Tiraspol - Moldova - Mafia in Uniform

Iraq Government Deal With a 'Merchant of Death' - Newsweek Periscope - MSNBC.com

In an effort to crack down on one of the world's most notorious international criminals, President George W. Bush last summer signed an order barring U.S. citizens from doing business with Russian arms trafficker Victor Bout. But not long afterward, U.S. officials discovered Bout's tentacles were wider than anticipated: for much of this year, NEWSWEEK has learned, a Texas charter firm allegedly controlled by Bout was making repeated flights to Iraq—courtesy of a Pentagon contract allowing it to refuel at U.S. military bases. One reason for the flights, sources say, was that the firm was flying on behalf of Kellogg Brown & Root, the division of Halliburton hired to rebuild Iraq's oilfields.

U.S. officials say Bout—once dubbed a "merchant of death" by a British foreign minister—built an empire in the 1990s flying weapons to the Taliban and African dictators and rebel groups, in violation of international sanctions. Bush's order banning business with Bout, a former Soviet military officer, was for supplying guns to the rogue regime of ex-Liberian president Charles Taylor. "Our ultimate goal is to shut down his network," says Juan Zarate, assistant Treasury secretary.

Lee Wolosky, a former National Security Council official who tracked Bout, says it's "seemingly inexplicable" that the U.S. government could have been "doing business with an international criminal organization."

Russian arms trafficker Victor Bout, a former Soviet military officer. He is a key. He is of course protected by people in very high positions.

Viktor Bout Flys On

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Unbelievable as it may seem, Viktor Bout, internationally-wanted fugitive and weapons supplier to the Taliban and al Qaeda, continues to fly for U.S. firms in Iraq, being paid by U.S. taxpayer dollars. So confident is he of whatever protection he seems to have, that he has not even bothered to change the call letters of his aircraft, flying under MCC, the designation of Aerocom. Two flights, MCC 9025 and MCC 9027 are scheduled today and tomorrow into Iraq.

It does not seem to matter that Aerocom lost is Moldovan air operator certificate in August 2004 and, according to international aviation officials, does not appear to have re-registered anyplace else.

And yet, nothing seems to change. Bout's planes are spotted in Iraq, Afghanistan, the DRC, and no one seems to be able to actually DO anything. Ultimately, it is no one's responsibility. So our tax money continues to go to international criminals who, in theory, are barred from taking our money and who supplied airplanes and weapons to a regime bent on destroying us. Interesting, and not a good omen in the fight against terrorism.

Jet Line lose a Jet

An Ilyushin-76TD belonging to suspected Boutco Jet Line International has crashed into Lake Victoria immediately after take-off from Mwanza. All 8 crew were killed. The aircraft was ER-IBR, serial number 43454623, belonging to Jet Line of Chisinau, but apparently operating as Airline Transport, another suspect outfit from Moldova. Unlike Aerocom and Jet Line, Airline Transport doesn't share an office, but it has flown to Iraq.

Reports have it that the aircraft carried "fish" on its way to Croatia, but then Viktor Bout has frequently claimed that his aircraft carry only "fish and flowers", so frequently that it has reached the status of an aviation joke that an aircraft loaded with "fish" probably contains contraband. (Perhaps the smell of fish transported in tropical heat keeps Customs away.)

You might already have guessed that Victor Bout picks up most of his weapons from Tiraspol. If you did, you guessed right...

Treasury Designates Viktor Bout’s International Arms Trafficking Network

FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS
April 26, 2005

The U.S. Department of the Treasury today identified 30 companies and four individuals linked to Viktor Bout, an international arms dealer and war profiteer. Today's action took place pursuant to Executive Order 13348, which targets family members and associates of former Liberian President Charles Ghankay Taylor. Bout himself was designated under the same authority in July 2004 because of his association with Taylor.

Bout runs a network of air cargo companies that are based in various countries in the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe and the United States. Additionally, Bout controls what is reputed to be the largest private fleet of Soviet-era cargo aircraft in the world.

Shortly after the breakup of the Soviet Union, Bout, a former Soviet air force officer with a gift for languages, was able to acquire surplus or obsolete airplanes which he used to deliver arms and ammunition from old Soviet stockpiles. The high profits he garnered supplying military equipment to rebel groups and sanctioned regimes allowed him to expand his business. Notably, information available to the U.S. Government shows that Bout profited $50 million from supplying the Taliban with military equipment when they ruled Afghanistan.

Today, Bout has the capacity to transport tanks, helicopters and weapons by the tons to virtually any point in the world. The arms he has sold or brokered has helped fuel conflicts and support UN sanctioned regimes in Afghanistan, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Sudan.

Click the link to read the whole thing...

You can find an ATSNN story regarding the last post (above) here:
WAR: Global Arms-Trafficking Network Designated by US (by Hellmutt)

And here is another big fish, Leonid Minin.

WashingtonMonthly: Comrades in Arms

January/February 2002

Leonid Minin; the shadowy, Ukranian-born Israeli millionaire wasn't looking for attention. During his frequent visits to Cinisello Balsamo, Minin liked to stay at the equally anonymous Hotel Europa, across the street from the town's main cathedral, where $75 can get you a double room and the privacy to do what you want. Which is what Minin was doing until the wee hours of August 5, 2000, when police, acting on a tip, barged into Room 341 and found Minin surrounded by four naked prostitutes, 58 grams of coc aine and half a million dollars worth of diamonds.

A further search turned up a green briefcase stuffed with some 1,500 documents in English, Russian, Dutch, and French. Months later, after translating and reviewing the documents, Italian law enforcement authorities discovered that they had stumbled upon an international arms dealer.

Now Minin is in jail awaiting trial on arms-trafficking charges. [Hellmutt: he is not in jail anymore, look at the other quote below...]

The paper trail seized by the police offers a rare glimpse into the new and usually opaque world of post-Cold-War international arms brokers. It shows how a new generation of black market suppliers have helped turn the former Soviet bloc into a weapons warehouse for outlaw regimes, insurgencies, and terrorist groups.

Born in Odessa in 1947, Minin emigrated to Israel in the 1970s and established a global web of companies, many of them discreetly incorporated offshore. Minin's primary business vehicle is Monaco-based Limad AG, which also has offices in Switzerland, China, and Russia, while his business interests include---in addition to arms---timber, chemicals, food, clothing, scrap metal, and oil. A U.N. report from 2000 on arms trafficking into Liberia reports that Minin uses dozens of aliases and travels with passports from Germany, Israel, Russia, Bolivia, and Greece.

This article above is very detailed and I can´t possibly quote it all. Click the link to read it all.


But the italians released Minin and let him go back to business...

Amnesty International: Italian courts release arms dealers

Italian police arrested Leonid Minin near Milan on the night of 5 August 2000.

In June 2001, Leonid Minin was charged in Italy with illegal arms trafficking. However, Italian judges said they found it very difficult to prosecute a man accused of illegally trafficking arms that originated and were transferred outside of Italian territory.

On 17 September 2002, the Italian Supreme Court stated it could not find any justifiable basis for Leonid Minin’s prosecution, "not even in the fact that the trafficking of arms has taken place in violation of an embargo established by a UN resolution.

Visit the links for the complete articles...

TimesOnline: Radiation rockets on sale to ‘terrorists’

May 08, 2005

THREE radioactive rockets capable of contaminating a city centre were offered for sale last week to a Sunday Times reporter posing as a middleman for Islamic terrorists.

The Alazan rockets, which have a range of eight miles, were among 50,000 tons of weapons left behind at an arms dump in the breakaway eastern European republic of Transdniester when the Russian army withdrew after the cold war.

They were offered to the reporter for $500,000 (£263,000) after he approached a senior officer in Transdniester’s secret police, claiming to represent a militant group in Algeria. The officer contacted a local arms dealer who arranged meetings with the reporter on a bridge in Transdniester and later at a hotel in neighbouring Moldova.

At their first meeting two months ago, the dealer said the price of a single rocket would be $200,000. The rocket could be independently inspected with a Geiger counter to verify that its warhead contained radioactive strontium and caesium, he said.

Click the link to read the whole article...

Read also: TimesOnline: Radioactive rockets 'for sale' in breakaway Soviet republic (this article is also from today...)

Bush mentioned Moldova several times in the speeches I saw him give in Latvia. I don't think anything specific, but just about bringing freedom and democracy there.

There is now an ATSNN-story regarding the Alazan rockets "for sale" (mentioned above) :
ATSNN: Radioactive Rockets 'For Sale' To Terrorists (by Hellmutt)

The latest news regarding the "missing nukes", is that they are very much a reality, regarding MosNews and Sunday Times.

"Soviet Radiation Rockets on Sale in Moldovas Breakaway Region - Paper, Soviet Cold War radiation rockets are being offered for sale in the eastern European republic of Transdniester, The Sunday Times reports. For $500,000 the newspapers correspondent was offered three rockets capable of contaminating an average city centre."
-Mosnews.com

Related Link
MosNews (eng.)
TimesOnline

[edit on 10-5-2005 by Ulvetann]
-Dæng. I was a tad late with this post. Sorry bout that.

Anyway, to put a name of the firm associated to the arms-dealing and controversial economy of Transdniestr, it is Sheriff
Whenever this company is in the picture, there are also former Red Army Officers present.

After trying to figure out more information on these Alazan rockets, I don't neccesarily believe they are the true issue, other than hype as spoken of i this blog i found on the net: Spyblog
Nevertheless, the potential of nuclear dirty bombs should not be taken lightly. All that is needed is the nuclear waste itself, and a canister with something explosive. High-explosive substances are not hard to make, even stable ones. The terrorists problem, is imho the issue of high dosis' of radiation. To transport it would take a day or two (at least?) to reach their intended target, and who wants to store it, if the paid transporters/smugglers themselves aren't willing to involve themselves in the business of the killing. If they smuggle it without knowledge about the goods, they will surely soon start to loose their hair, and bleed from open sores and bodily openings, but worse yet(!) is that their vehicle(s) and other items transported along would get radiated and hence the act of terror would indeed be hard to "damagecontrol".
-Time to buy one of them cute keyring-Geigers, perhaps?


[edit on 10-5-2005 by Ulvetann]

I find this news from today very interesting. I wonder...

ATS: Europe Stages Nuclear Crisis Test

More than 60 countries are taking part in the 36-hour test, organised by the UN atomic energy agency

The test began at 0600 (0300 GMT)

Full details are being kept secret to make the simulated accident as real as possible for emergency teams.

Local residents were told to act as if the emergency were real, stay indoors and drink only bottled water

Moldova's breakaway region of Trans-Dniestr has requested advice and assistance
There is talk of bringing in the European security body, the OSCE.

And sheit. This means that the recent talks between Russia, Europe and Transdniestr failed! There is war going on. Most likely officially in a week, and between a month? Right? That is the procedure of politics/war, right?

I Wonder if not FBI and other instances should not take ATS more seriously now. sometimes people say alot of dumb things, but this is really up to date, Hellmutt!

stupid error-correction

[edit on 11-5-2005 by Ulvetann]

I found a link:
Mosnews
They say in their last paragraph that the journalist from Sunday Times withdrew as soon as he got... what? Scared?... As a journalist, before he writes in the big paper, should figure out what the rocket is all about...
It is after all a bigger newyears rocket of metal, nothing else!...
Read also current ATS Story: www.abovetopsecret.com...


[edit on 11-5-2005 by Ulvetann]

Originally posted by Hellmutt

Moldova's breakaway region of Trans-Dniestr has requested advice and assistance
There is talk of bringing in the European security body, the OSCE.

Hellmutt, can you figure out what part of the region asked for assistance. The separatist "government" or local villages along the steadily expanding transdniestrian borders?

It seems to be of a certain importance to make it clear who is saying what, in this case...

[edit on 11-5-2005 by Ulvetann]

BBC: Trans-border Trans-Dniester

Perhaps I have seen too many Cold War thrillers, but after a BBC film crew and I were detained by the KGB in Trans-Dniester for spying, I had visions of being held for years in a dark cell and having to write escape plans on toilet paper.

"There are 13 enterprises in Trans-Dniester that are producing arms non-stop."

A mysterious firm called Sheriff - headed by former Red Army officers - runs much of the economy, and Trans-Dniester is thought to be a major producer of illegal arms.

Guns from there have turned up in conflicts around the world.

There are no foreign embassies, and few international agencies keeping an eye on what goes on in Trans-Dniester.

Eventually the ongoing crisis over its status will have to be resolved.

Places That Don't Exist was broadcast on Wednesday 11 May, 2005 at 1930 BST on BBC Two.

Click the link to read the full article...

Romania, Ukraine Discuss Issues

2005-04-25

Romania and Ukraine hold the same position on peace for the breakaway Moldovan province of Transdniestria, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and his Romanian counterpart Traian Basescu said last Thursday in Bucharest. The two leaders presented their joint position at a meeting of the heads of state of the so-called GUAM group (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova) in the Moldovan capital Chisinau last Friday.

Yushchenko and Basescu did not give details of their peace plan. Transdniestria will be the most important topic discussed at the GUAM meeting, Yushchenko said. Yushchenko said that he had a “feeling” that Ukraine and Romania would play an important role in solving the Transdniestria problem. The structure of the GUAM group of former Soviet states, which have often been critical of the current regime in Moscow, could be a model for security and stability in the region, Yushchenko said.

This is an incredibly interesting report given to me by "Ulgemannen" here on ATS. It´s a .pdf file, 38 pages (but easy to read). I recommend it.
A Path Of War And Destruction (May 2005)

Take a look at page 23 and start reading from there. Then you will see how explosive this report really is . But read the whole thing if you can. It´s worth it. I bet you can´t put it away once you´ve started reading it...

[edit on 2005/5/27 by Hellmutt]

[edit on 27-5-2005 by Ulgemannen]

A Path Of War And Destruction (May 2005)"

Here`s 2 links that contains original documents about the shady
characters involved in this dirty business.



The links are the additions to the report that Hellmut posted.


counterterror.typepad.com...

and

counterterror.typepad.com...

And don`t forget to read this very important post by Hellmutt:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

RIA Novosti: Moscow looks into Ukrainian plan for settlement in Transdniestria

June 2, 2005

Commenting on Russia's position on broadening the present five-party format (the conflicting parties plus Russia, Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) of the Transdniestrian talks, which might also include the United States, Romania and the EU, Savolsky said that the number of go-betweens can be however large. "We are not allergic to that," he said.

As regards the Russian military presence in Transdniestria, he said: "We do not demand legalization of our military contingent. We would like it to go. But we cannot do that because the party (Transdniestria) in control of the territory does not agree to the withdrawal of property."

Savolsky said that Tiraspol (capital of the self-proclaimed Transdniestrian Moldovan Republic) disagrees with the withdrawal of the Russian ammunition until a full-scale settlement of the conflict begins.

"The contingent is engaged in important work, protection of army depots. We will not pass to any party what is inside them. We can only withdraw it, provided there is contact with the local authorities," Savolsky said.

"We are told that the withdrawal of property can promote the settlement in Transdniestria. In our opinion, it is the progress of settlement that will prompt the withdrawal (of Russian ammunition) and the allegations that Russia has 100-percent influence on the leadership of Transdniestria are groundless," the Russian diplomat said.

Click the link to read the full article...