Russia’s enemies with total impunity
by Putin himself. Whereas the SVR and GRU officers understood the etiquette of espionage, the brash newcomers of the FSB do not; they were used to doing whatever they wanted with near-absolute impunity, under the protection of the Kremlin.
Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006 and the multimillionaire Scot Young in 2014 are just two examples of hits likely to have been ordered by the FSB on UK soil. But Britain is by no means the only target in the FSB’s crosshairs, although the presence of so many Russians who in one way or another have fallen foul of the Kremlin does create certain specific challenges.
When the Estonian Security Police began investigating a smuggling ring that was being used for Russian espionage, FSB commandos burst across the border in 2014 and kidnapped the officer leading the investigation. He was sent to prison as a spy after a show trial in Moscow.
When a series of Chechens associated with the southern region’s struggle to free itself of Russian rules began being gunned down in Turkey, the authorities soon identified several FSB operatives as being the killers.
When Ukrainian politician (and later president) Viktor Yushenko was poisoned and almost killed in 2004, the FSB was found to be to blame.
The methods of the FSB are varied, depending on the operation. Sometimes, they are carried out by full-time officers, especially when involving the complex poisons that are brewed in its specialist Laboratory 12.
The cruder killings, though, are often subcontracted to gangsters, as the FSB has a worryingly intimate connection with the Russian underworld. The murderer of three Chechens in Istanbul in 2011, for example, was a neo-Nazi carjacker from Moscow, hired by the FSB for the job.
Not every mysterious Russian death is an FSB plot: some are just random events, others the result of criminal or business rivalries. But, as the FSB becomes more active overseas, and so long as Putin sees no reason to rein in his attack dogs, we are likely to face more such incidents in the future.
■