Seventy-seventh edition of the N&O column / Spooks newsletter

(Date: Sat, 02 Oct 2004 16:39:51 +0000)

Intelligence news

Russia

The bloody take-over of a middle school in southern Russia in early September has prompted the Kremlin to turn to a new ally in its fight against terrorism. In the wake of the hostage-taking and subsequent siege, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who pledged his government’s cooperation with Moscow in "political and intelligence efforts to destroy terror." Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Israeli counterpart, Silvan Shalom, quickly codified these commitments, inking a memorandum of understanding on September 6th, during Lavrov’s visit to Israel. According to officials in Jerusalem, the new pact is designed to "encourage in every possible way the development of broad bilateral, regional and multilateral cooperation in fighting international terrorism." (Washington Times, September 7, 2004)

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri said on Saturday that his country will more actively share its intelligence with Russia to assist in fighting terrorism, news reports said. "Our intelligence service will be more actively providing Russia with its information for catching terrorists. Sharing information is crucial in fighting terrorism", Kasuri said in Moscow, where he was on a brief stopover en route to Tajikistan. (source: Pakistan Times)

Israel

Israel's "OFEQ-6" spy satellite crashed before reaching orbit. The satellite was launched on September 6 at 1053 UTC. The third stage of the Shavit launch vehicle failed to operate and the payload fell in the Mediterranean.