Putin, Lebedev, and Inozemtsev

Vladislav Inozemtsev and Alexander Lebedev have penned an article in the Guardian newspaper (Monday 13 April 2015) entitled, "The west is wrong to write off Ukraine's debts".

Before we examine the nature of this article, let us take a peek at these two men.

Alexander Lebedev, (pic: Lebedev and Putin in 2002) Russian oligarch now resident in London, worked at the  First Chief Directorate (Foreign Intelligence) of the KGB from 1982.

This organization was responsible for,

"...foreign operations and intelligence collection activities by the training and management of the covert agents, intelligence collection management, and the collection of political, scientific and technical intelligence." (Wikipedia) (my emphasis)

Alexander Lebedev worked there, and at its successor, the Foreign Intelligence Service, until 1992. (Wikipedia)

Vladislav Inozemtsev (below),

"...worked as a junior editor in the Kommunist from April 1991 till September 1993. From 1993 till 1996 Mr. Inozemtsev was acting as an entrepreneur and business manager in various banks, became a founder and a principal shareholder of the Moscow-Paris com­mercial Bank, incorporated in Moscow in 1994." (Open Innovations : October 14–16, 2014)

A prolific author, he is also a regular contributor to the Valdai Club. The club’s goal is to promote dialogue between Russian and international intellectual elite. Essentially it is a club that gives Putin a platform to the world.

Their article in the Guardian newspaper explains that,

"The new government has been left in charge of a country crippled by both war and corruption, with external debts of $72.9bn at the beginning of this year. The finance ministry in Kiev – and the IMF – believe at least $20bn of this should be written off – because, after all, those responsible are no longer in power.....

 According to western analysts, the overall scale of corruption reached 14% of GDP during the early 2010s, or roughly $30bn a year. (left: The corrupt former president of Ukraine, Victor Yanukovich, who stole billions from the Ukrainian people)

[and, as a consequence],

"Rather than absolving those responsible, as the present government appears to be doing, we believe the private sector should take the lead in holding [those who corruptly stole this money] to account.

Why not hire private detectives to analyse foreign currency transactions to get a rough idea of how much was syphoned off?..... When those responsible are identified, creditors could force Kiev to prosecute hundreds of former officials." (ibid Guardian newspaper) (my emphasis)

Are either Lebedev or Vladislav Inozemtsev aware that Yanukovich and his clan, who stole billions from the Ukrainian people, now resides in Putin's Russia, under the protection of Putin himself?

Why have neither of them mentioned this fact? Instead they focus on the hundreds of minor 'footsoldiers' when the cabal at the apex of corruption and theft from the Ukrainian people are in full view for the whole world to see?

Instead they talk about hiring "Kojak", or "Magnum" or even "Sherlock Holmes", to track down the corrupt footsoldiers of the former Yanukovich regime.

    
I leave it for the reader to decide exactly whose side Vladislav Inozemtsev and Alexander Lebedev are actually on. There is a faint whiff of 'maskirovka' in the article that they have written.

Meanwhile the 'Putinversteher' Walter Steinmeier emerged from yesterday's meeting in Berlin between Klimkin, Fabius, Lavrov, and himself, and announced that,

             Klimkin                             Fabius                                 Lavrov                      Steinmeiser

"It was again a very long, very intensive discussion which in parts was very controversial..."

"During these talks today the differences of opinion between Kiev and Moscow also became clear once again."
 
Both sides are largely thought to have adhered to the deal - until a recent escalation of fighting in the flashpoints near Donetsk and the village of Shyrokyne, on the outskirts of the strategic port of Mariupol. (BBC News : 14th April, 2015) (my emphasis)

The next few weeks will, indeed, determine exactly of what value this meeting in Berlin of Steinmeier actually has on putting the brakes on Putin's 'imperial ambitions' in Ukraine.

We may also ask if the Russian oligarch, Alexander Lebedev, will use all his connections to the former KGB (now the FSB) to employ them as "private detectives" to get Yanukovich and his clan, now residing in Russia, spill the beans on where they have hidden all the billions that they stole from the Ukrainian people.

(to be continued)