London Yuri Felshtinsky (Moscow, 1956) has investigated several aspects of Russian history. The last object of study has been the security agencies: it starts with the Revolution of 1917 and reaches Putinism: from the Czech Republic of Feliks Dzierzynski to the FSB of Vladimir Putin, passing through the KGB of the entire Soviet nomenclature. He says that, in practice, they have been the real engine of the country’s history. The work, exhaustive and with access to personal files of agents, has materialized in the book From red terror to terrorist state (Gibson Square Books, 2023), which he co-wrote with an academic and ex-KGB spy for twenty years: Vladimir Popov. This man now lives in Canada, as far away from the Kremlin’s goons as possible. The original edition appeared in Russian in 2021. The conversation with ARA takes place via video link, between London and Boston, where Felshtinsky lives.
Is the death of Aleksei Navalny one more of Putin’s crimes against his opponents?
— We don’t have concrete evidence, but he already tried in 2020. When Navalny returned to Russia, he was arrested and moved from prison to prison, each time in worse conditions. It’s fair to say he was murdered.
What do the deaths of so many opponents tell us about Putin?
— That there is a kind of license to kill. That they kill if the person has avoided prison, as in the case of Litvinenko, Sergei Skripal and Boris Berezovsky; or if you are a direct political rival, like Navalny, of course, or Boris Nemtsov, assassinated in 2015; or that they kill you if they consider you a traitor. The Russian Parliament passed a law in 2005 that allows special services to eliminate traitors abroad. And a week ago they accused the former world chess champion, Garry Kasparov, of being a terrorist, a way of preparing the ground.
My personal opinion is that Donald Trump is a Russian agent, one of the best-kept secrets of the FSB, of course”
Until the publication of your book, what was the FSB’s best-kept secret?
— There are two types of secrets. The first is the intention (or how far they would like to go) of the security services and whether they plan or are prepared to use nuclear weapons. The second secret is whether Donald Trump is a Russian agent. My personal opinion is that it is. And it’s one of the best kept secrets, of course.
Do you have proof?
— You won’t find any criticism of Trump against Putin and when asked about the invasion of Ukraine he says, “Well, Putin is a very smart guy…” Things like that. When asked by Navalni, he says inconsistencies about the American judicial system. And when asked about Litvinenko, he says he is not convinced he was killed by the Russian government.
They are not definitive evidence, however.
— I think they are fairly solid indications. When you talk to an agent, KGB or FSB, they tell you that it is almost impossible to prove in court that a person was or is a spy. It has also been shown that there is a lot of Russian money invested in Trump. In 2004, Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts filed for bankruptcy with $1.8 billion in debt. Foreign money revived his fortunes. Not to mention the $12 million Trump took to host the Miss Universe pageant in Moscow in 2013. Or the $50 million overcharge Dmitri Ribolovlev, a Russian oligarch, paid Trump in 2008 for a mansion from Florida. Or a never returned loan of 300 million from Deutsche Bank, a bank that laundered money from Russian oligarchs. Of course, all this proves nothing in a court of law. But I myself have interviewed ex-KGB defector Oleg Kalugin, and his view is that the Kremlin has some sort of kompromat the compromising material about Trump.
Do you believe, as the subtitle of the book says, that Putin wants to dominate the world?
— It is more useful to think in historical terms. The Revolution of 1917-18, according to Trotsky’s formulation, is that of permanent war and revolution; and Putin essentially thinks the same. He wants to control the world. In 1945, after the Second World War, Stalin managed to control only half of Europe. It stops because the Americans develop nuclear weapons. And then the Cold War breaks out. But if you read what he writes, Putin now thinks he can win a nuclear war. And that, in the event of an attack from Belarus, where it has nuclear weapons, there would be no direct retaliation against Russian territory.
One of the highlights of his book is that he seems to suggest that power in Russia has always been a constant struggle between the political class and members of the security services. With Putin the perfect fusion is reached, perhaps?
— We have to talk again in historical terms. From 1917 there is a political war to take control of the state. From the point of view of the security agencies, the Communist Party posed a great danger and has traditionally been so throughout the history of the 20th century. From 1956, both politicians and members of the security apparatus stopped murdering each other. In 1991, again, the security agencies try to get rid of the control of the Communist Party and lead the August coup, with the intention of deposing a very weak Mikhail Gorbachev. The coup was orchestrated by the then head of the KGB, Vladimir Kryuchkov. Gorbachev loses power, but the KGB does not take it. Throughout the decade they try: they fail in 1993, fail again in 1996, and finally succeed in 2000 when they install Putin, who had been a high command of the KGB, as president. The consolidation of their power structure is complete. And, gradually, he is placing FSB men in key positions in the economy and in all state structures: vice-presidents of banks, oil companies and large companies, control of the media, and so on.
What are the connections between organized crime and the Russian state?
— The emergence of the mafia is parallel to the emergence of the market economy. And big companies realize that to be protected from organized crime, it is better to have protection. And they choose that of the FSB. Either you collaborate with the criminals or the FSB, which are no different. And the FSB infiltrates it. The result is that there is practically no talk of organized crime on a large scale, as it was until the year 2000. The FSB, in fact, has taken control of any Russian organization. And if you don’t cooperate, you risk being killed. That is why Putin represents a very stable system of power. In this book we are talking about, I predicted that it would continue until 2036, unless a major war started. And in 2022 they started it. Putin will fall as a result of the war in Ukraine and the Russian Federation will not survive it, either, and will lose a part of the territory.
The great irony is that the Ukrainians would win the war in two weeks if the Americans and Europeans sent Kyiv the weapons it needs.”
How can he be so sure he won’t win the war?
— Because to win you need to stop at some point. But he doesn’t think about it. It is the same thing that the Russian revolutionaries wanted to do in 1918, who had the idea of conquering the world.
So what is the solution? Should Europe and the United States get more involved, with soldiers at the front, as President Emmanuel Macron has pointed out? Isn’t there a risk of a nuclear war?
— Yes, but that will happen anyway. Because Putin will not stop, I already told you. If tomorrow Putin takes control of Ukraine and Zelensky capitulates, the fight would not end. What will happen next? Well, I would go to Moldova and the Baltic countries. So, sooner or later, NATO will have to get involved. And always with the same question in mind: Will Putin use nuclear weapons? Putin did not expect Ukraine to fight back. The idea was, “Look, we have nuclear weapons, better not to fight because it’s too risky, right?” If Western aid continues, Russia will not win the war. The great irony is that the Ukrainians would win it in two weeks if they had the weapons they need and, most importantly, the permission to use them against Russian territory. In other words, for two years the West has been holding back the Ukrainian victory. And, by not helping Ukraine, you don’t improve the situation. You make it worse.
2024-03-17 07:00:12
#Interview #Yuri #Felshtinsky
