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invasion at the July 1999 meeting at a French villa owned by By the "Russian 9/11", I mean the Kremlin-approved bombings Adnan Khashoggi. The group allegedly operated with support of Russian apartment buildings in 1999, along with the pre- from Saudi Arabia and organised global drug trafficking, some of arranged (and partly staged) invasion of Dagestan which led to the it probably through Kosovo. second Russian invasion of Chechnya. For some time the West The evidence for this Western face of the group is laid out in an has heard versions of the claim that both events were planned at article by a so-called Yuri Yasenev, which is clearly a the time by Russian intelligence. For example, Patrick Cockburn compilation of extracts from intelligence reports, on a Russian reported as follows in the Independent of January 29, 2000: website [see http://www.compromat.ru/main/surikov/ Boris Kagarlitsky, a member of the Russian Academy of saidov.htm].'* The article is cited—very selectively—as Sciences Institute of Comparative Politics, writing in the weekly authoritative by a reputable Hoover Institution scholar, John B. Novaya Gazeta, says that the bombings in Moscow and elsewhere Dunlop [see the October 8, 2004, paper "Storm in Moscow" at were arranged by the GRU (the Russian military intelligence http://www.sais-jhu.edu/programs/res/papers/Dunlop_ __ service). He says they used members of a group controlled by paper.pdf]."* Shirvani Basayey, brother of the Chechen warlord Shamil But Dunlop completely ignores—one might say, suppresses— — Basayev, to plant the bombs. These killed 300 people in Buikask, Yasenev's case as I have summarised it above. He uses the article | Moscow and Volgodonsk in September.” instead to document a more familiar case: that in 1999, the Yeltsin "family" in the Kremlin dealt with Western scholarly analyses have seen the this same group to create what might be bombings and war as part of a stratagem to called the "Russian 9/11". boost the popularity of the Kremlin, and When I say that Dunlop suppresses certain particularly the little-known new Prime details, I do not mean to suggest that he does ' i i Minister Putin, in preparation for the so conspiratorially or even consciously. My Dunlop s thesis...is that presidential elections in November 1999. notion of deep politics, which I have men of influence in The most thorough study, by John Dunlop, seysore owners poteau ne, | the Kremlin, building | Wins, psig tse poses ots to be suppressed collectively because of the on the connections Valentin Yumashev, Alexander Voloshin social and psychological costs of not doing A and Roman Abramovich—who at this point so.) Like all other observers, I too have established by the were members of Yeltsin's "family" in the involuntarily suppressed facts and even wealthy oligarch Kremlin.’ (As for Berezovsky himself, memories about the drug traffic that were too . Dunlop writes that by mid-1999 "all of his provocative to be retained with equanimity.'® Boris Berezovsky, real but beginning-to-dwindle political were able to arrange The drug traffic is often the influence was obtained through the beneficiary of this suppression, which for staged violence in intercession of D'yachenko [Yeltsin's order to reinforce leaves it more free to act without daughter] and Yumashev".”’) interference. In Deep Politics I referred to the pervasive influence of a US The Meeting in Khashoggi's Villa, government—drug collaboration which I support for an July 1999 called "Operation X", looking at it fi i A crucial piece of evidence for this the perspective of 2 parapolitical unpopular Russian thesis of Kremlin structured violence is manipulation of the traffic by the government. the meeting in July 1999, when Alexander Voloshin met in southern France with the Chechen warlord Shamil’ Basaev. In Dunlop's words [pp. 40-41]: government."” I wish now that I had written of a "Force X": a force which was no longer under total government control and, indeed, could influence On the day following the initial government behaviour for its own incursion of rebel forces into the ends.'* Dagestani highlands in early August of 1999, the investigative Dunlop's thesis is in itself an alarming one. It is that men of weekly Versiya published a path-breaking report claiming that influence in the Kremlin, building on the connections established the head of the Russian Presidential Administration, Aleksandr by the wealthy oligarch Boris Berezovsky, were able to arrange Voloshin, had met secretly with the most wanted man in Russia, for staged violence in order to reinforce support for an unpopular Shamil' Basaev, through the good offices of a retired officer in the Russian government. This staged violence took the form of lethal GRU, Anton Surikov, at a villa belonging to international arms bombings in the capital and an agreed-upon incursion by merchant Adnan Khashoggi located between Nice and Monaco.'” Chechens into Russian Dagestan. A source in French intelligence was credited by Versiya with This credible thesis is even more alarming when we consider supplying this information. The article stirred major interest in that both Khashoggi and Berezovsky have purchased significant the Russian media, but at the time documentary confirmation was political influence in the West as well. In 2003 Khashoggi was lacking... negotiating with Richard Perle, a member of the "This villa, according to the French special services, belongs to Cheney-Rumsfeld clique who at the time was still Chairman of the international arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi. He is an Arab the US Defense Policy Board, to invest considerable Saudi money _from Saudi Arabia, a billionaire with a complicated reputation. in Perle's company Trireme."’ Berezovsky is a shareholder in the — According to the French special services, and also to the French software company, Ignite, of President Bush's delinquent brother — press, in June of 1999 there took up residence at the villa a Neil Bush.” Venezuelan banker named Alfonso Davidovich.'" In the Latin By the "Russian 9/11", I mean the Kremlin-approved bombings of Russian apartment buildings in 1999, along with the pre- arranged (and partly staged) invasion of Dagestan which led to the second Russian invasion of Chechnya. For some time the West has heard versions of the claim that both events were planned at the time by Russian intelligence. For example, Patrick Cockburn reported as follows in the Independent of January 29, 2000: Boris Kagarlitsky, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of Comparative Politics, writing in the weekly Novaya Gazeta, says that the bombings in Moscow and elsewhere were arranged by the GRU (the Russian military intelligence service). He says they used members of a group controlled by Shirvani Basayev, brother of the Chechen warlord Shamil Basayey, to plant the bombs. These killed 300 people in Buikask, Moscow and Volgodonsk in September.” Dunlop's thesis...is that men of influence in established by the wealthy oligarch Boris ‘Berezovsky, | were able to arrange for staged violence in order to reinforce support for an unpopular Russian government. JUNE — JULY 2006 NEXUS + 27 the Kremlin, building on the connections www.nexusmagazine.com