U.S. helped Qatar link Russians to killing [of terrorist]

seattletimes ^ | Tuesday, March 23, 2004 - Page updated at 12:00 A.M. | Vladimir Isachenkov

[Destro]

Tuesday, March 23, 2004 - Page updated at 12:00 A.M.

U.S. helped Qatar link Russians to killing

By Vladimir Isachenkov

The Associated Press

MOSCOW — The United States assisted Qatar's special services in the investigation that led to two Russian secret agents being charged with killing a Chechen separatist leader, a top U.S. diplomat said in an interview published yesterday.

The United Nations considered Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev a terrorist. Helping find his killers could roil relations with a U.S. ally in the war on terror.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Steven Pifer, who was in Moscow for talks with Russian officials, told the daily Vremya Novostei newspaper that the United States provided "very insignificant technical assistance" to the Qataris.

A U.S. Embassy spokesman said the United States sent a small team of explosives experts to Doha, the Qatari capital, at Qatar's request.

"We send many such teams in response to requests from governments," the embassy official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "The experts played no role in the arrest or investigation of any suspects."

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher declined to comment.

Three Russian intelligence agents were arrested in Doha in February after the killing of Yandarbiyev, the former separatist president of Chechnya. Yandarbiyev died Feb. 13 when a bomb went off in his car.

One of the agents, whom Moscow calls "embassy employees," has been released, but the two others remain in custody. The Russian Foreign Ministry has denied that the intelligence agents had anything to do with Yandarbiyev's killing and has demanded their release.

Moscow warned that a refusal to free the Russian agents would badly hurt relations with the Persian Gulf nation.

Yandarbiyev had lived in Qatar since 2000, and Moscow had sought his extradition on charges of terrorism and links to al-Qaida. President Vladimir Putin claimed last fall that U.S. representatives had met with Yandarbiyev.

Pifer denied that claim in the interview published yesterday, saying that U.S. officials had no contacts with Yandarbiyev last year.

The United Nations put Yandarbiyev last year on a list of people with alleged links to al-Qaida. The United States also put him on a list of international terrorists subject to financial sanctions.

[RussianConservative]

That YoYo was spirit head of Hamas who Israel just send to hell...oh, no one important...move along, nothing to see.

[RussianConservative]

Oh, woops, War on Terror is War on US Terror, screw all others when possible...again lives of Russians, Serbs, Jews, Indians, Makedonians, etc not matter much...as long as all clarified and know where to stand next time issues of "world" cooperation and standing in alliance arise...wouldn't want confusion to set in.

[RussianConservative]

I assume Shaykh Ahmad Yassin is who you call yoyo.

[91B]

The blurb you posted said someone named Masaal officially lived in Qatar. My understanding was that the Hamas head was Yassim. AFAIK they are not the same person.

[MarMema]

a war that the Russians did everything that they could to oppose

Why Russia should trust us is beyond me. After Kosovo and Klintoon, what do they think of us? Then you have Ziggy and his lovely Slavophobic books...

[91B]

The rest of what you posted was all speculative, hardly a smoking gun especially when weighed against the real support we have gotten from the Qataris. If the Russian government was so sure the Qataris were active supporters of terrorism I doubt they would continue to maintain their embassy here.

I am certain that the Russian government is more than happy to see terrorists try to conduct business here in a relatively open countrylike Qatar-where they can be watched-than in a more closed country like Syria, where the government would use its authoritarian tendencies to keep things quiet.

[MarMema]

Des, let me tell you a little bit about the Seattle Times someday. A liberal lying rag if ever there was one.

interfax

"U.S. denies involvement in Qatar's arrest of Russians

MOSCOW. March 22 (Interfax) - The U.S. Embassy to Russia on Monday denied any U.S. involvement in the arrest in Doha, Qatar, a few weeks ago of Russian intelligence agents on suspicion of murdering a Chechen separatist leader.

"In the immediate aftermath after the explosion [in Doha in February of a car bomb that killed Chechen rebel leader Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev], Qatari officials requested and we sent to Doha a small team of experts in the technical aspects of explosives," an embassy spokesman told Interfax.

"We send many such teams in response to requests from governments each year.

"The experts played no role in the arrest or investigation of any suspects."

[MarMema]

I just posted the Russian report above. Much to your dismay, it turns out that the US news was corrupt. The Russian news is far more reliable.

[MarMema]

I'd like to HOPE that this was the work of leftover Clintonistas in the state department or something, and not the direct will of George W. Bush.

See my post above. And thank you for yours.

[91B]

And we should trust them because...?

[A. Pole]

Qatar has been with us, Saudi Arabia or Pakistan are red herrings. Nice try.

What it has to do with protecting the NON-Qatari terrorists?

[A. Pole]

I have no idea what sort of political maneuvering brought Yandarbiyev to Doha, but better here(where he can be watched and we can learn from his activities) than in Chechnya.

Or protected for future use back in Chechnya? Well, he is gone to his meeting with the 72 virgins (unless Russian put some pork in his vehicle).

[A. Pole]

I repeat - if the war in Iraq means we have to give an al-Qaeda honcho a pass because he is a guest of an ally for said Iraq war then the Iraq war is indeed a boone to al-Qaeda.

Of course. Fight against al-Queda would require focusing limited resources on stabilizing Afghanistan and Pakistan. Also on pushing Saudies into revision of its policies. Iraq is a diversion. So is any help given to KLA or Chechen "freedom fighters".

[91B]

When our ally asks for our help, after they have given us their help, we should respond.

[91B]

Right. Because the Russians are so suspicious of the ulterior motives of the Qataris that they have broken off diplomatic relations, closed their embassy and kicked the Qataris out of Moscow.

Oh, wait...

[91B]

The war in Iraq is part and parcel of the war on terrorism, as long as Saddam remained in power no regime that supports terror would take us seriously. Of course, since the Ruskies were more interested in selling Saddam weapons than in stopping his support of terrorism they were disinlined to support our efforts in Iraq. Given that I wonder why we should worry about offending them in Qatar.

[greenwolf]

You're basically saying that the US did NOT have a hand in the arrest of the two Russian agents. I really hope that's the case but I'd like to know for sure. The original story was on an AP wire if memory serves and, given past history, I simply assumed it was correct.

[Destro]

which sounds like the Qataris are limiting his activities

Now presumably the Russians have severly limited his activities.

[witnesstothefall]

More recycling of the original Russian sensationalism. Again, no evidence is offered that Americans actively investigated the Russians directly, much to your own dismay.

Why are you so eager to have something to bash America with anyway? If that is your mission, it is not a difficult task to find lots of anti-American sensationalism in the Russian "press".

I'm perfectly willing to be proven wrong. Please do so.....

[MarMema]

SEE POST 77. I think you are confusing me with someone else or are just confused.