By Eli Lake

The Washington Times

8:18 p.m., Thursday, August 4, 2011

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/aug/4/russia-uses-dirty-tricks-despite-us-reset/

In the past four years, Russia's intelligence services have stepped up a campaign of intimidation and dirty tricks against U.S. officials and diplomats in Russia and the countries that used to form the Soviet Union.

U.S. diplomats and officials have found their homes broken into and vandalized, or altered in ways as trivial as bathroom use; faced anonymous or veiled threats; and in some cases found themselves set up in compromising photos or videos that are later leaked to the local press and presented as a sex scandal.

"The point was to show that 'we can get to you where you sleep,' " one U.S. intelligence officer told The Washington Times. "It's a psychological kind of attack."

Despite a stated policy from President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev of warm U.S.-Russian ties, the campaign of intelligence intimidation - or what the CIA calls "direct action" - has persisted throughout what both sides have called a "reset" in the relations.

They have become worse in just the past year, some U.S. officials said. Also, their targets are broadening to include human rights workers and nongovernmental organizations as well as embassy staff.

The most brazen example of this kind of intimidation was the Sept. 22 bombing attack on the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia. A National Intelligence Council assessment sent to Congress last week confirmed that the bombing was ordered by Maj. Yevgeny Borisov of Russian military intelligence, said four U.S. officials who have read the report.

False rape charge

One example of such intimidation occurred in 2009 against a senior U.S. official in the Moscow office of the National Democratic Institute (NDI), the congressionally funded nongovernmental organization that promotes democracy throughout the world. The Times has withheld the name of the official at the request of NDI.

According to a Jan. 30, 2009, cable from U.S. Ambassador John Beyrle disclosed by WikiLeaks, USAID employees received an email with a doctored photo of the NDI official reclining with an underage girl.

The email from someone purporting to be a Russian citizen accused the official of raping her 9-year-old daughter.

In the cable, Mr. Beyrle said the embassy thought the Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) was behind the smear attack, which also appeared in Russian newspapers. The FSB is the successor agency of the Soviet-era KGB.

Kathy Gest, the NDI director of public affairs, said, "The allegations recounted in the WikiLeaks memo are all false and were protested at the time. We consider the matter closed and NDI, which is legally registered in Russia, continues its programs."

Former Sen. Christopher S. Bond, who served as the vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence between 2007 and 2010, said he had raised the issue of Russian intimidation of U.S. diplomats with the Obama administration.

"We are concerned about the acts of intimidation as well as their record on previous agreements and other activities," Mr. Bond said. "It's a real concern, I've raised it. It's not the intelligence committee that fails to understand the problem. It's the Obama administration."

Yevgeny Khorishko, a spokesman for the Russian Embassy in Washington, said accusations that Russian diplomats have stepped up intimidation of U.S. officials were false.

"Those are absolutely false insinuations that are not worth any comments. Such kind of 'information' is disseminated by those who are not pleased with the new state of the Russian-American relations," he said.

Recent escalations

Since 2007, according to two U.S. intelligence officials, American posts in Belarus, Russia, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan have complained about instances in which junior Foreign Service officers have come home to find jewelry rearranged, cigarette butts stubbed out on the kitchen table, defecations in the bathroom, and break-ins with nothing of value stolen.

More recently, visiting congressional staff on official delegations have complained of having their hotel rooms broken into and seeing their things rearranged, according to these officials.

David A. Merkel, who served as deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs in 2008 and 2009, said he had seen an escalation in these kinds of direct actions starting in the last two years of the George W. Bush administration.

"It's meant to limit a diplomat's ability to meet with individuals by aggressively demonstrating that they are being watched. If you are a political officer and you are cognizant your actions are being watched, you are less willing to meet with people, even if this is a normal activity for a political officer," said Mr. Merkel, who also served as director for European and Eurasian affairs on the National Security Council from 2005 to 2007.

Other U.S. officials said the intimidation campaign escalated even more in 2010 after the Obama administration expelled 10 Russian "deep cover" agents as part of a spy swap.

Mr. Merkel said these acts of intimidation were reported throughout what Russia calls its "near abroad," or the independent states that used to be part of the Soviet Union.

"It's mainly focused on people whose jobs are domestic politics and human rights reporting," he said. "You have to appreciate how much courage it takes for a foreign national, a Russian or a Belarusian to meet with our diplomats because they know they are being watched."

Another diplomat who was targeted for embarrassment was Kyle Hatcher, who served at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow as a political officer responsible for tracking religious freedom in Russia.

In August 2009, two Russian newspapers printed stories based on spliced video footage of Mr. Hatcher at a hotel room, claiming he was employing the services of a prostitute.

Two U.S. officials familiar with the incident, who asked not to be named, said the U.S. intelligence community saw this as the work of the FSB.

"They intercepted some phone calls he made and spliced them in a way that made them look strange. Then they took footage of him in a hotel room or something. They made it all look like they had footage of him in sex acts with prostitutes in a hotel," one of those officials said.

Long history

Moscow's intelligence services long have played dirty tricks on U.S. diplomats. In the "Spy vs. Spy" world of the Cold War, operations known as "honey traps" - a young, attractive woman woos a U.S. Foreign Service officer into state of semi-undress where he can be photographed and blackmailed later - were commonplace.

The KGB-trained services also on occasion would deliberately break into the hotel room or residence of visiting dignitaries. In some cases, these incidents escalated and U.S. diplomats found their pets killed.

These kinds of tactics largely quieted down after the Cold War, but a spike in such incidents at the end of the 1990s prompted the Clinton administration to form a special bilateral committee to look into them. Moscow's representative at the time was Vladimir Putin, a former KGB officer who would later become president of the Russian Federation.

The spike in these incidents, described by one U.S. intelligence official as "discreet acts of intimidation," has been raised discreetly by members of Congress with the Obama administration since 2009.

But the issue became public last month after The Times published a series of stories about the bombing attempt in Georgia.

After The Times published an interview with a Georgian interior ministry official laying out evidence that Mr. Borisov was behind the bombing attempt, five senators led by Republicans Jon Kyl of Arizona and Mark Kirk of Illinois asked the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to provide a briefing on the incident.

In response to that query, the Obama administration released an assessment from the National Intelligence Council, the analytic arm of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

That report, four U.S. officials said, concluded that two bombs were placed outside a parking lot that abuts the U.S. Embassy compound. One bomb exploded outside the parking lot, another unexploded bomb was tossed over the parking lot wall.

The CIA concluded that Mr. Borisov was acting on orders from Russian military intelligence headquarters, according to these officials. The State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research assessed that Mr. Borisov was acting as a rogue agent, these officials said.

Jamie Fly, executive director of the Foreign Policy Initiative who also served on the National Security Council staff in 2008 and 2009, said the incidents of intimidation of U.S. officials were evidence that the "reset" policy had failed.

"These types of Russian activities directed against U.S. officials, combined with Russian policies pursued by Moscow against U.S. allies, show the concept of a reset in relations with Russia is a joke," Mr. Fly said.

Internal Russian politics

Mr. Obama was far more optimistic last week in an interview with Russia's official ITAR-Tass news agency.

"Well, first of all, I think it's important for us to look back over the last two years and see the enormous progress we've made. I started talking about reset when I was still a candidate for president, and immediately reached out to President Medvedev as soon as I was elected. And we have been, I think, extraordinarily successful partners in moving towards reset," he said.

An administration official who defended Mr. Obama's reset policy stressed that the political leadership of Russia was sincere in wanting to improve ties with the United States.

"There are most certainly some in the Russian government - nationalists, hard-liners, KGB folks, etc. - who don't like the reset and are doing whatever they can to derail it," this official said.

The official compared the Russia situation to domestic U.S. political divisions.

"We also have our critics/skeptics here within the U.S. government who are also still busy fighting the Cold War. And in these matters, they have good justification since certain elements of the Russian establishment are also still fighting the Cold War," the official said.

This official pointed to Russia's willingness to help supply U.S. troops in Afghanistan and their support for U.N. sanctions against Iran, North Korea and Libya as evidence of the reset policy's success.

"The Kremlin seems to be a willing partner, even if maybe some in that regime don't like this new trend and are doing what they can to derail it," he said.

However, on Tuesday, Mr. Putin, now Russia's prime minister and widely seen as its real leader, made some belligerent comments about the U.S., calling it a "parasite" on the world economy.

At a conference of the Nashi and Young Guard youth associations, Mr. Putin also suggested that his country would invite the Georgian breakaway province of South Ossetia into the Russian Federation, effectively annexing land taken in a war three years ago.

Mr. Putin, a former FSB director, is widely regarded as the real man in charge of Russia's elite establishment of current FSB and former KGB officers.

In 2006, sociologist Olga Kryshtanovskaya produced a study that found 78 percent of Russia's current elite had ties to the KGB or FSB.

Russian agent linked to U.S. Embassy blast Allegations could disable ‘reset’ button with Moscow

By Eli Lake

The Washington Times

8:42 p.m., Thursday, July 21, 2011

A bomb blast near the U.S. Embassy in Tblisi, Georgia, in September was traced to a plot run by a Russian military intelligence officer, according to an investigation by the Georgian Interior Ministry.

Shota Utiashvili, the most senior official in charge of intelligence analysis for the ministry, said in an interview with The Washington Times that the recent spate of bombings and attempted bombings - including what he said was a blast targeting the U.S. Embassy - was the work of Russian GRU officer Maj. Yevgeny Borisov.

A Georgian court has charged Maj. Borisov, who is based in the Russian-occupied province of Abkhazia, with being the mastermind behind a spate of 12 bombings and attempted bombings throughout the country in the past year. These attempts include the detonation of a military-grade explosive about 100 yards from the U.S. Embassy in Tblisi on Sept. 22. No deaths or injuries were reported.

If the Georgian charges are true, it implicates a branch of the Russian military in plotting a lethal attack on U.S. territory three months before the U.S. Senate voted to ratify a new strategic arms control treaty with Moscow touted as the centerpiece of President Obama's policy to "reset" relations with Moscow.

Mr. Utiashvili, director of information and analysis for the Georgian Interior Ministry, said he shared details of the ongoing probe into the embassy bombing attempt with U.S. security officials in Washington.

Georgia's efforts to track down those responsible for the bombings and the plot against the embassy were discussed during talks Monday with State Department and Pentagon officials, he said.

"These are extraordinarily specific and detailed allegations delivered by the government of Georgia," said Sen. Mark Kirk, Illinois Republican. "On the basis of this report, the Congress should examine these allegations of a Russian-sponsored attack on a U.S. Embassy and its personnel.

"If true, a Russian-sponsored attack on a U.S. Embassy would constitute the most serious crisis in U.S.-Russian relations since the Cold War and put to lie any 'reset' in bilateral relations."

A Russian Embassy spokesman said the charges by Mr. Utiashvili were false. A State Department spokesman declined to comment, noting "as a matter of long-standing policy, the State Department does not comment on investigations or intelligence matters."

In 2008, Russian military forces invaded the Georgian provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia after skirmishes broke out between Georgian forces and Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia. To this day, Russian troops remain in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The Russian government recognizes the two provinces as independent countries, despite a near consensus of almost all other U.N. member states that say the territories are Georgian.

One element of the Obama administration's reset policy has been that U.S. pressure on Russia over its occupation has been muted at times. Despite Georgia's participation in the Afghanistan War, the Obama administration has maintained a de facto arms embargo on Georgia.

Mr. Utiashvili said last month that Georgian investigators matched the design of the military-grade explosive found at a railway bridge in Poti to the bomb found in front of the U.S. Embassy in Georgia in September. The explosives are known as RDX in the United States and hexogen in Georgia.

"In June, we have found a number of bombs, they all come from the same source, these are Hexogen explosives and they are often stored in a juice box or candy box," Mr. Utiashvili said. "The bomb we found on the railway bridge was the same design as the one in front of the U.S. Embassy in September."

It turns out the bomb on the railway bridge never exploded. Nonetheless, the operative who placed the bomb on the bridge told his GRU handlers that it had, according to Mr. Utiashvili.

"The Russians wanted to check the information ... so the deputy to Borisov called the European Union monitoring mission in Georgia and offered help with the casualties after the explosion on the railway which never exploded," Mr. Utiashvili said. "The European Union mission told us this."

Yevgeny Khorishko, a spokesman for the Russian Embassy in Washington, dismissed the charges. "All these rounds of allegations are absolutely false and baseless," he said.

Mr. Utiashvili said he traced the bombings in his country to Mr. Borisov after running checks on the temporary cellphones found from suspects arrested for placing the bombs.

"We have identified the terrorist phone numbers, from the suspects we have arrested," he said. "Though these were temporary cellphones, they would always call the same number after every explosion. The phone number would be traced to an Abkhazia number belonging to an ethnic Georgian named Mukhran Tskhadaia who works for the GRU."

Mr. Tskhadaia and Mr. Borisov have been sentenced in absentia to 30 years in prison for their roles in the bombings.

Mr. Utiashvili said that after receiving the call from the bomber, Mr. Tskhadaia would "call a number we know belongs to the GRU."

"This is someone who is officially registered in the Russian Defense Ministry. He is the deputy to Maj. Yevgeny Borisov, who we believe is the real mastermind of the bombing campaign."

Although the shooting war between the two countries has stopped, both sides have engaged in something of an intelligence war. Mr. Utiashvili said a recent operation uncovered a GRU-sponsored espionage ring that included the official photographers for the office of Georgian president and foreign minister.

Earlier this year, WikiLeaks disclosed a cable written in 2007 by the U.S. ambassador to Georgia at the time, John Tefft, that alleged Russian involvement in a 2004 car bomb attack in Georgia, bombings of the Georgian-Russian pipeline and a helicopter gunship attack in 2007.

"The cumulative weight of the evidence of the last few years suggests that the Russians are aggressively playing a high-stakes, covert game, and they consider few if any holds barred," Mr. Tefft wrote.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is expected to take up a resolution condemning Russia's troop presence in Abkhazia and South Ossetia later this month.

SRES 175 IS

112th CONGRESS

1st Session

S. RES. 175

Expressing the sense of the Senate with respect to ongoing violations of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia and the importance of a peaceful and just resolution to the conflict within Georgia's internationally recognized borders.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

May 10, 2011

Mrs. SHAHEEN (for herself and Mr. GRAHAM) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the Senate with respect to ongoing violations of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia and the importance of a peaceful and just resolution to the conflict within Georgia's internationally recognized borders.

Whereas, since 1993, the territorial integrity of Georgia has been reaffirmed by the international community and 36 United Nations Security Council resolutions;

Whereas the United States-Georgia Strategic Charter, signed on January 9, 2009, underscores that `support for each other's sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and inviolability of borders constitutes the foundation of our bilateral relations';

Whereas, in October 2010, at the meeting of the United States-Georgia Charter on Strategic Partnership, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated, `The United States will not waiver in its support for Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity.';

Whereas the White House released a fact sheet on July 24, 2010, calling for `Russia to end its occupation of the Georgian territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia' and for `a return of international observers to the two occupied regions of Georgia';

Whereas Vice President Joseph Biden stated in Tbilisi in July 2009 that the United States `will not recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states';

Whereas, according to the Government of Georgia's `State Strategy on Occupied Territories,' the Government of Georgia has committed itself to a policy of peaceful engagement, the protection of economic and human rights, freedom of movement, and the preservation of cultural heritage, language, and identity for the people of Abkhazia and South Ossetia;

Whereas the August 2008 conflict between the Governments of Russia and Georgia resulted in civilian and military causalities, the violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia, and large numbers of internally displaced persons;

Whereas large numbers of persons remain displaced as a result of the August 2008 conflict as well as the earlier conflicts of the 1990s;

Whereas the August 12, 2008, ceasefire agreement, agreed to by the Governments of Russia and Georgia provides that all troops of the Russian Federation shall be withdrawn to pre-conflict positions;

Whereas the August 12, 2008, ceasefire agreement provides that free access shall be granted to organizations providing humanitarian assistance in regions affected by violence in August 2008;

Whereas the recognition by the Government of Russia of Abkhazia and South Ossetia on August 26, 2008, was in violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia;

Whereas Human Rights Watch concluded in its World Report 2011 that `Russia continued to occupy Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and strengthened its military presence in the region by establishing a military base and placing an advanced surface-to-air missile system in Abkhazia';

Whereas the parties have taken some constructive steps in recent months, including the resumption of direct flights between Russia and Georgia, Russian troop withdrawal from the Georgian village of Perevi, and regular participation in the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism;

Whereas these positive steps neither adequately address the humanitarian situation on the ground nor constitute full compliance with the terms of the August 2008 ceasefire agreement;

Whereas, on November 23, 2010, before the European Parliament, Georgian President Saakashvili declared that `Georgia will never use force to restore its territorial integrity and sovereignty';

Whereas Secretary of State Clinton stated in Tbilisi on July 5, 2010, `We continue to call for Russia to abide by the August 2008 cease-fire commitment . . . including ending the occupation and withdrawing Russian troops from South Ossetia and Abkhazia to their pre-conflict positions.';

Whereas the Russian Federation blocked the extension of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Mission to Georgia and the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia, forcing the missions to withdraw from South Ossetia and Abkhazia;

Whereas troops of the Russian Federation stationed in Abkhazia and South Ossetia continue to be present without the consent of the Government of Georgia or a mandate from the United Nations or other multilateral organizations;

Whereas, at the April 15, 2011, meeting in Berlin between the foreign ministers of Georgia and NATO, Secretary of State Clinton stated, `U.S. support for Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity remains steadfast. . . . We share Georgian concerns regarding recent Russian activities that can negatively affect regional stability.';

Whereas, on April 25-26, 2011, Foreign Minister of Russia Sergei Lavrov made a high-profile visit to Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which was immediately criticized by the Department of State as `inconsistent with the principle of territorial integrity and Georgia's internationally recognized borders';

Whereas the Senate supports United States efforts to develop a productive relationship with the Russian Federation in areas of mutual interest, including non-proliferation and arms control, cooperation concerning the failure of the Government of Iran to meet its international obligations with regard to its nuclear programs, counter-terrorism, Afghanistan, anti-piracy, and economics and trade; and

Whereas the Senate agrees that these efforts must not compromise longstanding United States policy or United States support for its allies and partners worldwide: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Senate—

(1) affirms that it is the policy of the United States to support the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of Georgia and the inviolability of its borders, and to recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia as regions of Georgia occupied by the Russian Federation;

(2) calls upon the Government of Russia to take steps to fulfill all the terms and conditions of the 2008 ceasefire agreements between Georgia and Russia, including returning military forces to pre-war positions and ensuring access to international humanitarian aid to all those affected by the conflict;

(3) urges the Government of Russia and the authorities in control in the regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia to allow for the full and dignified return of internally displaced persons and international missions to the territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia;

(4) supports peaceful, constructive engagement and confidence-building measures between the Government of Georgia and the authorities in control in South Ossetia and Abkhazia and encourages additional people-to-people contacts; and

(5) affirms that finding a peaceful resolution to the conflict is a key priority for the United States in the Caucasus region and that lasting regional stability can only be achieved through peaceful means and long-term diplomatic and political dialogue between all parties.