gerhard Schr�der and requested assistance in uncovering the crimes. > > In the framework of G-8, Western intelligence services, such as the CIA >and the > German BND, passed information to the Russians on suspected terrorist >Osama > bin Laden and his training camps in Afghanistan. > > But cooperation with Moscow is nothing new, says a specialist who >requested > anonymity because of his connections to both Western and Russian >intelligence. > As early as 1991, he says, there were "systematic contacts" between the >BND > and the dissolving Russian KGB. For example, the Germans have trained >foreign > agents in recent years. > > "There is no more East-West enmity," says the specialist. "In effect >there are no > global threats other than the terrorism that has sprung from a certain >form of > Islam. There has to be a transnational answer, so the services must >talk with > each other." > > The BND has reportedly been trying to gain access to Chechnya for a >year, long > before Moscow cracked down on the rebels. > > "The Germans have a lot of experience gleaned from working against the > Soviets," says Beaver. "So they are ideally placed of all the Western >Europeans > because of their close proximity during the cold war to operate there." > > "It's interesting that Germany has military missions in a variety of >countries in > former Soviet Central Asia," says Beaver. "And in the Caucasus in >particular.... > The reason is that Azerbaijan is a major Western prize in oil." > > The Kremlin has justified its campaign in Chechnya as an effort to wipe >out > "bandits and terrorists," and the reported cooperation with Western >intelligence > services adds a certain legitimacy to this justification. Yet while the >West and > Moscow share the fear of an Islamic insurgency along Russia's southern >flank, > they are also competing for influence over Caspian oil - and whether it >will > continue to flow through Russia, or through a US-supported pipeline via >Georgia > to Turkey. > > At the end of March, CIA director George Tenet was in Georgia, >Kazakhstan, > and Uzbekistan for secret meetings with regional leaders. The region >could > become "a breeding ground for a new generation of Islamic extremists," >Mr. > Tenet told Congress in February. "As militants are pushed out of >Chechnya, they > may seek refuge - and stoke militancy - in the South Caucasus and >Central Asia." > > Later this month Madeleine Albright travels to Central Asia. > > While such high-profile visits may feed Russian paranoia about Western > incursions into what Moscow sees as its sphere of influence, the >reality of global > terrorism has forced cooperation among former rivals. > > "There's a lot of cooperation with foreign intelligence agencies," says >Sergei > Kazyonov of the Institute of National Security and Strategic Research >in > Moscow. "The Germans are trying to redeem their former sins - during >the > previous Chechen war - of letting Chechen commanders receive medical >and > other forms of assistance in Germany." > > Similarly in the West, realpolitik has taken precedent over lip service >to human > rights. "Western Europeans are particularly concerned about an >insurgence of > newly established criminal gangs based on the old clan system in the >Caucasus," > says Beaver. > > Yet at home, critics are attacking the Schr�der government for the >alleged > Chechen spy mission at a time when Moscow was blocking humanitarian-aid > organizations and human-rights groups from entering the region. > > * Fred Weir in Moscow contributed to this report. __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
