27 The survey is by the INDEM thinktank and available (in Russian) here: Sostoyanie bitovoi korruptsii v Rossiiskoi Federatsii (State of Domestic Corruption in the Russian Federation) http://www.indem.ru/corrupt/doklad_cor_INDEM_FOM_2010.pdf
28 See for example ‘A Stain On Mr Clean’ by Christian Caryl and Mark Hosenball. Newsweek, 3 September 2001 http://www.newsweek.com/2001/9/2/a-stain-on-mr-clean.html
29 Die Gangster aus dem Osten (The Gangsters from the East) by Jürgen Roth (Europa Verlag, 2004). It urgently needs updating and publication in English. Also worth reading is Red Mafiya: How the Russian Mob has Invaded America by Robert Friedman (Berkeley, 2002).
30 In the course of another investigation, I tracked down a foreign engineer who had been involved in a commercial court case against one of the ‘four’ – in those days much less powerful – involving a broken contract. In the course of the litigation, he had uncovered compelling evidence of links between this individual and organised crime. This led to a prompt settlement of the case when he threatened to disclose it. When I approached him, he was long retired and running a provincial hotel. He said that it was more than his life was worth to share his research with me. A good example of the tangled, fascinating but inconclusive investigative reporting surrounding the regime’s business interests comes from ‘Factories, tanks, offshore firms and neighbours’ by Roman Anin, Novaya Gazeta, 22 April 2010 http://en.novayagazeta.ru/data/2011/42/2.html
3 Deadly Games and Useful Idiots
1 For example my article ‘Walk on the dark side’ about the criminal Russian IT company RBN. The Economist, 30 August 2007 http://www.economist.com/node/9723768
2 ‘Reset Regret: Moral Leadership Needed to Fix US–Russian Relations’ by Ariel Cohen and Donald Jensen, 30 June 2011. http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2011/6/Reset-Regret-Moral-Leadership-Needed-to-Fix-US-Russian-Relations
3 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/247712 and http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/1/wikileaks-cable-spain-russian-mafia
4 A well-sourced account of this comes from the Jerusalem-based journalist Gil Yaron, writing (in German) in the Salzburger Nachrichten. http://search.salzburg.com/articles/5847190. A Finnish connection in the story remains to be investigated.
5 See for example this speech by Jonathan Evans, director of the Security Service (MI5) here http://www.societyofeditors.co.uk/page-view.php?pagename=. The Keynote Speech and the German Verfassungsschutz (Office for Constitutional Protection) annual reports, for example (in German) http://www.verfassungsschutz.de/download/SHOW/vsbericht_2009.pdf ‘Putins Konjunkturprogramm: Russische Agenten spionieren deutsche Energie-Unternehmen aus’ (‘Putin’s growth programme – Russian agents spy on German energy companies’) by Dirk Banse, Welt am Sonntag, 21 June 2009. http://www.welt.de/wams_print/article3965455/Putins-Konjunkturprogramm-Russische-Agenten-spionieren-deutsche-Energie-Unternehmen-aus.html
6 Chiefly in chapter 3.
7 Londongrad – From Russia with Cash; The Inside Story of the Oligarchs by Mark Hollingsworth and Stewart Lansley (Fourth Estate, 2009).
8 The official Air Accidents Investigation Branch report can be found here http://www.aaib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cfm?file=/Agusta_A109E,_G-PWER.pdf with a small but interesting correction here http://www.aaib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cfm?file=/Agusta%20A109E,%20G-PWER%20Correction%209–5.pdf
9 A comprehensive summary can be found here ‘Russia’s intelligence attack: The Anna Chapman danger’, by Peter Hennessy and Richard Knight, 17 August 2010. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10986334. A link on the site plays the programme.
10 In mid 2008 I became aware of this story and made persistent enquiries about it. Britain’s Ministry of Defence press office repeatedly denied that any such incident had taken place. The story was then leaked. ‘Russian Nuke Jet Buzzes Hull’ by Tom Newton-Dunn, Sun, 30 August 2008 http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1749464.ece
11 ‘Fighter jets intercept Russian bombers after flying into Dutch airspace’ 8 June 2011 http://channel6newsonline.com/2011/6/fighter-jets-intercept-russian-bombers-after-flying-into-dutch-airspace/.
12 This WikiLeaks cable gives a flavour of the subsequent discussion at NATO http://www.cablegatesearch.net/cable.php?id=9USNATO581
13 Rosja ćwiczyła atak atomowy na Polskę (‘Russia practises a nuclear attack on Poland’) by Michał Krzymowski, Wprost (Warsaw), 31 October 2009 http://www.wprost.pl/ar/176722/Rosja-cwiczyla-atak-atomowy-na-Polske/. See also Sõnad ja Teras (‘Words and Steel’) by Kaarel Kaas, Postimees (Tallinn), 19 September 2009 http://www.postimees.ee/165608/kaarel-kaas-sonad-ja-teras/ and ‘Russian Military Thinking and Threat Perception: A Finnish View’, by Stefan Forss http://www.ceri-sciencespo.com/ressources/n5_13112009.pdf
14 See for example ‘Russian Subs Patrolling Off East Coast of US’ by Mark Mazzetti and Thom Shanker, New York Times, 4 August 2009 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/8/5/world/5patrol.html and ‘Russian subs stalk Trident in echo of Cold War’ by Thomas Harding, Daily Telegraph, 27 August 2010 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/7969017/Russian-subs-stalk-Trident-in-echo-of-Cold-War.html