Death of a Dissident - Alex Goldfarb [54]
While the Kremlin’s crony capitalism continued its merry-go-round, there were more sinister changes afoot in the special services. In late August 1997, the career of Sasha Litvinenko took an unexpected turn when he was transferred to a mysterious supersecret department known as the URPO, the Division of Operations against Criminal Organizations. He would now work under a man whom he had been charged with investigating.
It happened after an argument with his boss at ATC, General Volokh. Sasha had just returned from an operation when Volokh called him in.
“I have a report that your people shot and wounded a suspect. Tell me what happened.”
Sasha explained that his group was arresting a dangerous criminal, a drug dealer with several murders on his record, who tried to flee. One of his officers fired three warning shots, as prescribed by FSB training, and then hit him in the leg. The suspect was apprehended and brought to a hospital.
Volokh was enraged. He yelled that the last thing he needed was a news story about FSB agents shooting people in downtown Moscow. He ordered Sasha to suspend the officer in question. But Sasha yelled back, slammed the door, and went straight to the office of the FSB director, Nikolai Kovalev.
Kovalev had known Sasha for years. He had a habit of dealing directly with rank-and-file officers, bypassing the layers of command. Sasha was among those whom he would see without notice.
Sasha argued his case to Kovalev. There were no complaints from the prosecutors. Everything had been done by the book. There was no reason for an investigation. He could not let his officers be railroaded. Finally, Sasha threatened to resign.
Kovalev heard him out and did not disagree. He listened to Sasha’s praise of his team, agreeing that they were “good people, a strong team,” and then dropped a bombshell: “I am transferring you to the URPO. You will report to Colonel Gusak. I already spoke to him, he will take you.” Alexander Gusak was a former colleague of Sasha’s at the ATC.
Sasha was stunned. How could he work in the URPO, when some months ago he had brought Kovalev a file implicating its commander, Gen. Evgeny Khokholkov?
Back when the war began, in September 1994, Khokholkov, a heavyset man with huge arms who was nicknamed “the Bull,” ran a section in the ATC Division of Operations, a position equivalent to Sasha’s. But after the war, he was unexpectedly promoted to general and appointed to run the brand-new URPO.
Khokholkov’s sudden rise did not please the ATC director of operations, General Vyacheslav Volokh, who was Sasha’s—and formerly Khokholkov’s—boss. He believed that Khokholkov’s new division would compete with his own.
Through the grapevine Sasha had heard about an argument between Volokh and Khokholkov related to the latter’s sudden riches, when Khokholkov bought himself a posh restaurant and a dacha. Khokholkov refused to explain himself to Volokh, telling him to keep his nose out of his personal affairs. In midsummer 1996, Volokh had called Sasha in and told him to “dig up everything that there is on Khokholkov.”
Sasha started digging. Sure enough, he was able to unearth allegations that Khokholkov might be linked with organized crime figures in Uzbekistan, where he had been stationed before the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Then a source at the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that the Organized Crime Unit of the Moscow City Police claimed he had some explosive material on Khokholkov, dating back several years. The allegation was that he had been videotaped in the company of major crime figures. It was no surprise to Sasha that the police might claim to hold such material on Khokholkov without using it. The Moscow police were notoriously corrupt. If it existed, the tape could be useful as an insurance policy to keep the URPO off their backs.
Then came Sasha’s September 1996 raid in Moscow and its