The State of Affairs in Russia

[garbon]

Half expect Corbyn to pop up and say we shouldn't rush to conclusions because we haven't asked the Russians if they poisoned Navalny yet.

[Tamas]

That really was a low point in a very long history of lows.

[Tamas]

Surprising absolutely nobody...

Alexei Navalny: Russia opposition leader poisoned with Novichok

Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent, Germany's government says.

It said toxicology tests at a military laboratory showed ""unequivocal proof" of an agent from the Novichok group.

Mr Navalny was airlifted to Berlin for treatment after falling ill during a flight in Russia's Siberia region last month. He has been in a coma since.

What's the probability of Trump being 'wheeled-out' to deny or cast doubt on that report?

I am sorry Mongers I was wrong

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/05/donald-trump-casts-doubt-on-navalny-poisoning-saying-us-hasnt-had-any-proof

[mongers]

Surprising absolutely nobody...

Alexei Navalny: Russia opposition leader poisoned with Novichok

Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent, Germany's government says.

It said toxicology tests at a military laboratory showed ""unequivocal proof" of an agent from the Novichok group.

Mr Navalny was airlifted to Berlin for treatment after falling ill during a flight in Russia's Siberia region last month. He has been in a coma since.

What's the probability of Trump being 'wheeled-out' to deny or cast doubt on that report?

I am sorry Mongers I was wrong

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/05/donald-trump-casts-doubt-on-navalny-poisoning-saying-us-hasnt-had-any-proof

[Syt]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/05/russian-diplomat-found-dead-in-berlin-was-intelligence-officer-embassy-fsb

Russian diplomat found dead in Berlin was intelligence officer

German media identify man who apparently fell from window of Russian embassy as member of FSB

A Russian diplomat found dead near the country's embassy in Berlin last month was an undercover intelligence agent, German media have reported.

The news magazine Der Spiegel reported on Friday that police had recovered the body of a Russian diplomat who apparently fell from an embassy window, and that the man had been identified as a member of the Federal Security Service (FSB), Russia's main intelligence and law enforcement agency.

The death has not previously been reported. Der Spiegel said police had discovered the body near the embassy on 19 October and that emergency services were unable to resuscitate. The news outlet reported that German security sources were not sure of the cause of death and that the Russian embassy had not authorised an autopsy.

The embassy has declined to comment on the death of any of its staff. The German foreign ministry has confirmed the death of a Russian diplomat but said it cannot give more information.

The investigative news outlet Bellingcat, citing leaked databases, identified the intelligence agent as the son of a high-ranking FSB officer, a deputy director of the intelligence agency's Second Service, which has been accused of plotting overseas assassinations.

Those include the 2019 murder of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili. The former Chechen rebel commander, who was a Georgian citizen, was killed in Berlin's Kleiner Tiergarten. Other targets of the Second Service have included the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who almost died after a poisoning attack in 2020. Russia has denied it was behind both attacks.

According to Bellingcat, the diplomat arrived in Berlin two months before Khangoshvili's murder. There is no evidence linking the two events, the outlet reported. Before that posting, the diplomat was posted to Russia's mission to the United Nations in Vienna.

[Tamas]

What is it with Russian assassinations and windows?

[mongers]

What is it with Russian assassinations and windows?

A window of opportunity for them

Or someone else? 

[DGuller]

What is it with Russian assassinations and windows?

Message plus plausible deniability.  It's hard to ever rule out a suicide in any given case, but over many cases, everyone knows statistically what happens to people someone is displeased with.

[Jacob]

So obviously this is all speculation, but if this guy was an FSB guy potentially involved in overseas assassinations as is implied... why did he get the treatment?

Factional in-fighting? Revenge from previous targets? Some other group giving the Russians a taste of their own medicine? He was double agent getting taken out? Tying up loose ends because he knew too much?

Because from the writeup, it seems he was more a "do unto others" kind of guy than a "being done to" guy in the Russian scheme of things.

[The Brain]

OMG is DG OK?

[Admiral Yi]

Mi-5 wet job? 

[Sheilbh]

Mi-5 wet job? 

Just planning the murder trip.


Also MI6

[Admiral Yi]

I think you're wrong.  Mi5 is counter intelligence, so they should handle wet jobs on UK soil.

[Syt]

The guy just had an accident. Don't know why it has to be foul play with you guys, just because Russian intelligence services are involved

[Sheilbh]

I think you're wrong.  Mi5 is counter intelligence, so they should handle wet jobs on UK soil.

Didn't he die in Berlin though?

The guy just had an accident. Don't know why it has to be foul play with you guys, just because Russian intelligence services are involved

Even aside from intelligence isn't there a really weirdly high number of Russian government figures who die in accidents? I swear I saw something about the number of generals who'd died accidentally recently