Artyom Borovik A prominent Russian journalist and media magnate who specialized in investigative exposes of the Kremlin was killed in a suspicious air crash at Moscow airport (March 10, 2000). Borovik was one of the loudest critics in Moscow of President Vladimir Putin, and of Mr. Putin's war against Chechnya. Borovik's publications included Sovershenno Sekretno (Top Secret) and Versiya, which "concentrated on juicy revelations of the venality and the corruption among Russia's rich and powerful. He also helped CBS "60 Minutes" produce a segment on Russia's strategic missile force.
Oleg Gordiewski Born-1938, Moscow. Former KGB colonel and Colonel of the KGB and KGB Resident-designate and Bureau chief in London. He was a double agent for M16 since 1966, when he was persuaded to work for the Danish intelligence service soon after the KGB posted him to Copenhagen posing as a press attaché. In 1985 he became highest ranking officer to defect, having served as head of the KGB in London in charge of the USSR's whole spy operation in Britain.
Vladimir Kostov Born Bulgaria. He survived an assassination attempt, was shot in the back with a poison bullet, near the Arc the Triumph in Paris, after fleeing Bulgaria in 1977. Bulgarian Dictator Schiwkov blamed dissident Georgi Markov for assisting Kostov escape Bulgaria. Markov was later stabbed in London, with an umbrella, which injected the same kind of poisoned bullet in his leg, from which he died. It was alleged that the Bulgarian secret police, in collaboration with KGB Officer Oleg Kalugin, carried out the assassination.
Andrei Kozlov Born-1965, The top deputy chairman of Russia's Central Bank was murdered (September 2006), execution style, after being shot by unidentified assailants in an attack that officials suggested was prompted by his efforts to clean up the country's banking system. Kozlov's most conspicuous achievement had been the introduction of a deposit insurance program designed to restore faith in the banking system after widespread defaults in 1998. Kozlov had been responsible for banking supervision, and had overseen an ambitious program to reduce criminality and money laundering in the banking system.
Andrei Lugovoi
Former KGB agent and bodyguard for Boris Berezovsky. Met Alexander Litvinenko on November 1, 2006 at Millennium Hotel-London. Lugovi, who had once been arrested for assisting Berezovsky ally Nikolai Glushkov in an alleged escape attempt from police custody, "where he was being held on charges of embezzlement (to the tune of $250 million) and massive fraud,". Lugovi was later released; Glushkov was tried and convicted on lesser charges of financial chicanery related to the case and served three years in prison. Lugovi meanwhile has apparently become a successful private detective in Moscow. In recent days, Berezovsky has begun hinting heavily that his former friend Lugovi has been restored to the good graces of the Russian security organs and thus might have had a hand in Litvinenko's poisoning. How else to explain his booming business? "Anyone close to me can normally not even find work in Moscow, let alone have a successful business," Berezovsky told the Moscow Time.
Salman Raduev Born 1967-Russia, was a rogue Chechen warlord. During the First Chechen War, he became a field commander for the separatist Chechen forces. Raduyev was one of the best known of the rebel field commanders. In March 1996 Raduyev was shot in the head. Raduyev was wounded again in a car bomb assination attempt in 1998. This earned him the nickname of Titanic because his shattered skull was reconstructed with steel plates. Because of his injury, Raduyev did not take an active role in the Second Chechen war. He was captured in March 2000 by the Russian special operations unit Vympel. Raduyev was tried on multiple murder charges and, in 2001, was sentenced to life in prison. Raduyev died in prison from internal bleeding. The circumstances surrounding the 2002 death of Raduyev are not clear, poisoning was suspected.
Yuri Shchekochikhin Born-1950 Kirovabad Russia, Journalist Novaya Gazeta. Shchekochikhin made his name writing about and campaigning against the influence of organized crime and corruption in the Russian government. He died suddenly in 2003 after a mysterious illness later linked to thallium poisoning, in what was believed by many to be a politically-motivated assassination.
Yuri Shvets A Major in the KGB during the years 1980-1990, working for 2-years in the US at their Washington Rezidentura. Shvets recruited two key sources of political intelligence whom he referred to as Sputnitsa and Socrates. Sputnitsa has been identified as the late New Statesman journalist Claudia Wright. Socrates, a former Carter administration aide with strong ties to Greece was not identified by Shvets. However, in his book "Spy Handler: Memoir of a KGB Officer", Victor Cherkashin names "Socrates" as John Helmer. After publishing a book describing his exploits and ultimate falling out with the KGB, Shvets was banned from foreign travel. In 1994, he secretly made his way to America where he now resides. Shvets is now a key witness in the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko. Shvets said that he and Litvinenko had compiled a report investigating the activities of senior Kremlin officials on behalf of a British company looking to invest "dozens of millions of dollars" in a project in Russia. Shvets said the dossier was so incriminating about one senior Kremlin official, who was not named. It was likely that Litvinenko was murdered in revenge. He alleged that Litvinenko had shown the dossier to another business associate, Andrei Lugovoi, who had worked for the KGB and later the FSB. Shvets alleged that Lugovoi was still an FSB informant and he had passed the dossier to members of the spy service.
Vyacheslav Volodya Sokolenko Born-1964, Sokolenko, a business partner of Andrei Lugovi, met Alexander Litvinenko on November 1, 2006 at Millennium Hotel-London. London police have been looking for a suspect in the Litvinenko murder investigation, named Vladimir, described as a figure that was "tall" and "taciturn". Sokolenko matches the description. He heads an association of security agencies.
Galina Starovoitova Born-1946, Chelyabinsk, Russia. On November 20, 1998, Starovoitova and her aide, Ruslan Linkov, were assassinated in the staircase of her apartment building. Starovoitova was an impassioned human rights activist, feminist and democratic progressive in the Russian parliament. She was co-chair of the Democratic Russia party.
Julia Svetlichnaja Svetlichnaja met Alexander Litvinenko earlier this year, and received more than 100 emails from him. In a series of interviews, she reveals that the former Russian secret agent had documents from the FSB, the Russian agency formerly known as the KGB. He had asked Svetlichnaja, who is based in London, to enter into a business deal with him and 'make money'. The FBI has been dragged into the investigation of Alexander Litvinenko's death after details emerged that he had planned to make tens of thousands of pounds blackmailing senior Russian spies and business figures.
Colonel Velentin Velichko Leads the group accused of planning the assassination of Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian spy, and the Italian investigator Mario Scaramella. A memo, handed to Litvinenko by Scaramella at the Itsu restaurant in Piccadilly on the day he was poisoned, alleged that both men were being targeted. The memo claimed that agents of the Russian security services and an organization called, Dignity and Honour, run by a Colonel Velentin Velichko, were trying to kill the "enemy No 1 of Russia" and his "companion in arms", exiled billionaire Boris Berezovsky and Alexander Litvinenko. The memo handed to Litvinenko was written by Evgueni Limarev, whose father served with the KGB in the 1970s and who now lives in Switzerland, specialising in researching such groups. The memo adds: "Velichko's agents are presumably involved in the assassination of Anna Politkovskaya in October 2006, as well as in elaboration of other similar assassination plans, by order and on behalf of FSB/SVR."
Zelimkhan Yandarbiev Former Chechen President died from injuries he sustained in an explosion in Qatar (February 2004). Yandarbiev, Chechnya's acting president in 1996 and 1997, was wanted by Russia on charges of leading an armed revolt. He lived in exile in Qatar. The United Nations last year put Yandarbiev on a list of people with alleged links to the Al-Qaeda terrorist network.
Sergei Yushenkov Born-1950, he was a liberal Russian politician well known for his uncompromising struggle for democracy, rapid free market economic reforms, and higher human rights standards in Russia. He was assassinated in 2003, just hours after registering his political party to participate in the parliamentary elections. Various theories exist regarding his assassination, including one that Boris Berezovsky suggested to Sergei Yushenkov that an attempt on his life should be faked: to promote Liberal Russia, a party that was little known at that time. Before Golovliov died in August 2002, he might have passed Yushenkov certain compromising materials concerning ranking officials involved in privatization frauds in the Ural area.
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