Na het ontslag van Putin's oud-KGB makker Vladimir Yakunin als hoofd van de Russische spoorwegen, is het nu de beurt voor de volgende oud-KGB'er uit Petrograd.
Viktor Ivanov, hoofd van de Federal Drug Control Service of the Russian Federation/ФСКН России (Russiche variant van de DEA in USA) is de laan uitgestuurd.
Nadat de 2e man van de FSKN, Nikolai Aulov, in Spanje in verband is gebracht met een Russische maffia baas, zou Putin geirriteerd zijn geraakt en dit zou wellicht de reden zijn voor het ontslag.
Putin’s dissatisfaction with Ivanov may have derived from a scandal that took place thousands of kilometers away in Spain, Makarkin says. In early May, a Spanish judge issued international arrest warrants for 12 Russians suspected of organized crime including Nikolai Aulov, the deputy head of FSKN and Ivanov’s close associate from the 1990s.
“Aulov has a very bad reputation even within the law enforcement community,” says Roman Anin, a Russian investigative journalist. “All those who know him are highly allergic to his name,” Anin adds. Phone conversations tapped by Spanish prosecutors suggest he was close to Gennady Petrov, a top Russian mafia boss.
Speaking to the Guardian earlier this year, Ivanov confirmed that Aulov, his deputy, had been in regular contact with Petrov. “Petrov provided [to Aulov] operationally useful information on a number of topics. The rest is made up,” the paper quoted Ivanov as saying.
Regardless of the denials, the warrant for Aulov’s arrest was embarrassing for Ivanov. “It’s absurd,” a former FSKN official says. “How can somebody wanted by Interpol for links with the mob hold a top position at a special service specifically designed to fight the mafia?”
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In het artikel wordt ook de strijd om de macht genoemd tussen de verschillende binnenlandse veiligheidsdiensten, na de aankondiging van de oprichting van een nieuwe 'Nationale Garde'
On May 10, an unusual post appeared on Facebook, apparently signed by Viktor Ivanov, the head of Russia’s Federal Drug Control Service (FSKN). “Comrades and fellow soldiers,” it began. “I want to apologize that I couldn’t save our organization. We protected our national interests honestly.” Someone somewhere seemed far from happy with the decision to dismantle one of the largest government agencies.
For any former senior level official to question President Vladimir Putin’s logic is, in the context of the Russian system, a demonstration of significant disloyalty. The post — allegedly written by Ivanov himself — disappeared from Facebook within an hour. The FSKN press office described the publication as a “provocation” against the service and its head.
The decision to disband FSKN, along with the Federal Migration Service, was announced on March 30 as part of a broader reform, including the creation of a new National Guard. Under the plans, in little over one week, the agency will be no more, and Ivanov, a longtime associate of Putin, will retire. According to various sources in and around government, Ivanov had been kept in the dark about the plans until the very last minute.
De oude KGB cirkel uit St. Petersburg blijkt niet meer immuun. Putin wil blijkbaar her en der nieuwe wijn in nieuwe zakken.