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Why Does This Matter?

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Why Does This Matter? 01 HOW VLADIMIR PUTIN USES THE POWER OF THE RUSSIAN STATE TO UNDERMINE DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS & THREATEN OUR WAY OF LIFE Vladimir Putin is waging a war on western democracy. His goal is clear: to undermine our values, weaken our institutions and WHY DOES disrupt the global order. It is a war on truth and our ability to distinguish fact from fiction. THIS MATTER? The Kremlin’s interference in judicial systems and national elections across the West shows that the war has entered a new phase. It deploys western law firms, secret intelligence operations, cyber-warfare, state-funded propaganda and Internet ‘trolls’. The events described in this booklet reveal a clear pattern. Whether it is murdering opponents, intimidating judges, fun- ding extreme-right parties, expropriating companies or doping athletes, the Kremlin uses all of the state’s power to achieve its goals. It has nothing but contempt for human life, democracy and the rule of law. It will stop at nothing, and no one is safe. GML September 2018 03 SHOOTING DOWN OF FLIGHT MH17 04 The Netherlands and Australia On 17 July 2014 sile that downed the plane was moved flight MH17 (Malaysia Airlines) was from Russia to rebel-held Ukraine in are now convinced that Russia is shot down in Ukraine on its way the morning of 17 July 2014, when the responsible for the deployment from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. plane was shot down, and the launcher Everyone on board was killed: 283 was taken back to Russia the next day. of the Buk installation that passengers and 15 crew members. Around 100 persons have been iden- was used to down MH17. The Among the passengers were 196 tified as playing a role in the events. Dutch citizens. government is now taking the On 25 May 2018 next step by formally holding In the Joint Investigation Team VICTIMS with the full support of their inter- (JIT), the Dutch Public Prosecutor’s national partners, the Dutch and Russia accountable. Office and National Police work Australian governments announced together with their counterparts from that they hold Russia responsible for Stef Blok Australia, Belgium, Malaysia and Ukraine. its part in the downing of flight MH17. Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs The JIT aims to establish the facts, «We call on Russia to cooperate fully 25 May 2018 identify the perpetrators, and collect with the process to establish the truth evidence that can be used in court. and achieve justice for the victims of flight MH17 and their next of kin,» said On 28 September 2016 Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stef the JIT published the interim results Blok. of its criminal investigation: the mis- 05 Over the last decade, the Kremlin and its secret services have murdered opponents, journalists and other innocent people who stood in their way. Each murder was sanctioned at the highest level. STATE-SPONSORED MURDERS 06 The FSB operation to kill Alexander Mr Litvinenko was probably Litvinenko approved by Mr Patrushev [ex-FSB poisoned with radioactive chief] and also by President Putin polonium was a former officer of the Russian Sir Robert Owen intelligence services. In 1998, Chairman, Litvinenko Inquiry, Litvinenko and several colleagues accused Putin of ordering the murder January 2016 publicly accused their superiors of of Anna Politkovskaya. In November ordering the assassination of Boris 2006 in London, Litvinenko suddenly Berezovsky, a Russian businessman fell ill after a meeting with two former who fled Russia and found asylum in the KGB officers. In hospital, his blood and UK. Litvinenko was arrested shortly urine samples were sent to the UK’s after making his statement. After the Atomic Weapons Establishment for charges were twice dropped and then testing. When he died on 23 November, reinstated, he left with his family to doctors confirmed that Litvinenko had London and was granted asylum. In been poisoned by polonium 210 - a London Litvinenko wrote two books rare and highly radioactive metal. in which he accused the Russian secret A public inquiry concluded in January services of staging the 1999 Moscow 2016 that the murder was ordered by apartment bombings in an effort to Russian secret services (FSB) and bring Vladimir Putin to power. He also probably approved by President Putin. 07 Vasily Aleksanyan denied urgent medical treatment was a Russian lawyer and Executive Rights Council. In December 2008, Vice-President of Yukos Oil Company. the European Court of Human Rights In April 2006 he was arrested on found Russia guilty of violating the fabricated charges by Russian police. European Convention on Human Rights. A few months after his detention, It asked Russia to release Alexanyan Aleksanyan was diagnosed with immediately. But state authorities kept lymphoma and AIDS. His condition him chained to a bed for a further demanded urgent treatment in a hospital three weeks, and he was not released but he was repeatedly and brutally until January 2009. Even then, he was denied this. A man of honour, Aleksanyan repeatedly summoned to attend court refused to give false testimony against hearings, barely able to stay on his feet. his Yukos colleagues. He remained in On 2 October 2011, Vasily Aleksanyan pre-trial detention for almost three finally succumbed to his illness, and died years in conditions described as at home in Moscow. “simply monstrous” by Russia’s Human 08 Anna Politkovskaya murdered in an elevator was a Russian journalist and in the elevator of her block of flats. human-rights activist. She defied She was shot twice in the chest, once police harassment, beatings, torture in the shoulder, and once in the head and death threats to speak about at point-blank range. In 2014, after the policies of President Putin. several trials and re-trials, five men Politkovskaya received many were convicted of her murder. Those international awards for her work. who ordered the killing have not yet On 7 October 2006, Vladimir Putin’s faced justice. birthday, Politkovskaya was murdered 09 Sergei Magnitsky beaten to death in jail was a 37 year-old tax lawyer and auditor. doctors or equipment. Russia’s human He was a husband and the father of two rights council found that he was seve- children. He was detained without trial in rely beaten shortly before his death in November 2008 after uncovering large- November 2009. In 2012, the United scale corruption by state officials and States adopted the ‘Magnitsky law’, deciding to testify against them. Over the which prevents the Russian officials following months, as his health worsened, involved in his death from entering the the authorities put him under extreme United States or using its banking sys- pressure as they tried - and failed - to tem. Russia responded by blocking the coerce him into withdrawing his testi- adoption of children by foreign couples. mony. The corrupt officials were never As the Financial Times noted in January pursued. Magnitsky was never heard in 2013, «the Magnitsky case is egregious, a trial but spent 358 days in Moscow’s well documented and encapsulates the Butyrka prison, where he developed a darker side of Putinism.» That darkness number of severe illnesses. In his final reached new depths on 11 July 2013, when days, he suffered so much pain that he a Moscow court ruled, posthumously, was put in an isolation ward without that Magnitsky was guilty of tax evasion. 010 Boris Nemtsov shot four times in the back was a physicist and liberal politician, authoritarian regime. He pointed to who served as Deputy Prime Minister widespread corruption ahead of the of the Russian Federation in 1997-98. Sochi Olympics, and Russia’s political He later became an outspoken critic interference and military involvement of Vladimir Putin. Nemtsov was in Ukraine. He published detailed murdered on 27th February 2015 reports that linked corruption to the near the Kremlin, two days before President and his office. In the weeks a peaceful demonstration against before his death, Nemtsov expressed Russia’s involvement in the war in his fear that President Putin would Ukraine. He was shot four times in have him killed. The night after his the back. Nemtsov accused President murder, all of his work was confiscated Putin of installing an increasingly in a police search of his apartment. 011 INTERFERENCE IN OUR DEMOCRACY 12 We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election. Russia’s goals In their report published in January 2017, the US intelligence agencies concluded that: were to undermine public faith in the Russia’s intelligence services Russian intelligence obtained US democratic process, denigrate conducted cyber operations access to multiple US state or against targets associated local electoral boards; Secretary Clinton, and harm her with the 2016 US presidential electability and potential presidency. election; Russia’s state-run propaganda machine served as a platform for Russian military intelligence Kremlin messaging to Russian Joint report of US Intelligence used the Guccifer 2.0 persona and international audiences. Community (CIA, FBI, NSA), and DCLeaks.com to release US 6th January 2017 victim data obtained in cyber US intelligence concludes that the operations publicly and in Kremlin will now apply the lessons exclusives to media outlets and of the US election to influence events relayed material to WikiLeaks; worldwide, “including against US allies and their election processes.” 13 In July 2018, Robert Mueller, the special trade agreement with Ukraine, the counsel investigating Russian interference British referendum on the EU, the in the 2016 US presidential election, Italian referendum to reform the THE KREMLIN’S GOAL IS TO issued an indictment of 12 Russian intel- country’s senate, and the referendum ligence officers. They are charged with on Catalonian independence.
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