PATRUSHEV'S NEST OF DANISH SPIES

C O N F I D E N T I A L MOSCOW 013001

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/20/2016
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL PREF RS
SUBJECT: PATRUSHEV'S NEST OF DANISH SPIES

Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Alice Wells.
Reasons 1.4 (b and d).


1. (SBU) FSB Director Nikolai Patrushev alleged that
foreign intelligence services were increasingly using NGOs
and press bureaus as cover in his annual year-end review
December 19. Speaking on the eve of the day in honor of the
security services, Patrushev singled out the Danish Refugee
Council (DRC) and accused it of employing terrorists,
diverting aid, and collecting "biased information."
Patrushev said that a DRC employee had been arrested for
terrorism in July when a homemade bomb was found in his car
during a traffic stop. He also alleged that DRC had sent
Danish employees with experience in intelligence gathering to
work in Russia. DRC had collected information on social,
political, and economic conditions in the North Caucasus, as
well as information on military matters and the potential for
new outbreaks of violence, he said.


2. (C) Patrushev, other Russian officials, and Russian media
have made similar allegations that NGOs, including in those
in the North Caucasus, have links to foreign intelligence.
Expatriates working for NGOs in the North Caucasus have told
us repeatedly that they are assumed to be spies. They are
watched closely by English-speaking FSB agents in the region
and are occasionally asked to come in for interviews with
them. In October, NTV aired a highly critical documentary
about foreign aid groups in the North Caucasus, including an
interview with a DRC official, repeating what have become
familiar charges of aid diverted to rebels, terrorist
employees, and corruption. Earlier this year, the FSB
claimed that it had uncovered a British spy network linked to
Russian NGOs. In May 2005, Patrushev said that U.S.,
British and other foreign NGOs provided cover for foreign
intelligence agents. Included in Patrushev's charges were
the Peace Corps, the British NGO Merlin, the Saudi Red
Crescent Society, and the Society of Social Reforms and
Society for Islamic Revival, both based in Kuwait.


3. (C) A DRC staff member in the North Caucasus said
December 20 that the NGO had been surprised by Patrushev's
remarks. There had been no unusual FSB interest in its
activities, and it was operating normally. She noted that
DRC had quickly been re-registered by the Federal
Registration Service. She confirmed that a DRC employee had
been arrested and convicted on charges of terrorism earlier
this year, but his confession appeared to have been coerced.
DRC continued to submit all local staff for background checks
by the authorities, including the FSB and the Russian
military. And it continued to be praised for its work by
federal and local authorities, including the MFA, PolPred
Kozak, and the Chechen Government. (NOTE: DRC has also
tried to develop a good working relationship with the FSB and
has regular contacts with them in the North Caucasus and
Moscow. END NOTE). A contact at the Danish Embassy said
they considered the allegations as part of Patrushev's annual
report on the FSB's achievements and stressed that the
allegations are unfounded. The Danish Government had no
plans to issue a statement, he said.


4. (C) COMMENT: GOR harassment of and allegations of
espionage against foreign NGOS in the North Caucasus are
cyclical, and usually pass without any long-term effect on
their operations. As the largest NGO in the region, DRC is
an easy target for Patrushev in a year that has largely
focused on GOR suspicions of NGOs and the need to regulate
them. We know of nothing that would substantiate the
allegations against DRC. END COMMENT.
RUSSELL