Death of a Dissident - Alex Goldfarb [43]
One night in September, Sasha Litvinenko led a squad of opers in a raid of a large private security company in Moscow that was suspected of kidnappings and extortion. The company was run by former officers of the GRU, the intelligence arm of the Ministry of Defense, an old rival of the FSB. When Sasha’s men opened a huge safe, he was surprised to find a general’s uniform and a bunch of files marked “Top Secret.”
“You have no right to see these documents,” said the company director, turning pale.
“That is just what I am going to do,” retorted Sasha. “As for you, you have no business having them in your safe. For all I know you could have stolen them. How did they get here?”
“They belong to General Lebed, the NSC secretary. He believes his office is not safe.”
Sasha locked the door and began studying the files.
The documents were indeed Lebed’s. Among them were his ID and a bunch of personal photographs. There was a file detailing corruption in the Ministry of the Interior, implicating several top officials in a variety of misdeeds. Several of the names were familiar to Sasha.
Another file contained a GRU report on Chechnya, including details of the assassination of Dudayev. Sasha learned that, contrary to what everyone thought, the GRU played only an auxiliary role in the killing, providing the planes that fired the missiles. The report suggested that the mastermind of the operation was his FSB colleague, Gen. Evgeny Khokholkov. The report also alleged that Khokholkov was involved in a separate covert operation in which the American guidance system for the missiles was obtained and from which huge sums of money went missing.
The third document was a draft decree by Lebed creating a “Russian Legion,” an elite special force of fifty thousand men, subordinate to the National Security Council; it would carry out special operations against those posing a “threat to state security.”
In short, Sasha was looking at General Lebed’s deepest secrets: two files that gave him leverage over the FSB and the Ministry of the Interior, with the ability to threaten its hawkish directors with exposure to two major scandals; another that created an army under Lebed’s control. Together, they helped explain how Lebed planned to fight his political battles with the Party of War.
By the time Sasha acquainted himself with the contents, an official investigator had arrived.
“I cannot process this,” he said, when he saw the files.
“What do you mean? It is your official duty,” Sasha insisted.
“These documents have nothing to do with the case I am investigating.”
“The law says that all materials prohibited for open circulation should be confiscated. Top secret documents are obviously prohibited for circulation.”
But the investigator flatly refused. Sasha called Gen. Vyacheslav Volokh, his boss in ATC. Volokh heard him out, promised to call back in a minute, and never did. The investigator suggested that once he finished with his official duties and left, Sasha could initiate a new case of his own.
But Sasha knew better. He called Anatoly Kulikov, the minister of the interior. He knew Kulikov personally through his friendship with a young officer who was like an adopted son to the minister, a son of his late friend. He had never used this connection before, but he needed it now, and he knew Kulikov was a fierce rival of Lebed.
Ten minutes later Kulikov called back.
“Anatoly Sergeevich, we found some Lebed material, top secret,” Sasha said.
“So why are you calling me? You have your own superiors.”
“My superiors cannot decide what to do.”
“Understood.” Kulikov’s tone shifted. “Is there something there?”
“Some secret memos and compromising