Press Secretary of Russian President Dmitry Peskov is warning of impending journalistic smear against Putin.
Kremlin Warns of Impending "Information Spin" Against Putin
http://www.fort-russ.com/2016/03/kremlin-warns-of-impending-information.html
"Information spin" in the form of sensationalism is being preparing against Vladimir Putin, said Dmitry Peskov. According to him, it is about the President personally, his family, and the businessmen Kovalchuk and Rotenberg.
Press Secretary of Russian President Dmitry Peskov said that in the coming days "information spin" is expected against the Russian leadership, primarily President Vladimir Putin. "Information is being prepared in the coming days that claims objectivity and sensationalism," — said Peskov to journalists, RBC reports.
Peskov became aware of upcoming publications because of the requests that the Kremlin received from media representatives. "We received very unctuously-kind requests, made in an interrogation manner in fact", — said Peskov.
According to him, journalists from ICIJ are interested in information about the President. "This is about Putin personally, trying to reach his family, talking about childhood friends, about business (Kovalchuk, Rotenberg), about some offshore companies with businessmen who Putin has never seen. All of this is repetitive, in different variations, although the next repetition is being prepared," — said Peskov.
The President's spokesman called the upcoming material "blatant bribery", noting that the Kremlin respects "those genres of journalistic investigation". "It's about asking questions that have been asked already hundred times, and answers were given hundreds of times, which were legal, emotional and factual. We are not talking about the desire to engage in an objective investigation, but the task is to perform an information attack, to direct, to concoct, and implement an information agenda. We don't like it," explained Peskov.
What is ICIJ? ICIJ was founded in 1997 by American journalist Chuck Lewis as a project of the nonprofit organization "Center of Public Integrity". As is stated on the website of the organization, the objects of its investigations are "cross-border crime, corruption, and the responsibility of the government". The consortium is a "global network of more than 90 investigative journalists in more than 65 countries who collaborate in the work of deep investigative journalism".
ICIJ is the author of publications in which, in particular, the wife of the first Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov and businessman Gennady Timchenko appeared in. In April 2013, the consortium reported that it would publish information about the owners of offshore accounts. In particular, among them were the wife of Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, as well as "two high-ranking leaders" in "Gazprom". The organization claimed that these Russians held accounts in the British Virgin Islands, although all three refused to comment. In February 2015, the consortium found businessman Gennady Timchenko fell under the US sanctions in 2014, among Swiss clients of the Bank HSBC. The representative of the businessman then told the organization that Timchenko "always fully complied with all tax matters", and that sanctions against him were "far-fetched and deeply flawed".
Simultaneously with ICIJ, a "very well known international news agency" is preparing a publication, added Peskov. "We're talking about some of the statements made by the project on informing about organized crime and corruption, which are rehashed from Putin with businessmen, providing businessmen with government contracts, and the enrichment of businessmen at the expense of Putin," — said Peskov. "We took specific initiatives to aim to announce our opinion concerning these kinds of questions".
The Press Secretary of the President listed the issues that the agency wanted to ask Putin: "Is it true that your accumulated amount is over $40 billion, is it true that you own the huge mansions, mega-yachts, and other assets. It is argued that Putin maintains a close relationship with Sergei Roldugin (Russian cellist, who the media calls a friend of Putin and is a shareholder of the Bank "Russia"), and it is reported that he is doing business that this is directly related to the President, and that this is nothing more than presidential fraud."
"Judging by the questions, there is a claim that Putin is in some way associated or has interests in companies" — said Peskov. He stated that these questions would not be answered in the Kremlin. "Of course, we are not going to respond to such requests. We repeat every time: no, no, no, but to tell them it that has no relation to us, it would be stupid. So yes, we will not answer," — said Peskov.
"We are sure that not only journalists, but also representatives of other organizations and services that are gathering in Germany, US, UK, Switzerland, France, Russia, and in several other countries, and will publish in the next few days the next opus," continued Peskov. The Kremlin has not excluded the possibility of not filing a lawsuit on the media in case false information discrediting the President is published, stressed the spokesman."Of course, if any distortion, any lie, and any unfounded allegations would relate personally to the head of state, then we have a whole arsenal of legal means, both nationally and internationally, to protect the honor and dignity of our President", — he said.
In 2015, Peskov once denied a publication in the media before its was made public, calling it an "information attack". The President's Press Secretary told journalists that the Kremlin received queries from "a reputable London newspaper" and some of the American outlets. One media agency, he said, sent a set of 21 questions "in the style of a "Prosecution's questioning" about direct or indirect linkage to the activities between the businessman Gennady Timchenko and Putin. In particular, journalists were interested in whether Putin, directly or indirectly, had approved a loan of a 20th trust to Gunvor, and discussed whether Putin and Timchenko, during business issues in the 90's, helped him to build a cottage on a "Lake", as well as cooperation on a number of other issues.
The answer is no to all the media's questions, Peskov told reporters. He called the queries evidence that "there are still many who want to attack our country and members of our leadership with informational spin, and they are not afraid of getting their hands dirty."
The day afterwards, the former St. Petersburg businessman Maxim Freidson told "Radio Liberty" about the participation of Vladimir Putin in corruption schemes in the 1990's in St. Petersburg. Text conversations with Freidson were published on May 23nd, but were later deleted. "The post was removed at the request of the "Radio Liberty" interviewee, who feared for his safety. Sorry about that", — stated the message on the page of the radio station's website where the interview was placed.
Also:
Western media to expose Putin's secret life
http://www.pravdareport.com/society/stories/29-03-2016/133987-putin_personal_life-0/
This article goes into some detail explaining how the militias armed through both the CIA and the Pentagon are now fighting - each other on the Syrian battlefield?
In Syria, militias armed by the Pentagon fight those armed by the CIA
http://novorossia.today/in-syria-militias-armed-by-the-pentagon-fight-those-armed-by-the-cia/
Syrian militias armed by different parts of the U.S. war machine have begun to fight each other on the plains between the besieged city of Aleppo and the Turkish border, highlighting how little control U.S. intelligence officers and military planners have over the groups they have financed and trained in the bitter five-year-old civil war.
The fighting has intensified over the last two months as CIA-armed units and Pentagon-armed ones have repeatedly shot at each other while maneuvering through contested territory on the northern outskirts of Aleppo, U.S. officials and rebel leaders have confirmed.
In mid-February, a CIA-armed militia called Fursan al Haq, or Knights of Righteousness, was run out of the town of Marea, about 20 miles north of Aleppo, by Pentagon-backed Syrian Democratic Forces moving in from Kurdish-controlled areas to the east.
“Any faction that attacks us, regardless from where it gets its support, we will fight it,” Maj. Fares Bayoush, a leader of Fursan al Haq, said in an interview.
Rebel fighters described similar clashes in the town of Azaz, a key transit point for fighters and supplies between Aleppo and the Turkish border, and on March 3 in the Aleppo neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsud.
The attacks by one U.S.-backed group against another come amid continued heavy fighting in Syria and illustrate the difficulty facing U.S. efforts to coordinate among dozens of armed groups that are trying to overthrow the government of President Bashar Assad, fight the Islamic State militant group and battle one another all at the same time.
“It is an enormous challenge,” said Rep.Adam Schiff (D-Burbank), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, who described the
clashes between U.S.-supported groups as “a fairly new phenomenon.”
President Obama this month authorized a new Pentagon plan to train and arm Syrian rebel fighters, relaunching a program that was suspended in the fall after a string of embarrassing setbacks which included recruits being ambushed and handing over much of their U.S.-issued ammunition and trucks to an Al Qaeda affiliate.
Amid the setbacks, the Pentagon late last year deployed about 50 special operations forces to Kurdish-held areas in northeastern Syria to better coordinate with local militias and help ensure U.S.-backed rebel groups aren’t fighting one another. But such skirmishes have become routine.
Last year, the Pentagon helped create a new military coalition, the Syrian Democratic Forces. The goal was to arm the group and prepare it to take territory away from the Islamic State in eastern Syria and to provide information for U.S. airstrikes.
The group is dominated by Kurdish outfits known as People’s Protection Units or YPG. A few Arab units have joined the force in order to prevent it from looking like an invading Kurdish army, and it has received air-drops of weapons and supplies and assistance from U.S. Special Forces.
Gen. Joseph Votel, now commander of U.S. Special Operations Command and the incoming head of Central Command, said this month that about 80% of the fighters in the Syrian Democratic Forces were Kurdish. The U.S. backing for a heavily Kurdish armed force has been a point of tension with the Turkish government, which has a long history of crushing Kurdish rebellions and doesn’t want to see Kurdish units control more of its southern border.
The CIA, meanwhile, has its own operations center inside Turkey from which it has been directing aid to rebel groups in Syria, providing them with TOW antitank missiles from Saudi Arabian weapons stockpiles.
While the Pentagon’s actions are part of an overt effort by the U.S. and its allies against Islamic State, the CIA’s backing of militias is part of a separate covert U.S. effort aimed at keeping pressure on the Assad government in hopes of prodding the Syrian leader to the negotiating table.
At first, the two different sets of fighters were primarily operating in widely separated areas of Syria — the Pentagon-backed Syrian Democratic Forces in the northeastern part of the country and the CIA-backed groups farther west. But over the last several months, Russian airstrikes against anti-Assad fighters in northwestern Syria have weakened them. That created an opening which allowed the Kurdish-led groups to expand their zone of control to the outskirts of Aleppo, bringing them into more frequent conflict with the CIA-backed outfits. (Article continues.)
Also:
CIA-armed militias are shooting at Pentagon-armed ones in Syria
http://katehon.com/news/cia-armed-militias-are-shooting-pentagon-armed-ones-syria
WASHINGTON – D.C. police and fire officials are responding to a report of shots fired at the Capitol Visitor Center at the U.S. Capitol complex, according to authorities.…
BREAKING NEWS: SHOTS FIRED AT THE U.S. CAPITAL
http://novorossia.today/breaking-news-shots-fired/
March 29, 2016
UPDATE 4:33 p.m.: Authorities believe Capitol shooting suspect is Tenn. man, Larry Dawson, who interrupted House session last Oct., was arrested -ABC
UPDATE: 4:38 p.m.: Capitol suspect drew gun after alarm sounded when he went through metal detectors -CNN
WASHINGTON – D.C. police and fire officials are responding to a report of shots fired at the Capitol Visitor Center at the U.S. Capitol complex, according to authorities.…
The person believed to be the gunman has been shot by police, according to two D.C. police officials. He was taken to Washington Hospital Center.
An email sent to U.S. Senate staff says “gunshots have been reported” and asked workers to shelter in place. The White House also was placed on lockdown.
“There has been an isolated incident at the U.S. Capitol Center,” D.C. police tweeted. “There is no active threat to the public.”
The visitor’s center is an underground complex located east of the Capitol building. All visitors are screened through metal detectors as they enter the facility.
EARLIER ~ A police officer was shot and wounded in the US Capitol complex and the gunman captured, a source citing information from the Sergeant-at-Arms office in Congress says.
Gunshots were heard in the US Capitol Visitors Center and workers were told to shelter and there was confusion in early accounts about what occurred.
The source said the officer’s wounds were not serious.
A US Capitol Police officer, who asked not to be identified, said that the suspected shooter was being transported to hospital.
The officer did not identify or describe the suspect and he added that there were no additional suspects.
Congress is in recess, with few lawmakers in Washington but the shooting happened just a few hours after a drill for an active shooter took place at the Capitol, creating further confusion.
Cathryn Leff a licensed therapist, tweeted that she was at the visitor’s center when she heard gunshots while going through a security check point.
“That moment when it goes down . Everyone is screaming & running and you can’t see where the shots fired are from,” tweeted Leff(@Cathrynlefflmft).
The Secret Service temporarily cleared tourists from an area surrounding the White House after the incident, but activities quickly went back to normal.
