24 February, 2006

By the editorial staff of burtsev.ru

According to the article in Pravda-info, last week-end the military oligarch Vladimir Filin made a visit to Bolivia, where he met with “statesmen and public figures” of that country.  1  The article mentions that it was his second visit and that Filin was present at the inauguration of President Evo Morales

In La Paz Vladimir Filin met with “the officers of Bolivian secret services.” In his speech Filin “reminded them about Lenin's words that true revolution must know how to defend itself. “ He added that “one should not relax for a moment and forget about the CIA” which will “constantly do harm to the Bolivians, conduct sabotage, create conspiracies and ideological provocations.” In his speech Filin described the CIA as “absolute and universal evil, the Satan and the enemy of human kind" and called the Bolivians to “be vigilant and rely only on themselves.”

Filin also warned his hosts against relying on the support of “radical Left intellectuals in Europe, the United States, and especially in Russia, because, in his words, “these people are prostitutes, ineffectual and full of themselves.” In support of this opinion he quoted Lenin's unflattering words about the intelligentsia.

Filin recommended the new government to take under its control natural gas as well as “the most important sector of agriculture.” Referring to the last, he said that President Morales was right to say that “the United States are scared, because they do not have the monopoly on drug trafficking. They are interested not in eliminating drugs but in control over drug trade.” The article gives no reference as to the exact source of Filin's quote.

Vladimir Filin and his group of former officers and secret agents of Russian military intelligence, who own the “consulting agency” Far West, LLC, control several news outlets in Russia and think-tank IPROG (Institute for Globalization Studies) have been lately the object of numerous allegations in drug trafficking, illegal arms trade, and other criminal activities.

According to some sources--which include an officer of military counterintelligence killed last summer after publicly revealing information on Far West, Ltd—Filin's group controls up to 80 percent of wholesale cocaine market in Russia in addition to being the largest Russian trafficker of Afgan heroin to Western Europe for almost fifteen years. In the United States, the group is thought to be in close contact with Fritz Ermarth, former high-ranking CIA officer, who also occupied high positions in NSC and NIC., and do business with private military companies KBR Halliburton and Diligence LLC, with links in the CIA, FBI, and the Pentagon.

Vladimir Filin and his partner Ruslan Saidov became public figures only in the spring of 2005, when they joined, under their Russian names, the Institute for Globalization Studies headed by the well-known leftist Boris Kagarlitsky. Another partner of Filin, Anton Surikov (Mansour Natkhoev), a retired GRU colonel well-known in the intelligence circles of the United States, Britain, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, joined IPROG in 2002 and now is the head of the Institute's “Center for Military, Informational, and Economic Security.”

According to Vladimir Filin, they made the decision to go public after their former partner Sergei Petrov spilled the beans about the group. Petrov was killed several days after his interview in which he disclosed the names of his former partners in Far West, Ltd. and accused them in a number of illegal activities and crimes, including drug trafficking. 2 

As recently as last summer Filin wrote in glowing terms about their visit to the United States in July 2005, where, according to Pravda-info, he and two other co-founders of Far West, Ltd., Anton Surikov, and Alexei Likhvintsev, met with representatives of the Bush Administration. 3 However, lately he cites fear for criminal persecution by US law-enforcement agencies as the reason for his and his partners' hasty relocation from Europe to Brazil and Dubai, while the press his groups controls has been full of ferocious anti-American and anti-Israeli rhetoric. According to Filin, during their visit to Washington last summer, he and his partners were warned by a high-ranking official that they would be brought to justice for their alleged role in the illegal sale of Soviet-made cruise missiles X-55 to Iran in 2001.

According to some sources, the details of this operation were revealed by Sergei Petrov in the dossier he gave to some German law-enforcement agency in the fall of 2003 after learning that he was marked for assassination by his former partners.

Related sources

“Far West, Ltd. Leaves Europe Under the Threat of Criminal Persecution. Renamed Far West, LLC.” Burtsev.ru <http://left.ru/burtsev/ops/filin.phtml>

"Consulting" Agency Far West, LLC Paid $3 Million Bribe to Ukrainian Official For Illegal Arms Deals with Syria and Iran. Burtsev.ru <http://left.ru/burtsev/ops/lysenko.phtml>

“Far West, LLC” Co-Owner, Mentioned in X-55 Scandal, Accuses US Military Intelligence of Using the Hawala Network for Money Laundering and Personal Enrichment. Burtsev.ru <http://left.ru/burtsev/ops/hawala.phtml>

“New Information on the Involvement of Far West, Ltd in Illegal Arms Smuggling.” Burtsev.ru <http://left.ru/burtsev/ops/x-55en.phtml>

Peter Dale Scott. “The Global Drug Meta-Group: Drugs, Managed Violence, and the Russian 9/11.” Lobster. The Journal of Parapolitics <http://www.lobster-magazine.co.uk/articles/global-drug.htm>

“Narcobarons from the CIA and MI-6: Interview with Vladimir Filin.” Trans. Ralph Moody. Left.ru International Edition <http://left.ru/inter/2005/narkobarons.phtml>

“Conversations with Armen (Excerpts).” By Vadim Stolz <http://left.ru/burtsev/ops/armen_excerpts.phtml>

Yuri Yasenev, "An Orange Revolution is in Store for Russia." Trans. Burtsev.ru <http://left.ru/burtsev/ops/yasenev_en.phtml>

"Geroinovyi tur." By Nikita Kaledin. Stringer-news, November 4, 2003: <http://www.stringernews.ru/Publication.mhtml?PubID=2448&Part=9> ; partially translated in "Afghan Drug Scene: The Poppy Power," News Central Asia, <http://www.newscentralasia.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=406>

Примечания

1  "Forum.msk in Bolivia.” By Natalia Roeva,Pravda-info, 2006.02.24 <http://forum.msk.ru/material/news/8279.html>

2  “Sergei Petrov's Interview: Revelations of the Fugitive Kremlin Financier.” December 2003. Trans. Burtsev.ru <http://left.ru/burtsev/ops/petrov_en.phtml>

3  “Nas khorosho znaiut v SSHA.” Pravda-info, 07.29.2005 <http://www.pravda.info/news/3377.html>