General Russian foreign entanglements thread

[T.Lex]

https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-...-berlin-killing-used-fake-identity-documents/

Russia appears to have engaged in some more wet work to take out a Chechen in Germany.

23 August 2019, Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, a Georgian citizen living in Germany, was assassinated in downtown Berlin while having lunch on the way to a mosque for Friday prayer. Khangoshvili was assassinated with three bullets, two of them fired at close range at his head. The killer, who was hiding in the nearby bushes, rushed toward the victim on an electric bike and shot the victim — once in the shoulder and twice in the head — using a 9mm Glock 26 with an attached silencer.
...
A joint investigation between Bellingcat, the German newspaper Der Spiegel, and The Insider (Russia), has established that the assassin travelled to Berlin via France under a validly issued, non-biometric Russian passport in the name of Vadim Andreevich Sokolov, born in August 1970. Despite the fact that he used a legitimate passport, we have determined that no such person exists in Russia’s sprawling, comprehensive national citizen database. In addition, no trace of such a person exists in a trove of hundreds of leaked residential databases, previously obtained and aggregated by Bellingcat. This discovery makes Russia’s claims that the killer is not connected to the Russian state implausible, as no person in Russia is in a position to obtain a valid Russian passport under a fake identity without the involvement of the state bureaucratic and security apparatus.

 

[T.Lex]

Yahoo link about NYT (paywall) story about a secret GRU hit squad:
https://news.yahoo.com/secret-russian-assassination-squad-proven-141342412.html

Interesting stuff.

 

[T.Lex]

Another Russian opposition leader may have been poisoned.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53844958

The anti-corruption campaigner fell ill during a flight and the plane made an emergency landing in Omsk, Kira Yarmysh said, adding that they suspected something had been mixed into his tea.
The Kremlin said that it wished Mr Navalny a "speedy recovery".

 

[OakRiver]

Another Russian opposition leader may have been poisoned.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53844958

What rotten luck, that so many opposed to Putin drink tea that is poisoned. Just like all those journalists who covered Putin in a less than favorable way, and who fell from great heights.

 

[KellyinAvon]

Another Russian opposition leader may have been poisoned.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53844958

Staunch critic of Putin dies of natural causes.

Mr Navalny, 44, has been a staunch critic of President Vladimir Putin.

In June he described a vote on constitutional reforms as a "coup" and a "violation of the constitution". The reforms allow Mr Putin to serve another two terms in office.

 

[T.Lex]

What rotten luck, that so many opposed to Putin drink tea that is poisoned. Just like all those journalists who covered Putin in a less than favorable way, and who fell from great heights.

Indeed. Crazy coincidences abound.

 

[NKBJ]

At least they didn't blow the whole plane up to get him.

 

[OakRiver]

At least they didn't blow the whole plane up to get him.

Sometimes you have to destroy the village in order to save the village

 

[KellyinAvon]

At least you find the bodies of Putin's enemies. Badmouth Winnie the Pooh in Chi-Com Land and you just disappear.

 

[T.Lex]

In a development that should surprise no one, there are reports that the substance killing Navalny is also dangerous "to those around him."

Mother Russia sure likes those radiation poisons.

 

[spencer rifle]

In a development that should surprise no one, there are reports that the substance killing Navalny is also dangerous "to those around him."

Mother Russia sure likes those radiation poisons.

Or it could be their high-powered nerve agent that officially doesn't exist. Only takes micrograms of that stuff.

 

[NKBJ]

What message was being sent?
https://www.dw.com/en/belarus-lukas...enaries-critics-of-plotting-attack/a-54398681

 

[T.Lex]

Or it could be their high-powered nerve agent that officially doesn't exist. Only takes micrograms of that stuff.

BBC reporting that Germany confirmed the agent was novichok.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54002880

 

[JettaKnight]

BBC reporting that Germany confirmed the agent was novichok.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54002880

That's doesn't sound hot.

I would think it would be something like Agent Svetlana.

 

[JettaKnight]

What message was being sent?
https://www.dw.com/en/belarus-lukas...enaries-critics-of-plotting-attack/a-54398681

Trying to pretend he can go it alone without Putin?

 

[printcraft]

 

[NKBJ]

Novichok? Good heavens not from Porton Down again!