The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

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Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Russian science in 2007 - some of the highlights

2007 was a happy year for Russian science. The country's leadership showed it understood that science and science-intensive industry were at the core of the economy and key to maintaining an independent foreign policy, sovereignty, and Russia's position in the world's league of nations. The Government allocated more than 250 billion rubles (over $10 billion) for a five-year program of fundamental research. Now all the novel ideas in the country will follow an established pattern from conception to commercial realization. In 2006, the government invested 2.86 billion rubles in 13 projects under the program, in addition to 3.6 billion rubles raised from private sources. Industry responded by turning out 12 billion rubles' worth of hi tech products. The 2007 figures are even more impressive. Business investment in science-intensive projects under the program jumped to 6 billion rubles, which the government matched. The development of unique building materials for use on the polar shelf and in pipelines is the most successful example of public-private cooperation. Private spending to these projects was three times the size of the public contribution. The following is a list of some of the achievements reported by Russian researchers in recent months. It should be remembered that the Academy of Sciences pursues fundamental studies practically across the whole range of science.

The following selection is therefore not exhaustive, and reflects achievements in fields most familiar to this writer or representing sufficient public interest.

* The St. Petersburg Influenza Research Institute and the Organic Synthesis Institute of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences in the Urals have developed a wide-spectrum anti-viral preparation called Triazoverin, which is also effective against the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu virus. Clinical tests have shown it effectively suppresses virus reproduction. More than 240 chemicals were tested to develop the medicine, which has no equivalent abroad and is equally effective against infection whatever its gravity or stage. Professor Alan Hay, director of the WHO World Influenza Centre, considers the development of the preparation one of the greatest achievements of Russian science and believes it could be used to protect humankind against a coming flu pandemic.

* In 2007, the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Cytology was given official go-ahead to manufacture and use its newly developed dermal equivalent (DE), which has proved effective in healing derma (deep-skin) burns. The derma is a particularly important layer of skin that underlies the upper fabric. The DE is a combination of collagen gel (which acts as the "substratum") and skin-forming cells or fibroblasts. Its application has already saved people with 90% to 98% skin burns. The DE can also be used to treat trophic ulcers, fistulas and bedsores. Next on the agenda is the development of a full skin equivalent - a combination of the DE and a multi-layer package of ceratinocytes, which can effectively treat different skin lesions.

* In January, Sweden's Royal Academy of Sciences decided to award the Crafoord Prize (second in importance only to the Nobel Prize) to Rashid Syunyaev, chief researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Space Research Institute. The prize was given for his decisive contribution to high-energy astrophysics and cosmology, particularly a study of processes occurring in the vicinity of black holes and neutron stars. Among professionals Mr Syunyaev is known as the first person to "have seen" black holes. He showed that matter falling into a black hole or onto a neutron star forms a fast-rotating disk, and begins to emit high-energy photons as it accelerates. In recent years the team of Russian scientists led by Syunyaev has been able to practically double the number of previously registered neutron stars and black holes. Being the first to map three most interesting areas of the sky (within the Russian quota of the Integral observatory's observation time), they detected and identified 135 point sources of hard X-ray radiation. They have also discovered a specific population of X-ray objects wrapped up in a dense envelope of dust and gas. Their work has also revealed for the first time hard X-ray radiation from a gigantic molecular cloud in Sagittarius, which is most likely a light echo of the activity of a super-massive black hole. A new class of neutron stars, which absorb matter from super-dense stellar winds, has also been discovered.

* The American Astronomical Society (AAS) has awarded the Bruno Rossi Prize to Alexei Vikhlinin and Maxim Markevich, members of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Space Research Institute, for their work to determine the Universe's parameters from data on galactic clusters. This prize is awarded annually "for a considerable contribution to high-energy astrophysics". The focus is usually put on recent original studies. The Russian scientists have graphically demonstrated that so-called dark matter, which makes up more than 80% of the mass of galactic clusters, behaves almost like a non-interacting environment. X-ray and optical observations of two merging clusters have shown that galaxies and dark matter freely "interpenetrate" each other, whereas flows of gas consisting of conventional protons and electrons are braked to form a huge cloud of hot plasma between the clusters. Another important achievement has been exact measurement of the masses of galactic clusters at gigantic (~1029 km) distances from the Earth, and counting up the number of clusters of various masses in our closest neighborhood and in the "younger" Universe. These measurements are essential for calculating the parameters of the modern Universe and, specifically, the properties of "dark energy", which is supposed to determine the rate of the universe's expansion. The work done by the Russian scientists has graphically demonstrated the tremendous potential of X-ray cluster observations for "precision" cosmology - the measurement of the Universe's cosmological parameters with an accuracy of a few percentage points.

* New data has been obtained from the Venus Express mission. Russian scientists have taken the most direct role in devising observation instruments and programs for the mission. From orbit around Venus the apparatus made the first observations of the Venusian atmosphere from its upper layers practically down to its bottom. The results obtained suggest that Venus resembles Earth not only in size, but also in the processes that once took place on its surface. The structure and movement of the Venusian atmosphere are now understood so well that we can map its temperature chart to the highest modern standards. Instruments also determined the content of the atmosphere over different parts of the planet, and confirmed the presence of lightning on Venus, which may have a telling effect on atmospheric chemistry.

* Last year, St Petersburg's Ioffe Physics and Technical Institute reported further advances in improving the performance of one of the most important elements of a fusion reactor - a tokamak. Today, the world has 300 different tokamaks, built to study controlled thermonuclear fusion. This reaction is the opposite of what happens in traditional nuclear reactors: nuclei fuse rather than divide, releasing enormous amounts of energy. The Institute's tokamak is an experimental model. It cannot initiate fusion, but it gives scientists an opportunity to study the processes that occur in a tokamak, and to test structural components for a larger reactor. Specifically, scientists have devised a plasma gun, a device which injects the working gases - hydrogen and tritium - the fuel for the fusion reactor - into the tokamak. Their gun has already attracted worldwide attention, attracting several bids to buy it. But no one is going to sell the technology as yet: the current priority is to bring the research to its logical conclusion. The technology has not yet been pushed to its limit. If the plasma's injection rate is increased to 800 or 1,000 kilometers per second, the gun could rival the tried and tested, but less forward-looking, technology of fuel feeding at the $12bn International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor ITER in France.

* St Petersburg scientists have also been investigating the atomic structure of a new mineral (called krivovichevite) found in the Khibiny Mountains on the Kola Peninsula. A crystalline analysis of the mineral suggests that it is an intermediate form of lead. However, its instability (the mineral degrades on exposure to water) suggests that its next phase must be stable and highly toxic, in which lead is present in the atmospheric air and water. A study of the common features of krivovichevite and its atmospheric phase could show scientists how to "intercept" or "encapsulate" lead before it reaches the atmosphere (for example, from copper-nickel or sulphide deposits) and pollutes it.

* Scientists at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of High-Molecular Compounds have combined useful properties of two different polymer classes. In 2007, they synthesized a polyamide that enjoys both high temperature and crack resistance and the ability to crystallize. Unlike its American "rival" ULTEM, produced by General Electric, which begins to disintegrate above 2150C, the new polyamide is in crystalline state at low temperatures, starts to devitrify at 2150C and does not begin to melt until 3150C. It is the ability to crystallize, which the scientists "grafted" onto polyamide that helps it withstand elevated temperatures.

* Non-biodegradable synthetic polymers brought about a revolution in human life in the 20th century. But their application created a global ecological problem, that of "polymer junk", which can be solved only by adopting polymers able to degrade into benign by-products. Such polymers are currently being developed at the Biophysics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Siberia.

Its scientists have shown that a bottle made from the biodegradable plastic they invented can "dissolve itself" in a water pond within three to four months (depending on water temperature and mineral content).

* Scientists from the Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics and the Moscow Physics and Technical Institute have calculated the amount of methane released into the atmosphere in the second half of the 20th century. Methane is the third-ranking greenhouse gas in the world. A warmer climate could cause changes in the methane cycle with global effects. Permafrost, which covers some two-thirds of Russia's territory, is one of the main sources of methane. If it melts, excessive quantities of methane will enter the atmosphere, a situation scientists call a "methane bomb". A 1-degree change in temperature over the entire Earth's surface could increase methane release by an average of 7%. Increased oil and gas production could also lead to more methane emitted into the air.

Now, to sum up, two more events that can be highlighted either as major achievements for Russian science or sensational scandals.

* In July 2007, news broke that the Russian submersibles Mir-1 and Mir-2 had dived four kilometers below the North Pole, set up a titanium Russian tricolor on the ocean bed, and successfully resurfaced. "Our mission was to remind the world that Russia is a great polar and research power," said Artur Chilingarov, the expedition leader. In other words, it was to tell a special UN commission that the underwater Mendeleyev and Lomonosov ridges were a continuation of the Siberian continental shelf. In that way, Russia could extend the borders of its Arctic shelf and at the same time claim exclusive rights to 10 billion tons of hydrocarbons below the seabed. Russia would also retain full control of the Northern Sea Route, the shortest distance from Europe to America and Asia, which with continued warming could soon be free of ice all year round. But the world received Russia's "patriotic campaign" with mixed feelings.

* In September 2007, Russia tested a vacuum bomb containing an explosive developed with the help of nanotechnologies that is more destructive than TNT. Compared with an American device known as the "mother of all bombs", the Russian bomb contains less explosive (7.1 tons compared with 8.2 tons in the American weapon) but has four times more power, 20 times the area of destruction and twice the ground zero temperature. Its developers have dubbed it the "father of all bombs".

Source: http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20080515/107456204.html

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

I have always claimed that the brutal war in Chechnya was a covert military operation waged against the Russian Federation by the United States and NATO with direct support from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia. The operation was intended to undermine Russian power within the Caspian Sea region thereby giving interested parties free access to the region's vast oil/gas reserves and strategically important transit routs. Their bold plan succeeded somewhat while Yeltsin the Drunk was in power. After Putin's rise in Moscow, the Caspian Sea region has been thoroughly pacified and its much coveted oil/gas reserves and its strategically vital transit routs have been more-or-less monopolized by the Russian Federation.

Armenian

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Western Secret Services Plotted Chechnya’s Separation

The western secret services plotted in 1990s Chechnya’s separation from Russia. Ichkeria’s passports were printed in France and the weapons were delivered to Chechnya via Georgia, according to The Caucasus Plan documentary that Russia’s First Channel showed late Tuesday. One of protagonists of the film is Abubakar, Turkey’s resident of Chechnya’s origin, who has been living under the assumed name of Berkan Yashar for 40 years. Yashar said he got that name after inking a contract with the U.S. Department of State. In the documentary, Yashar narrated how he had been building up a political platform for Chechnya’s separation in early 1990s. The project was funded by different states. The passports for unrecognized Ichkeria were printed in France, the money was minted in Germany, Yashar said. Then Chechnya’s President Johar Dudaev appointed Yashar deputy foreign minister in 1992. Yashar simultaneously held different offices in Turkish government. He was the so-called power behind the throne in 1990s in Chechnya, controlling all more or less significant financial transactions of the North Caucasus militants, the filmmakers said. He was one of the masterminds of the diamond trafficking operation. Rough diamonds from northern Russia were illegally exported by using the charter flights. Representatives of Turkey and officials of Azerbaijan's government were involved in negotiations aimed at arranging the flights. The profit was spent to buy mines to explode combat vehicles, Abubakar told the camera crew. Theoretically, the aircraft flights were banned from Grozny, but the airport got the permission somehow. The plane first flew to Baku, Azerbaijan, and then to Turkey as an Azeri airliner. But that channel was closed in a few years and they had to establish a new link, via Georgia, through Pankiss Gorge, Yashar said. Boris Berezovsky took over the diamond business in part and in whole, according to Yashar. I knew practically nothing about that man, who later on has completely grabbed that business and is in it, I’m sure at 100 percent, up to today, Yashar said.

Source: http://www.kommersant.com/p-12402/Chechnya_separation/

The War in Chechnya

With regard to Chechnya, the main rebel leaders Shamil Basayev and Al Khattab were trained and indoctrinated in CIA sponsored camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan. According to Yossef Bodansky, director of the U.S. Congress's Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare, the war in Chechnya had been planned during a secret summit of HizbAllah International held in 1996 in Mogadishu, Somalia. 21 The summit, was attended by Osama bin Laden and high-ranking Iranian and Pakistani intelligence officers. In this regard, the involvement of Pakistan's ISI in Chechnya "goes far beyond supplying the Chechens with weapons and expertise: the ISI and its radical Islamic proxies are actually calling the shots in this war". Russia's main pipeline route transits through Chechnya and Dagestan. Despite Washington's perfunctory condemnation of Islamic terrorism, the indirect beneficiaries of the Chechen war are the Anglo-American oil conglomerates which are vying for control over oil resources and pipeline corridors out of the Caspian Sea basin. The two main Chechen rebel armies (respectively led by Commander Shamil Basayev and Emir Khattab) estimated at 35,000 strong were supported by Pakistan's ISI, which also played a key role in organizing and training the Chechen rebel army:

[In 1994] the Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence arranged for Basayev and his trusted lieutenants to undergo intensive Islamic indoctrination and training in guerrilla warfare in the Khost province of Afghanistan at Amir Muawia camp, set up in the early 1980s by the CIA and ISI and run by famous Afghani warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. In July 1994, upon graduating from Amir Muawia, Basayev was transferred to Markaz-i-Dawar camp in Pakistan to undergo training in advanced guerrilla tactics. In Pakistan, Basayev met the highest ranking Pakistani military and intelligence officers: Minister of Defense General Aftab Shahban Mirani, Minister of Interior General Naserullah Babar, and the head of the ISI branch in charge of supporting Islamic causes, General Javed Ashraf, (all now retired). High-level connections soon proved very useful to Basayev.

Following his training and indoctrination stint, Basayev was assigned to lead the assault against Russian federal troops in the first Chechen war in 1995. His organization had also developed extensive links to criminal syndicates in Moscow as well as ties to Albanian organized crime and the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). In 1997-98, according to Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) "Chechen warlords started buying up real estate in Kosovo... through several real estate firms registered as a cover in Yugoslavia. Basayev's organisation has also been involved in a number of rackets including narcotics, illegal tapping and sabotage of Russia's oil pipelines, kidnapping, prostitution, trade in counterfeit dollars and the smuggling of nuclear materials (See Mafia linked to Albania's collapsed pyramids, 25 Alongside the extensive laundering of drug money, the proceeds of various illicit activities have been funneled towards the recruitment of mercenaries and the purchase of weapons.

During his training in Afghanistan, Shamil Basayev linked up with Saudi born veteran Mujahideen Commander "Al Khattab" who had fought as a volunteer in Afghanistan. Barely a few months after Basayev's return to Grozny, Khattab was invited (early 1995) to set up an army base in Chechnya for the training of Mujahideen fighters. According to the BBC, Khattab's posting to Chechnya had been "arranged through the Saudi-Arabian based [International] Islamic Relief Organisation, a militant religious organisation, funded by mosques and rich individuals which channeled funds into Chechnya". Concluding Remarks Since the Cold War era, Washington has consciously supported Osama bin Laden, while at same time placing him on the FBI's "most wanted list" as the World's foremost terrorist. While the Mujahideen are busy fighting America's war in the Balkans and the former Soviet Union, the FBI --operating as a US based Police Force- is waging a domestic war against terrorism, operating in some respects independently of the CIA which has --since the Soviet-Afghan war-- supported international terrorism through its covert operations.

In a cruel irony, while the Islamic jihad --featured by the Bush Adminstration as "a threat to America"-- is blamed for the terrorist assaults on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, these same Islamic organisations constitute a key instrument of US military-intelligence operations in the Balkans and the former Soviet Union. In the wake of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, the truth must prevail to prevent the Bush Adminstration together with its NATO partners from embarking upon a military adventure which threatens the future of humanity.

Source: http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO109C.html

British And American Covert Operations In Chechnya

"The Clinton administration followed up by providing strong support to the KLA, even though it was known that the KLA supported the Muslim mujahadeen. Despite that knowledge, then Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had the KLA removed from the State Department list of terrorists. This action paved the way for the United States to provide the KLA with needed logistical support. At the same time, the KLA also received support from Iran and Usama bin Laden, along with 'Islamic holy warriors' who were jihad veterans from Bosnia, Chechnya and Afghanistan. Swiss journalist Richard Labeviere, in his book, 'Dollars for Terror,' said that the international Islamic networks linked to bin Laden received help from U.S. intelligence community. Indeed, Chechen sources claim that U.S. intelligence also aided them in their opposition to Russia. Given that U.S. policy in the post-Cold War period has not only been anti-Russian but anti-Iranian, the United States worked closely with Pakistan's predominantly Sunni Inter-Services Intelligence organization. Through ISI, the United States recruited Sunni mujahadeen by staging them in Chechnya to fight in Bosnia and later in Kosovo."

"As the intelligence newsletter Stratfor -- which Time magazine ranked as the nation's top intelligence site in 2003, and which Barron's described as 'a private quasi-CIA' -- pointed out a few months ago, with Ukraine now firmly in the West's orbit, America, with NATO and the EU, has managed to succeed exactly where Hitler and Napoleon failed: it has dismantled the Russian empire, leaving the rump state exposed, weakened and essentially at the West's mercy.... In the wake of the Beslan massacre in September, 2004, in which hundreds of children were killed during a Chechen separatist seizure of a school in southern Russia, President Putin went on television and blamed certain foreign powers for supporting the terrorists with the aim of defanging Russia for good, breaking it apart, and seizing its valuable resources. He did not name the United States, but it was clear whom he meant. .....Stratfor, whose politics could be described as something between patriotic-American and realpolitik, agreed. According to its Kremlin sources, Putin specifically named the U.S. and Great Britain during private meetings. And as Stratfor noted in its April report, there is plenty of evidence to support the Kremlin's claim. In the first place, while Muslim separatist militants from other conflict zones are shunned and even violently pursued by the U.S., the Chechen separatist representatives are routinely given haven and official voice in both the U.K. and America. ... As Stratfor notes, the British connection to the Chechen separatists goes farther back. 'During the first Chechen war -- from 1994 to 1996 -- retired U.K. special forces officers trained British Muslim recruits in British territory to fight in Chechnya,' Stratfor claims, echoing reports out of Russia. 'Some militants who attended that training and were later captured told the Russian government.' After Chechnya gained de facto independence, a scandal apparently erupted in Russia-U.K. relations when de-mining instructors from a private security firm, which included American ex-military personnel, were caught 'training Chechen militants how to launch mine and bombing attacks against Russian troops,' according to Stratfor.."

"Why would a group of leading American neo-conservatives, dedicated to fighting Islamic terror, have climbed into bed with Chechen rebels linked to al-Qaeda? The American Committee for Peace in Chechnya (ACPC), which includes Pentagon supremo Richard Perle, says the conflict between Russia and Chechnya is about Chechen nationalism, not terrorism. The ACPC savaged Russia for the atrocities its forces have committed in the Caucuses, said President Vladimir Putin was 'ridiculous', claimed Russia was more 'morally' to blame for the bloodshed than Chechen separatists and played down links between al-Qaeda and the 'Chechen resistance'. The ACPC's support for the Chechen cause seems bizarre, as many of its members are among the most outspoken US policymakers who have made it clear that Islamist terror must be wiped out. But the organisation has tried to broker peace talks between Russia and Chechen separatists. The ACPC includes many leaders of the neo-conservative think-tank, Project for the New American Century (PNAC), which advocates American domination of the world.... ACPC executive director Glen Howard said the continuation of the 'brutalising tactics' of Russian forces would only lead to 'the resistance employing more brutal tactics' like the assault on School Number One in Beslan...... The nurturing of Chechen fighters against Russia recalls America's support for the Mujahideen in Afghanistan - an act that went on to spawn al-Qaeda and the Taliban.... Howard said hardliners like Richard Perle were backing Chechnya as they 'understood what it feels like to be under the Russian yolk'. Some critics believe the support for the Chechens may be a cold war hangover or part of a policy to keep Russia weak through bloodletting in the Caucuses.... According to Howard, due to the vast energy resources in the Caucuses, the West, which is heavily dependent on foreign energy, has strategic interests in the area to which it cannot afford to turn a blind eye."

Source: http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpWESSEX...ne-Caspian.htm

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Russia reveals US plans to capture Caucasus

Russian Channel 1 presents a documentary ‘Plan Caucasus’ about the plan of western intelligence service to make Caucasus the battlefield between the Western world and Russia. The reporter states that the first point was the ignition of Nagorny Karabakh conflict and then in other places of Caucasus via the nationalistic moods strengthening. A Chechen man Abu Bakar, a news analyst of the German radio station «Freedom” in the 60s, who worked under the pseudonym Berkan Yashar, reveals the secret plans of the US Foggy Bottom. Baker was enrolled by the USA, and even after he left ‘Freedom’ and headed for Turkey, where he became a powerful authority, Abu remained a “grey eminence”, through whom the West controlled the situation in Caucasus and financed separatists’ tribes. He said that the plan of Chechnya annexation was backed by Germany, France, Great Britain, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. His words were proved with pictures of money, printed in Germany that might still be in the Munich factory, and fake passports, printed in France. His words are confirmed by some other people. Thus, Shamseddin Yusef, the Foreign Secretary in Dudaev’s government, says: “CIA people even took us to London. Then the war in Iraq started. They planned to take over Chechnya after the victory in Iraq, but that war didn’t finish as soon as they predicted. Neither does Richard Perl, the ex- US Ministry of Defense counselor and one of the key strategists of the war in Iraq, conceal the fact that America tried to give spiritual and financial support to Dudaev. The reporter also states, that Western powers pursued in Caucasus not only political, but financial interest as well. Since 1992 with Jokhar Dudaev’s help there operated a contraband canal that exported to the West Russian diamonds and gold. For the right to drive it through Chechnya Dubaev got a quarter of the profit received from diamonds’ gem-cutting and selling. After the airport in Groznyy was shut in 1994, Berkan changed the scheme of diamonds transportation and started to put them across Pankiyskoe clove to Turkey. Akhmed, one of Dudaev’s mates, states that the bloody story of Chechen diamonds goes on even now. The money, saved between the First and Second Chechen Wars, was put in the diamond mines of Africa. The input of money into these mines gives enormous profits to Akhmed Zakaev and Whice Akhmadov, the man, whose name was mentioned in relation to Badri Patarkacishvili’s death.

Source: http://english.pravda.ru/world/ameri...ure_caucasus-0

TURKISH VOLUNTEERS IN CHECHNYA

For several years Kremlin spokespersons have identified Turkey as the primary source of foreign jihadi volunteers (always referred to as naemniky, "mercenaries" in official proclamations) fighting alongside their Chechen adversaries. One spokesman claimed "We keep killing armed Turkish citizens on Chechen territory" and another described Turkey as "a record breaker for producing foreign mercenaries killed in Chechnya." [1] While skeptics might be tempted to dismiss such claims as mere bluster in light of Turkey's well known secular tendencies, the evidence is mounting that Turkish volunteer fighters make up a sizeable component of the foreign element fighting alongside the indigenous Chechen insurgents in Russia.

While it is widely recognized that the 100-200 foreign jihadis fighting alongside the approximately 1,200 Chechen insurgents are led by Arab emirs (commanders) such as the slain Amir Khattab (a Saudi whose mother was Turkish according to jihadist websites), Abu Walid (Saudi killed April 2004), and Abu Hafs al Urdani (aka "Amjet" a Jordanian), the Russian government has consistently maintained that Turks play a prominent role among the foreign "terrorists" in Chechnya. [2]

To support their claims, Russian security services have produced Turkish passports found on the bodies of several slain fighters and have given the names and personal details of Turkish jihadis killed in Chechnya. Among others, Russian spokespersons referenced one Ziya Pece, a Turk who was found dead with a grenade launcher following a fire fight with Federal forces. Russian officials have also provided detailed information on 24 Turkish fighters killed between 1999 and 2004, and Russian soldiers in Chechnya have spoken of engaging a unit of 40 skilled Turkish fighters. [3] If this were not compelling enough evidence, Russian security forces have also produced a living Turkish jihadi named Ali Yaman who was captured in the Chechen village of Gekhi-Chu.

A Turkish Platoon in Chechnya

Surprisingly, this evidence is not refuted by Chechen or Turkish jihadi sources and on the contrary has been corroborated on such forums as the kavkaz.org website produced by Arab and Chechen extremists linked to the field commander Shamil Basayev. The following excerpt from a kavkaz interview with a Turkish jihadi commander in Chechnya is illuminating and suggests the existence of a Turkish jamaat known as the "Ottoman platoon" in the Arab-dominated International Islamic Brigade (it also corroborates the above Russian claim that Federal forces have killed 24 Turks in Chechnya): "Interview with the Chief of the Turkish Jamaat ‘Osmanly' (Ottoman) fighting in Chechnya against the troops of Russian invaders, Amir (Commander) Muhtar, by the Kavkaz Center news agency: (Interviewer) Are there many Turks in Chechnya today? Some mass media were reporting that there are about 20 of you guys.

(Amir Muhtar) Out of the first Jamaat that was fighting in 1995-1996 seven mujahideen have remained. Back then there were 13 of us. They are actually the core of the Turkish jamaat in Chechnya today. Twenty-four Turks have already died in this war. Among them was Zachariah, Muhammed-Fatih, Halil…Three mujahideen became shaheeds (martyrs) during the battle with commandos from Pskov in the vicinity of Ulus-Kert. Some died before that in the battles in Jokhar (Grozny). Five were wounded." [4] In February 2004 a Turkish jihadi website devoted to Chechnya also announced the martyrdom (shehid olmak) of three Turkish mujahideen in just two weeks. [5] Another site that has been removed left the following account of the combat that led to the martyrdom of three Turkish jihadi fighters: "Last night we had news from verifiable sources that a group of Turkish mujahideen came across Russian soldiers north of Vedeno in a small village. After stumbling on them a fire fight ensued and one Algerian and three Turkish brothers died. The Algerian's name is Hassam and the Turkish brothers' names are Ebu Derda, Huzeyfe and Zennun. These brothers fought in Commander Ramazan's unit in the Dagestan conflict." [6]

For several years now Turkish jihadi websites have actually been posting the martyrdom epitaphs of Turkish fighters who died in the Chechen cihad. Much of the jihadist rhetoric found on these Islamist sites will be familiar to those who follow the martyrdom obituaries of foreign jihadis who have died fighting in Kashmir, Iraq, Afghanistan and other conflict zones. The following account, for example, describes the fate of a Turkish fighter who followed the well worn path of roaming Turkish jihadis in the Balkans before being killed: "Shaheed Bilal Al-Qaiseri (Uthman Karkush). 23 years old from Qaiseri, Turkey. Martyred during the Withdrawal from Grozny, February 2000: Bilal fought for six months in Bosnia during 1995 from where he unsuccessfully attempted to travel to Chechnya. He went to fight for the Jihad in Kosova but returned after a month when the fighting ceased. He came to Chechnya in August 1999 where he participated in the Dagestan Operations in Botlikh. After the Mujahideen withdrew, he was planning to return to Turkey when Russia invaded Chechnya. He participated in the fighting in Argun and, subsequently, Grozny. Before and throughout Ramadan he cooked for the Mujahideen in his group. During the fighting he was distinguished for his bravery. After seeing a dream in which he was married, he decided to marry a Chechen, but Shahaadah (martyrdom) was destined for him instead. He was severely injured during the withdrawal from Grozny in the village of Katyr Yurt where his room received a direct hit from Russian Grad Artillery. He was later martyred from his injuries in the village of Shami Yurt."

Ethnicity and Turkish jihad in Chechnya

The following epitah, which describes a Turkish martyr "with some Chechen ancestry" speaks of a deeper and less obvious current in the Turkish jihadi movement that delineates Turkish volunteer fighters from the majority of trans-national Arab jihadis fighting in Chechnya: "Shamil (Afooq Qainar). 25 years old from Istanbul, Turkey.

Martyred in Grozny, November 1999:

With some Chechen ancestory, he deeply loved Chechnya and was more often alongside Chechens than Turks. He had also participated in the Chechen Jihad of 1996-99. With his good manners, polite demeanor and modesty, he got along well with everyone. He also took part in the Dagestan Jihad in the Novalak Region where, notably, his group fought their way out of a Russian siege at a cost of 25 Shaheed (martyrs). He was martyred in the second month of this War (November 1999) in Grozny." [7]

While it might be overlooked, the fact that the slain Shamil is, like many of his compatriots, of Chechen extraction, is of tremendous importance. It would seem that many Turks who volunteer to fight on the behalf of the Chechens do so because they have ethnic origins in the Caucasus region or identify with the Chechens as irkdashlar (kin).

In the 19th century, Tsarist Russia instigated a brutal policy of ethnic cleansing that saw tens of thousands of indigenous Caucasian highlanders expelled to Anatolia. While public expressions of Laz, Circassian, Kosovar, Bosniak, Tatar and Chechen ethnic identity were subsequently discouraged in officially homogenous Republican Turkey, folk traditions such as the famous Caucasian highlander sword dances, Albanian borek (pastry), Crimean Tatar destans (legends), and ritualized commemoration of past victimization at the hands of Russians, Serbs, Bulgarians and others continued.

It was only with the liberalization of Turkey under President Turgut Ozal in the early 1990s that these historical sub-ethnic grievances could be expressed in the public sphere. As this unprecedented celebration of ethnicity and commemoration of past repression took place in a liberalizing Turkey, Turks were confronted with horrifying images from the Balkans and Caucasus. Stories of rape camps in Bosnia, mass graves in Kosovo, and televised images of columns of pitiful Chechen refugees in Russia struck many Turks as a replay of the apocalyptic destruction of millions of Balkan-Caucasian-Ukrainian Muslims by Orthodox Christians in the 19th century.

As a result, informants interviewed by the author in Turkey in the summer of 2004 claimed that many young men from villages in Eastern Turkey inhabited by people of Caucasian origin were told by their family patriarchs to go and fight for their honor, faith, and ancestral homeland in Chechnya. Moreover, with the advent of the internet in Turkey, gruesome images of horribly mutilated Chechen women and children, mass burials and vandalized mosques appeared on Islamist and secular-nationalist websites alike and enraged many traditionalists in the country. In this climate, both nationalists and religious extremists exploited many Turks' sense of ethnic or religious solidarity with their Chechen "brothers and sisters" and invoked strong feelings of namus (a traditional sense of machismo, pride and honor among Turks that comes from the defense of faith, family, motherland, and honor of one's women).

Like the Turks who continue to fight and die in Chechnya, the websites that glorify the defense of the Chechens run the gamut from the anti-American/Zionist rhetoric of the Islamists to the nationalist irredentism of the Pan-Turkists. But the latter predominate. [8] The pro-Chechen websites with an ethnic dimension tend to feature images of Turks wearing traditional Caucasian folk costumes and 19th century anti-Russian heroes. Others with a slightly more nationalist bent (such as www.kafka.4t.com/photos.html) blend images of Ataturk and Alparslan Turkes (the founder of the Turkish Grey Wolves extreme nationalist party) with images from Chechnya. As these sites make clear, many Turks who fight in Chechnya are engaging in the same sort of volunteerism that led Albanian Americans to go fight in Kosovo in 1999 under the auspices of Homeland Calling and other widely recognized diasporic organizations.

This ethnic diaspora narrative might also explain some of the Arab jihadi participation in Chechnya. Many Chechen refugees settled in Ottoman Jordan following their expulsion from Russia in the 19th century. Jordanian Arabs of Chechen extraction, such as the influential Sheikh Muhammad Fatih, have played an important role in the Chechen jihad as warriors, preachers, and fund raisers.

Notwithstanding the involvement of Turks in the Chechen conflict, it would be erroneous to interpret this as proof that secular Turkey faces a serious Islamist problem. Turkish jihadis who have fought in Chechnya have found the Wahhabi Puritanism of their Arab jihadi comrades-in-arms unsettling, and many secular Turks partake in "jihad tours" simply to gain prestige at home in their tight knit families or neighborhoods. In addition, the vast majority of Turks interviewed tended to view Chechens as "terrorists" who reminded them of the hated Kurdish PKK/Kadek militants. Finally, the involvement of two Turkish extremists (Azad Ekinci and Habib Akdas) who had a history of jihadi activity in Chechnya in the bloody al-Qaeda bombings in Istanbul in November 2003 further undermined the Chechen cause in the country. [9] Indeed for all the romantic notions, some Turks have of volunteering to fight on behalf of the Chechens, the carnage wreaked on innocent Turks by El Kaide Turka (Turkish al-Qaeda) clearly demonstrates that jihadism has a potentially unpredictable effect on those who are attracted to it.

Source: http://www.jamestown.org/publication...cle_id=2369571

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Russia claims capture of Georgian spy

Russia said Friday it had captured a Georgian spy allegedly operating in southern Russia to destabilise the region, as tensions mounted between Moscow and its pro-Western neighbour. Georgia immediately rejected the Russian claims as "absurd." Russian news agencies quoted unnamed sources in the FSB security service as saying they had captured a 34-year-old who had been living in southern Russia's war-torn Chechyna region and recruiting among insurgent groups and the security forces. "An agent has been exposed, a Russian citizen, a native of Georgia," an FSB source told Interfax, adding that the capture "confirms the involvement of Georgian secret services in disruptive terrorist activity in the North Caucasus." The claim comes as tensions between Georgia and Russia have dramatically escalated, centring on the Russian-backed separatist regions in Georgia of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The Interfax source said the suspect's work was "to organise contacts between Georgian secret services and active members of illegal armed groups on Russian territory" in order to provide financing and "organise armed resistance."

The source also claimed the suspect had links with the remote Pankisi mountain gorge on Georgia's side of the two countries' border, a place Russia has long insisted is an insurgent hideout. "For fulfilling his tasks the agent several times received financial rewards from Georgia's special services in American dollars. Some of these were handed over in personal meetings, some by ... money transfer," the source said. The claims were rejected by Georgia's interior ministry. "It is an absurd accusation. Russia's provocations are becoming more and more aggressive," Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili told AFP. Tensions between Russia and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili have risen as Georgia pursues membership of the NATO military alliance and tries to retake control of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Tbilisi and Moscow have traded spying accusations before, notably in September 2006, when Georgia arrested four Russian alleged spies. Last month Russia announced it was establishing formal ties with Georgia's separatist regions, even though it claims to recognise Georgia's territorial integrity.

On Friday a policeman was injured in one of two explosions in South Ossetia, local media reported, prompting angry reactions by Georgia's defence ministry and the South Ossetian leadership. "It's clear that the separatists are turning to terrorist methods," Georgian Deputy Defence Minister Batu Kutelia said. The separatist administration blamed "terrorists" it said were trying to discredit it. In Abkhazia, Moscow this month announced an increase in its peacekeeping force, long seen as giving de facto backing to the rebels. Abkhaz separatists claim to have recently shot down Georgian reconnaissance drones. Georgia has denied those claims, saying that just one drone has been destroyed by a Russian fighter jet. Underlying the disputes is Saakashvili's drive to join NATO, a move strongly opposed by Russia. Georgia's minister for reintegration of separatist territories, Temur Yakobashvili, said during a visit to Moscow that peace negotiations should be expanded to include international bodies, including the European Union. At present Russia is the main outside power in Georgia's separatist conflicts. "The presence of the Russian side is indispensable but Russia should not have an exclusive right," Yakobashvili said at a press conference. "It's been the only one to participate in recent years and look what happened." He said that Moscow's reaction to the proposal was "negative." He denied a Russian press report that Georgia wanted Russia to host a peace conference.

Source: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5...JLnY2pJxhrD_LA

Blasts rock Georgia-South Ossetia conflict zone

Three separate blasts have gone off near the unofficial border between Georgia and its breakaway republic of South Ossetia. A Georgian policeman is reported to have been injured in one incident. A bomb exploded meters away from a moving column of Georgian military vehicles. It's believed that the bomb was detonated by remote control. The incident took place near the village of Eredvi, which is not far from Tskhinvali, the capital of the de facto independent republic. The officer was taken to hospital and is said to be in a serious condition. Earlier, a blast went off near a school, damaging the building. A local news agency claims that a third blast occurred in a field, injuring a passer-by. The South Ossetian authorities have called the incidents a 'provocation.' The republic proclaimed independence from Tbilisi in the 1990s, which led to a military conflict. After the ceasefire, Russian, Georgian and South Ossetian peacekeepers have been patrolling the unofficial border.

Source: http://www.russiatoday.ru/news/news/24850

Air Force Chief Backs Abkhazia Base

Air Force chief Alexander Zelin said Thursday that he favored establishing a military base in Georgia's separatist Abkhazia region, in remarks likely to spike already-high tensions between the countries. Abkhazia's separatist president, Sergei Bagapsh, said this week that he would like a Russian base in the region. Zelin said he approved of the idea. "If a political decision is made on this score, this would be to the benefit of fulfilling the tasks of air defense," Zelin said, RIA-Novosti reported. Georgia's Foreign Ministry responded by denouncing Zelin's words as "irresponsible" and warning that such a move would violate international law. Zelin also said Air Force fighter planes and other air-defense elements would be involved in ensuring security at the 2014 Winter Olympics in the Krasnodar region just a few kilometers north of Abkhazia. It was unclear whether he was seeking to justify Russian bases in Abkhazia as necessary for Olympic security. But military analyst Leonid Ivashov, a retired top general noted for nationalistic views, made the connection explicit. "Russia is certainly interested in a military presence in that region ... it would help provide security during the Olympic Games," he said, Interfax reported. Moscow and Tbilisi each accuse the other side of preparing for aggression in Abkhazia, and concerns are high that the tensions are so aggravated that a small incident could touch off new fighting in the region that has had de facto independence since a 1990s secessionist war. Russia maintains peacekeeping troops there and has boosted their numbers in recent weeks, saying it aims to protect Russian citizens from alleged Georgian plans to seize control of Abkhazia by force. Georgia alleges that Russia is preparing to annex Abkhazia.

Source: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/articl.../42/362783.htm

Abkhazia and Russia’s Krasnodar territory signed a cooperation agreement

Abkhazia and Russia’s Krasnodar territory signed a cooperation agreement at the Gagra meeting of Abkhaz President Sergei Bagapsh and Krasnodar Governor Alexander Tkachyov. The governor and OlympStroi head Viktor Kolodyazhny are now visiting Sukhumi. The sides discussed the economy of the unrecognized republic and preparations for the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014. It is much more profitable to supply construction materials to Sochi from Abkhazia, which is only 30-40 kilometers away, than from Russian regions located at the distance of 200-300 kilometers, Tkachyov said. “We will gladly implement this agreement and concentrate on sea and railroad supplies from Abkhazia to Sochi,” he said. In the governor’s words, the supplies will start two or three months from now and amount to about 100 million tonnes.

Source: http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2....7344&PageNum=0

[skhara]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Stop arming Georgia, top Russian general tells NATO chiefs

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1405669.php/Stop_arming_Georgia_top_Russian_general_tells_NATO_chiefs

Brussels - NATO member states should stop providing arms to Georgia, as their actions are creating dangerous instability in the South Caucasus, Russia's top general said Thursday.

'The only decision today which may stop ... a (possible) military conflict in Georgia is to stop the militarization of Georgia. Unfortunately, in the past several months and years this has been growing, and I gave some examples today,' Russia's Chief of Staff General Yuri Baluyevski said.

'NATO has to take measures in order to prevent arms supplies to that region,' he added.

During a meeting with NATO national chiefs of staff in Brussels, Baluyevski named NATO members Turkey, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and the United States as countries who are supplying Georgia with arms, NATO sources said.

He also defended Russia's recent decision to send more troops into the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia, arguing that the number of troops was still within treaty limitations and that 'thanks to Russia's peacekeepers, there is no violence between Abkhazia and Georgia.'

'If there are any proposals that peacekeepers from other countries, from any European nations go to that region to preserve peace and minimal stability, we would be happy to accept the proposal, but that doesn't happen,' Baluyevski said.

Abkhazia fought a war of independence against Georgia in the early 1990s, and has consistently refused to accept Tbilisi's rule. Russia has maintained troops in the area since 1994.

However, after NATO leaders at an April summit in Bucharest said that Georgia would one day join the alliance, tensions in the region worsened dramatically, with Georgia accusing Russia of shooting down a spy plane over Abkhazia and Russia accusing Georgia of wanting to start a war in the area.

Baluyevski insisted that Russia was not to blame for the tension, saying rather that 'first what we need to do is to stop the militarization of Georgia and stop military supplies going there.'

However, he also said that NATO generals 'treated the issue with a lot of understanding,' and that he was 'satisfied' with the meeting.

[skhara]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1405873.php/Russia_says_it_apprehends_Georgian_spy__Roundup_

Russia says it apprehends Georgian spy (Roundup)

Moscow - Russia's FSB secret service said Friday it caught a Georgian spy activating rebel cells in the Russian Caucasus, a claim that aggravates relations to near breaking point between the two former Soviet neighbours.

'A agent of Georgian secret services, a Russian citizen born in Georgia, has been apprehended,' an unnamed FSB source told Interfax, adding that this 'confirms the involvement of Georgian secret services in disruptive terrorist activity in the North Caucasus.'

Itar-Tass news agency also quoted an FSB source who specified the agent had been captured 'some time ago' and identified him as a 34- year-old man from Russia's war-torn Chechen republic.

A spokesman for Georgia's Interior Ministry quickly disclaimed Friday, 'Georgian law enforcement agencies have nothing to do with the suspected man.'

'This is pure disinformation aimed at discrediting Georgia,' the spokesman Shota Utyashvili was quoted as saying.

News of the capture further escalates tensions at a time when Georgia has said it is very close to war with Russia over Moscow's support for the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which have been occupied by Russian peacekeepers since civil war ended in 1994.

Russia recently increased its peacekeeping troops in the region to counter what it says was Georgia militarization of the border, but Tbilisi turned to the West for support against Russia's 'efforts to annex its territory.'

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called Tbilisi's attempts to rally international support sheer 'propaganda' on Friday.

'In spite of the repeated statements from the leadership of Georgia and their Western allies,' the FSB source told Itar-Tass, the area 'is again being used as a base for terrorists who are active in the North Caucasus.'

The suspected spy's job had been to set up contact between Georgia's intelligence service and an active cell of Islamic rebels in Russia, Interfax reported.

'For this task, the agent many times received financial rewards from Georgia's intelligence services paid in American dollars,' the source told the news agency.

Frayed Georgian-Russian relations have long led to sparks in Abkhazia, the majority of whose citizens hold Russian passports.

But escalating mutual accusations over espionage and troop increases on the borders of the rebel regions have ruptured both country's dialogues with international organizations.

Russia's objections to its post-Soviet neighbour's bid for membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) sparked the current daily rows.

Efforts at negotiations with Temur Yakobashvili, the Georgian minister for the reintegration of rebel areas, in Moscow on Friday erupted into more fierce words.

The Russian Foreign Ministry accused the Georgian minister had come with no new proposal and only the same stale, hardline positions, ministry official Yuri Popov said.

Yakobashvili in turn reaffirmed an old ultimatum that Russia halt its rapprochement with Georgia's separatist regions or Tbilisi will scupper Russia's WTO aspirations.

'The Georgian side will not change its position because we cannot imagine or talk about any trade regime when against Georgia ... there are attempts to annex our territory,' he added.

[skhara]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2008/05/17/news0976.htm

Russia accuses Georgia of aiding rebels

Reuters, Moscow

Russia's domestic spy service on Friday accused Georgia of supporting armed rebels in southern Russia, an accusation that could further damage the strained relations between the two countries.

A source in the Federal Security Service (FSB) told Interfax news agency that a Chechen man working for Georgian intelligence had been giving cash to fighters across the turbulent North Caucasus.

"This confirms that Georgian special forces have participated in subversive terrorist activities in the North Caucasus," Interfax quoted the FSB source as saying. Russia and Georgia are locked in a row over Georgia's two breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which Russia supports. Georgia says war was only narrowly averted earlier this month.

The FSB's claim surfaced just as a Georgian minister was to meet officials from Russia's Foreign Ministry in Moscow to discuss how to repair relations.

[skhara]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

The Kremlin must have put a list together on how to provoke and aggravate Georgia. Russia has been absolutely relentless in making moves and statements that provoke and aggravate Georgia. Beautiful.

[HayotzAmrotz]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Caucasus is the most difficult and toughest regions in the world. From any point of view: Be it religion, ethnicity, culture or even the landscape. No corner of the world is as beautiful and at the same time is as dangerous as Caucasus is. But I really love that place, not least because we are part of it, the north of our Homeland is in Caucasus.

But I have to say that I can't wait for the day when Georgia "dies" so that we can chop the Georgian "corpse" and have our beautiful Javakhq free. Because I know very well the suffering of our people in Javakhq and it has to stop, enough is enough.

I also fully support Ossetian and Abkhazian peoples rights. They deserve to be free from Georgian menace which has prosecuted them for centuries.

At the same time I'm not a hipocrat and I accept that Chechens have been similarly prosecuted by Russians. However the Chechen situation is not as straight forward as for example the Abkhaz one is. First of all Chechens themselfs are a federation of varios but related tribes, some of these tribes hate each other even more than they hate anyone else in the world. Russians skillfully use this, they divide and rule. As a result some of these tribes turned to radical Islam and are very close to other Islamists around the world. It was a small group of one of these tribes that under Islamic pretext came to Artsakh to fight us. But other than that we Armenians should not hate the Chechens, they have recognised their mistake and they will never cross that line again. I'm more than confident of that.

As for Russians, in particularly Russians in Caucasus, I'd say that they can fully claim legitimacy for being there. First of all because only they can mediate when two or more Caucasian nations fight each other. Plus, we must have that regional super power there in order to keep away the animals (Turks) out of the beautiful Caucaus. Secondly, Russia has deep enough roots in Northern Caucasus and in neighbouring provinces to claim to be Caucausian herself. In fact I believe they have become an unseparable part of Caucasus and deserve to be protectors and benefactors of the smaller nations of Caucasus.

[skhara]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Russians don't really infringe on the N Caucasian cultural heritage. Georgians on other hand, have been on a desperate campaign to assimilate all the peoples who fall within their "internationally recognized borders". That's what this "refugee" situation in Abkhazia is all about.