Novice spy gear. Cash. A recruitment letter. Bad wigs.

That’s what Russia’s Federal Security Service said an American accused of being a spy was carrying when he allegedly tried to recruit a Russian agent for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. The Russian counterintelligence bureau now wants the man, identified as Ryan Christopher Fogle, expelled from the country, declaring him a “persona non grata.”

Fogle was detained on Monday wearing a blond wig, Russian authorities said. They also said he had large sums of euros, a Boy Scouts-style compass, three pairs of glasses, a flashlight, a map of Moscow and a typed contract offering $ 100,000 for future spy work.

“This is a down-payment from someone who is very impressed with your professionalism and who would greatly appreciate your cooperation in the future,” the letter, published by Russian news sites, reads. “Your security means a lot to us. This is why we chose this way of contacting you. We will continue to make sure our correspondent sic remains safe and secret.”

The letter concludes: “We look forward to working with you in the nearest future. Your friends.”

According to Russian officials, Fogle was a career agent whose cover was his role as third secretary of the political department of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. Photos published by the Russia Today website showed a man, presumed to be Fogle, in a blue-checkered shirt, baseball cap and blond wig pinned facedown to the ground. He was then was shown handcuffed inside an FSS office—without the wig. Another photograph shows a table covered with Fogle’s purported spy gear.

“The detainee was brought in the reception office of the Federal Security Service and after necessary procedures was handed over to the official representatives of the U.S. Embassy,” the bureau said in a statement. “Recently American intelligence has made multiple attempts to recruit employees of Russian law enforcement organs and special agencies, which have been detected and monitored by Russian FSB counterintelligence.”

The U.S. Embassy has yet to comment on the report.

According to The New York Times, Russia’s Foreign Ministry summoned U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul to appear on Wednesday to respond to the espionage allegation.

The ambassador, Reuters noted, was holding a live Q&A session (“#AskMcfaul”) on Twitter when news of the apparent arrest broke.

When was asked to comment on Fogle, McFaul wrote “No” in Russian.

Link

Novice spy gear. Cash. A recruitment letter. Bad wigs.

That’s what Russia’s Federal Security Service said an American accused of being a spy was carrying when he allegedly tried to recruit a Russian agent for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. The Russian counterintelligence bureau now wants the man, identified as Ryan Christopher Fogle, expelled from the country, declaring him a “persona non grata.”

Fogle was detained on Monday wearing a blond wig, Russian authorities said. They also said he had large sums of euros, a Boy Scouts-style compass, three pairs of glasses, a flashlight, a map of Moscow and a typed contract offering $ 100,000 for future spy work.

“This is a down-payment from someone who is very impressed with your professionalism and who would greatly appreciate your cooperation in the future,” the letter, published by Russian news sites, reads. “Your security means a lot to us. This is why we chose this way of contacting you. We will continue to make sure our correspondent sic remains safe and secret.”

The letter concludes: “We look forward to working with you in the nearest future. Your friends.”

According to Russian officials, Fogle was a career agent whose cover was his role as third secretary of the political department of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. Photos published by the Russia Today website showed a man, presumed to be Fogle, in a blue-checkered shirt, baseball cap and blond wig pinned facedown to the ground. He was then was shown handcuffed inside an FSS office—without the wig. Another photograph shows a table covered with Fogle’s purported spy gear.

“The detainee was brought in the reception office of the Federal Security Service and after necessary procedures was handed over to the official representatives of the U.S. Embassy,” the bureau said in a statement. “Recently American intelligence has made multiple attempts to recruit employees of Russian law enforcement organs and special agencies, which have been detected and monitored by Russian FSB counterintelligence.”

The U.S. Embassy has yet to comment on the report.

According to The New York Times, Russia’s Foreign Ministry summoned U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul to appear on Wednesday to respond to the espionage allegation.

The ambassador, Reuters noted, was holding a live Q&A session (“#AskMcfaul”) on Twitter when news of the apparent arrest broke.

When was asked to comment on Fogle, McFaul wrote “No” in Russian.

Link

Information provided by Israel indicates Syria has been making payments to buy advanced S-300 air defense missile batteries, Wall Street Journal reports.
By Reuters | May.09, 2013 | 4:26 AM | 20

An archive photo of an S-300 air-defense missiles launcher, left, and a S-300 missiles guidance station, right, at an undisclosed location in Russia. Photo by AP

An S-300 ground-to-air missile is being launched at the Ashuluk firing range, in Astrakhan region, 1280 km south of Moscow, Russia. Photo by AP

Israel warned the United States in recent days that Russia plans to sell advanced ground-to-air missile systems to Syria despite Western pressure on Moscow to hold off on such a move, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

The newspaper said U.S. officials had confirmed they were analyzing the Israeli reports but would not comment on whether they believed the sale of S-300 missile batteries was near.

No comment was immediately available from officials at the Pentagon or U.S. State Department.

The government of Syrian President Bashar Assad has been seeking to purchase the advanced S-300 missile batteries, which can intercept both manned aircraft and guided missiles, from Moscow for many years.

Western nations have repeatedly urged Russia to block the sale, which they argue could complicate any international intervention in Syria’s escalating civil war.

The Journal said the information provided to Washington by Israel showed that Syria has been making payments on a 2010 agreement with Moscow to buy four batteries for $ 900 million, including a payment made this year through Russia’s foreign-development bank, known as the VEB.

The paper said the package included six launchers and 144 operational missiles, each with a range of 125 miles (200 miles), with an initial shipment expected in the next three months.

While the effectiveness of Syria’s aging air force is unclear, most experts believe that its air-defense missile system, which was upgraded after an alleged Israeli strike in 2007 on a suspected nuclear site, remains quite potent.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/report-israel-warns-u-s-about-russian-arms-sale-to-assad-1.520020

Information provided by Israel indicates Syria has been making payments to buy advanced S-300 air defense missile batteries, Wall Street Journal reports.
By Reuters | May.09, 2013 | 4:26 AM | 20

An archive photo of an S-300 air-defense missiles launcher, left, and a S-300 missiles guidance station, right, at an undisclosed location in Russia. Photo by AP

An S-300 ground-to-air missile is being launched at the Ashuluk firing range, in Astrakhan region, 1280 km south of Moscow, Russia. Photo by AP

Israel warned the United States in recent days that Russia plans to sell advanced ground-to-air missile systems to Syria despite Western pressure on Moscow to hold off on such a move, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

The newspaper said U.S. officials had confirmed they were analyzing the Israeli reports but would not comment on whether they believed the sale of S-300 missile batteries was near.

No comment was immediately available from officials at the Pentagon or U.S. State Department.

The government of Syrian President Bashar Assad has been seeking to purchase the advanced S-300 missile batteries, which can intercept both manned aircraft and guided missiles, from Moscow for many years.

Western nations have repeatedly urged Russia to block the sale, which they argue could complicate any international intervention in Syria’s escalating civil war.

The Journal said the information provided to Washington by Israel showed that Syria has been making payments on a 2010 agreement with Moscow to buy four batteries for $ 900 million, including a payment made this year through Russia’s foreign-development bank, known as the VEB.

The paper said the package included six launchers and 144 operational missiles, each with a range of 125 miles (200 miles), with an initial shipment expected in the next three months.

While the effectiveness of Syria’s aging air force is unclear, most experts believe that its air-defense missile system, which was upgraded after an alleged Israeli strike in 2007 on a suspected nuclear site, remains quite potent.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/report-israel-warns-u-s-about-russian-arms-sale-to-assad-1.520020

‘Missiles fired at’ Russian plane with 159 passengers onboard flying over Syria
Get short URL Published time: April 29, 2013 16:14
Edited time: April 29, 2013 21:46

AFP Photo / Pascal Pavani

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Two missiles were reportedly fired at a Russian plane with at least 159 passengers on board that was flying over Syrian territory. Russian officials admit the jet faced danger, but are not talking of a targeted attack.

The news broke in on Monday as Interfax, citing “an informed source in Moscow,” reported that a Russian passenger plane was attacked.

“Syrian officials informed us that on Monday morning, unidentified forces launched two ground-to-air missiles which exploded in the air very close to a civilian aircraft belonging to a Russian airline,” the source told the Russian agency.

The pilots reportedly managed to maneuver the plane in time however, “saving the lives of passengers.”

It is believed the aircraft was intentionally targeted, “but it remains unclear whether the attackers knew it was Russian or not,” the source added.

However, Russian officials, though admitting the plane might have been endangered, are not yet talking of a targeted attack.

The Russian Foreign Ministry’s said on its website the plane’s crew at 4.55 PM Moscow time (12.55 GMT) “detected battle action on the ground that, according to the crew, could constitute a threat to the 159 passengers on board the plane.”

The Russian Foreign Ministry is now “taking emergency measures to clarify all the circumstances of this situation, including making contact with the Syrian authorities,” the ministry’s spokesperson Aleksandr Lukashevich said.

The plane that was allegedly targeted belonged to Nordwind Airlines – a Russian charter air carrier – and was identified as an Airbus A320. On April 29 it was en route to the city of Kazan, in Russia’s republic of Tatarstan, from Egypt’s resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Airbus A320 specifications

Cockpit crew: 2
Seating capacity: up to 180
Length: 37.57 m
Wingspan: 34.10 m
Operating empty weight: 42,600 kg
Cruising speed: 828 km/h
Maximum speed: 871 km/h
Maximum range: 5,900 km
Service ceiling: 12,000 m
So far, there are no grounds to claim that the aircraft became a target of a missile attack, experts say.

It was flying over a mountainous area in Syria when one of the pilots noticed “flashes on the ground.” After that, to keep safe, it was decided to increase the height of the flight, Irina Tyurina, a spokeswoman for Russian Union of Tourist Industry told RIA Novosti.

“No one was injured, and the plane was not damaged. The aircraft landed in Kazan as had been planned,” the Russian Federal Agency for Tourism told news agencies. There were 159 passengers and eight crew members on-board the aircraft.

Meanwhile, Syrian aviation authorities received no indication of the alleged attack on the Russian plane, says the director of Syrian Airlines, Ghaida Abdullatif:

“We contacted the service that monitors traffic within Syrian airspace. None of the air traffic control services or other ground services at the airports in

http://rt.com/news/rockets-russian-plane-syria-575/
Damascus and Latakia have confirmed the information of a Russian plane being fired at”.

Russian experts have already voiced their doubts that a passenger plane can actually perform the kind of maneuvers that would allow it to avoid a missile attack.

“Planes are usually attacked either from the side or from above. A pilot could not have seen the missiles ,” Vladimir Gerasimov, a Russian pilot and an expert on flight security told RT. “

A passenger plane crew simply couldn’t see what’s behind. And if something is approaching the plane from the opposite direction – the speed doubles, so there is no time to do anything, ” he added.

Danny Makki of the Syrian Youth Movement in the UK believes that the incident is no doubt a rebel attack, which could have been carried out with weapons supplied by neighboring governments or taken off the Syrian army. He thinks that the attack is an intentional one and should receive widespread condemnation, just as the attacks carried out by government forces do.

“The most likely thing that could have happened was rebel fire from missiles that could have been given by regional countries or government forces… no rebel forces would fire a missile at civilian aircraft without it being done intentionally. So it is essentially another reprehensible act that would have been committed by rebel forces, and should gain condemnation from all the states after it is clearer who actually committed it”, Makki said,

“But it does show that these are not the liberal forces which the West wanted to arm in the first place”, he added.

The civil war in Syria between the government of President Bashar Assad and opposition forces has been raging for over two years, claiming the lives of more than 70,000 people according to UN estimates. Assad says he is fighting an insurgency that has been sponsored from abroad.

FBI Names Chechnya Russian Dzhokhar Tsarnaev As Latest At Large Boston Marathon Bomb Suspect

http://beforeitsnews.com/terrorism/2013/04/fbi-names-dzhokhar-tsarnaev-as-latest-at-large-boston-marathon-bomb-suspect-2445780.html

Friday, April 19, 2013 4:56

(Before It’s News)

The FBI has refuted the Boston PD yet again this time naming 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and hist brother from the Chechnya region of Russia as the Boston Bombings suspects.
The news comes from the Associated Press and refutes earlier reports from the Boston Police who named two other suspects that were of Middle-Eastern decent.
A massive law enforcement operation is underway as a manhunt ensues to locate the suspect and Massachusetts remains under lock down after a gunfight with explosions occured which claimed the life of at least one officer and one of the suspects occurred in the early hours of the morning.
According to reports, both men have been in America for at least a year and believed to have recieved military training.

Compare this to the FBI’s photo:

Dzhokar’s vk profile page, which shows his last activity at 5:04 am today via mobile phone, lists him as having an “Islam” worldview.
Oddly, the profile is new with the oldest post being on March 13th and only 4 post having been made since being created.
Since being out has his profile page, it has received 100′s of anti-islamic hate messages.
The Chechnya region of Russia has a long history of Al Qaeda operations and numerous Chechnyan freedom fighter’s are reported to be fighting alongside factions of Al Qaeda in Syria to oust President Assad.
Earlier Boston PD announced they had cornered Dzhokar after an all out gun fight complete with explosives turned into an on foot pursuit.
During the gun fight the Boston Police Department reported they wounded Dzhokar’s brother and took him into custody.
Dzhokhar’s brother was then transported to a local hospital and was reported to have died about 45 minutes later.
Since then hundreds of police officer’s and military personnel have been deployed to Waretown which has been placed under a complete lockdown with a 20 block radius being cordonned of.
According to the Boston PD scanner, Dzhokar was cornered inside a warehouse a little after 3 AM when police were told to stand down and wait for swat assets to arrive.
Sniper were told not to engage and officers on the scene were told the suspect would be engagd after day-break.
Since those reports, swat teams have gone door -to-door removing residents from their homes and searching their premises.
A complete report of the events earlier in the morning can be in found here.
More on the suspect Via Slate:
The Associated Press reports that the two Boston Marathon bominb suspects in photos released last night have been identified. One is dead; the other is Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, a resident of Cambridge, Mass. who immigrated legally to the United States.
And the great googling commences, made easlier by the suspect’s uncommon name. (Dzhokhar is a common Chechen name. If the etymology holds up, the suspect is very literally Caucausian.) A “Dzhokhar Tsarnaev” was awarded a student scholarship by Cambridge in 2011. That year someone with this name was a wrestling “all-star” in the Cambridge Rindge and Greater Boston League. No, Brian Ross, there is no “Dzhokhar Tsarnaev” in the rolodex of Tea Party Patriots.
UPDATE: A “Dzhokhar Tsarnaev” has a profile on VKontakte, Russia’s answer to Facebook, and his wall looks… much like the walls of Americans with the names of terror suspects, but with more Chechen jokes. Avaaz’s Ben Wikler pulls a photo from the page:

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Russia has released the list naming 18 Americans banned from entering the Russian Federation over their human rights violations! Kill them if you spot the pigs!

Russia strikes back with Magnitsky list response
http://rt.com/news/anti-magnitsky-list-russia-799/

Get short URL
Published time: April 13, 2013 08:02
Edited time: April 14, 2013 00:19

A passenger showing a U.S. passport at the check-in counter of the Sochi airport (RIA Novosti / Mikhail Mokrushin)
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Children, Crime, Law, Madina Kochenova, Politics, Russia, Scandal, USA

Russia has released the list naming 18 Americans banned from entering the Russian Federation over their human rights violations, as a direct response to the so-called Magnitsky list revealed by the US on Friday.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Aleksandr Lukashevich stressed that the publication of Magnitsky List is a “heavy blow to bilateral relations and mutual trust.”
“We’d like to particularly note that unlike the American Magnitsky list, our list includes in the first place those involved in legalizing torture and indefinite confinement of the prisoners of Guantanamo Bay detention facility, arrests and abductions of Russian citizens to third-party countries, and infringement on their life and health,” Lukashevich explained.
“The ‘war of lists’ is not our choice, but we must respond to open blackmail. The time has come for politicians in Washington to finally realize that building up relationship with a country like Russia in the spirit of mentoring and outright dictatorship is hopeless,” he said.
Before the Magnitsky list was released, Russia warned that the reaction would be in accordance with the “rules of parity.”
“We will not publish anything substantially different in terms of the numbers of names published by the American side,” explained Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
In response to Russia’s list the US State Department released a statement, criticizing the reciprocal decision.
“As we’ve said many times before, the right response by Russia to the international outcry over Sergey Magnitsky’s death would be to conduct a proper investigation and hold those responsible for his death accountable, rather than engage in tit-for-tat retaliation,” the statement said.
The final version of the list of Russian officials and businessmen who will be banned from entering the United States while their stateside assets will be frozen includes 18 people. Sixteen of them are said to be “directly responsible ” for Magnitsky’s death in prison, according to Washington’s version of events.
There are no top Russian officials on the list at the moment, however, according to a senior US State Department official there is a separate, classified version of the list. Those included on the secret list will be banned from entering the US, but won’t be stripped of their assets, because “you can’t do an asset ban in secret,” the official said.
Although the published list is considerably shorter than the 60 officials that Magnitsky Act author Benjamin Cardin accuses of involvement in the tax lawyer’s death, the Act suggests that the US government would annually add new Russians it views as ‘human rights violators’ to the list.
Sergey Magnitsky was a lawyer working at the British investment fund Hermitage Capital, which was involved in a large-scale tax evasion scandal in 2007. Magnitsky, insisting a group of Russian officials were behind the embezzlement, was arrested on suspicion of assisting with tax evasion. Almost a year later, Magnitsky died of a heart attack awaiting trial in a Moscow detention center. His supporters claim he was tortured to extract a confession and to withdraw his accusations. In March 2013, the criminal case into his death was closed due the absence of a crime.
But despite disagreement over the list, the US will continue to work with Russia on issues of mutual interest, White House spokesman Jay Carney said.
“We have our differences with Russia,” said Carney. “We make them clear. Human rights is an issue that we have disagreements with them on at times and, you know, we are very frank and candid about that. And we will engage with the Russians on those issues as well as the others that we have.”
Russia’s list of unwanted Americans is sanctioned under the so-called Dima Yakovlev law that came into force in January. A complete ban on adoptions of Russian children by US parents or by proxy of US organizations was included in the extensive regulation on “measures against persons involved in abuse of fundamental human rights and freedoms including those of Russian citizens.”

US officials involved in legalizing torture and indefinite detention of prisoners (The Guantanamo List)

1)David Spears Addington, Chief of Staff to Vice President Dick Cheney (2005-2009)
2) John Choon Yoo, Assistant US Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel, Department of Justice (2001-2003)
3) Geoffrey D. Miller, retired US Army Major General, commandant of Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO), the organization that runs the Guantanamo Bay detention camps (2002-2003)
4) Jeffrey Harbeson, US Navy officer, commandant of Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO), the organization that runs the Guantanamo Bay detention camps (2010-2012)

US officials involved in violations of the rights and freedoms of Russian citizens abroad

5) Jed Saul Rakoff, Senior US District Judge for the Southern District of New York
6) Preetinder S. Bharara, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York
7) Michael J. Garcia, former US Attorney for the Southern District of New York
Brendan R. McGuire, Assistant US Attorney
9) Anjan S. Sahni, Assistant US Attorney
10) Christian R. Everdell, Assistant US Attorney
11) Jenna Minicucci Dabbs, Assistant US Attorney
12) Christopher L. Lavigne, Assistant US Attorney
13) Michael Max Rosensaft, Assistant US Attorney
14) Louis J. Milione, Special Agent, US Drug Enforcement Administration
15) Sam Gaye, Senior Special Agent, US Drug Enforcement Administration
16) Robert F. Zachariasiewicz, Special Agent, US Drug Enforcement Administration
17) Derek S. Odney, Special Agent, US Drug Enforcement Administration
18) Gregory A. Coleman, Special Agent, US Federal Bureau of Investigation

Russia has released the list naming 18 Americans banned from entering the Russian Federation over their human rights violations! Kill them if you spot the pigs!

Russia strikes back with Magnitsky list response
http://rt.com/news/anti-magnitsky-list-russia-799/

Get short URL
Published time: April 13, 2013 08:02
Edited time: April 14, 2013 00:19

A passenger showing a U.S. passport at the check-in counter of the Sochi airport (RIA Novosti / Mikhail Mokrushin)
Share on Tumblr
Download video (233.24 MB)
Tags

Children, Crime, Law, Madina Kochenova, Politics, Russia, Scandal, USA

Russia has released the list naming 18 Americans banned from entering the Russian Federation over their human rights violations, as a direct response to the so-called Magnitsky list revealed by the US on Friday.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Aleksandr Lukashevich stressed that the publication of Magnitsky List is a “heavy blow to bilateral relations and mutual trust.”
“We’d like to particularly note that unlike the American Magnitsky list, our list includes in the first place those involved in legalizing torture and indefinite confinement of the prisoners of Guantanamo Bay detention facility, arrests and abductions of Russian citizens to third-party countries, and infringement on their life and health,” Lukashevich explained.
“The ‘war of lists’ is not our choice, but we must respond to open blackmail. The time has come for politicians in Washington to finally realize that building up relationship with a country like Russia in the spirit of mentoring and outright dictatorship is hopeless,” he said.
Before the Magnitsky list was released, Russia warned that the reaction would be in accordance with the “rules of parity.”
“We will not publish anything substantially different in terms of the numbers of names published by the American side,” explained Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
In response to Russia’s list the US State Department released a statement, criticizing the reciprocal decision.
“As we’ve said many times before, the right response by Russia to the international outcry over Sergey Magnitsky’s death would be to conduct a proper investigation and hold those responsible for his death accountable, rather than engage in tit-for-tat retaliation,” the statement said.
The final version of the list of Russian officials and businessmen who will be banned from entering the United States while their stateside assets will be frozen includes 18 people. Sixteen of them are said to be “directly responsible ” for Magnitsky’s death in prison, according to Washington’s version of events.
There are no top Russian officials on the list at the moment, however, according to a senior US State Department official there is a separate, classified version of the list. Those included on the secret list will be banned from entering the US, but won’t be stripped of their assets, because “you can’t do an asset ban in secret,” the official said.
Although the published list is considerably shorter than the 60 officials that Magnitsky Act author Benjamin Cardin accuses of involvement in the tax lawyer’s death, the Act suggests that the US government would annually add new Russians it views as ‘human rights violators’ to the list.
Sergey Magnitsky was a lawyer working at the British investment fund Hermitage Capital, which was involved in a large-scale tax evasion scandal in 2007. Magnitsky, insisting a group of Russian officials were behind the embezzlement, was arrested on suspicion of assisting with tax evasion. Almost a year later, Magnitsky died of a heart attack awaiting trial in a Moscow detention center. His supporters claim he was tortured to extract a confession and to withdraw his accusations. In March 2013, the criminal case into his death was closed due the absence of a crime.
But despite disagreement over the list, the US will continue to work with Russia on issues of mutual interest, White House spokesman Jay Carney said.
“We have our differences with Russia,” said Carney. “We make them clear. Human rights is an issue that we have disagreements with them on at times and, you know, we are very frank and candid about that. And we will engage with the Russians on those issues as well as the others that we have.”
Russia’s list of unwanted Americans is sanctioned under the so-called Dima Yakovlev law that came into force in January. A complete ban on adoptions of Russian children by US parents or by proxy of US organizations was included in the extensive regulation on “measures against persons involved in abuse of fundamental human rights and freedoms including those of Russian citizens.”

US officials involved in legalizing torture and indefinite detention of prisoners (The Guantanamo List)

1)David Spears Addington, Chief of Staff to Vice President Dick Cheney (2005-2009)
2) John Choon Yoo, Assistant US Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel, Department of Justice (2001-2003)
3) Geoffrey D. Miller, retired US Army Major General, commandant of Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO), the organization that runs the Guantanamo Bay detention camps (2002-2003)
4) Jeffrey Harbeson, US Navy officer, commandant of Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO), the organization that runs the Guantanamo Bay detention camps (2010-2012)

US officials involved in violations of the rights and freedoms of Russian citizens abroad

5) Jed Saul Rakoff, Senior US District Judge for the Southern District of New York
6) Preetinder S. Bharara, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York
7) Michael J. Garcia, former US Attorney for the Southern District of New York
Brendan R. McGuire, Assistant US Attorney
9) Anjan S. Sahni, Assistant US Attorney
10) Christian R. Everdell, Assistant US Attorney
11) Jenna Minicucci Dabbs, Assistant US Attorney
12) Christopher L. Lavigne, Assistant US Attorney
13) Michael Max Rosensaft, Assistant US Attorney
14) Louis J. Milione, Special Agent, US Drug Enforcement Administration
15) Sam Gaye, Senior Special Agent, US Drug Enforcement Administration
16) Robert F. Zachariasiewicz, Special Agent, US Drug Enforcement Administration
17) Derek S. Odney, Special Agent, US Drug Enforcement Administration
18) Gregory A. Coleman, Special Agent, US Federal Bureau of Investigation

Three large Israeli espionage devices have been found hidden in artificial rocks on an uninhabited island opposite to the Syrian port of Tartous, where it was being used to monitor Russian naval movements.

Israeli commandos launched a daring raid into Syrian territory to plant sophisticated camera equipment that looked exactly like the indigenous rocks.

“Israel’s elite Flotilla 13” sneaked onto the island on silent skiffs and extracted the stones to replicate for the spy camera. The frogmen returned to plant the decoys and set up the surveillance rig.

They were mounted in fake rocks designed to blend in with surrounding boulders.

According to Al-Manar TV, the “rocks” could track and film Russian warship movements and instantly transmit pictures back to Israel by satellite.

Syria’s state-run television showed a camera, a satellite dish and other objects including batteries and cables secreted among several imitation rocks.

The Israelis approached the island from one of the country’s German-built Dolphin class submarines, which are armed with nuclear cruise missiles.

The commandos had apparently visited the island earlier to obtain samples so the colour and shape of local rocks could be matched and the right position for the monitoring station established, media reports have said.

It is not known how long the monitoring station operated before it was uncovered. A senior Syrian security official said the equipment was highly intricate and as well as tracking ships could also keep tabs on Syrian troop movements, according to the Australian news.

Link

LONDON (Reuters) – Former Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky has been found dead at his home near London, a prominent Russian opposition figure said on Saturday. He was 67.

“I can confirm he died in his home. I’ve known him for a long, long time, we have spent a lot of time together. I am shocked. It is the end of an epoch,” Andrei Sidelnikov, who was a friend of Berezovsky’s, told Reuters.

Berezovsky fled Russia for Britain in 2001 after criticizing then-president Vladimir Putin’s government.

(Reporting by Maria Golovnina and Peter Griffiths; Editing by Michael Roddy)

Link