Word: russian
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...challenge facing U.S. officials probing an alleged money-laundering scandal in which $15 billion is said to have been funneled out of Russia through the staid Bank of New York. Members of the investigating task force were reported Wednesday to be reluctant to share information with their Russian colleagues, for fear that such information would find its way quickly into the hands of the targets of the probe. "The concern here is not that individual criminals have bought off individual law enforcement officials, but rather that the police, prosecution and security services all toe the line of the political powers...
...apparent hesitation of American law-enforcement officials to involve their Russian counterparts comes at the same time that the White House finds itself under increasing criticism for having shoveled billions in aid to Moscow through the International Monetary Fund, much of which appears to have been siphoned off by criminal elements. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers was quoted Wednesday as vowing to halt all further IMF aid to Russia until the Kremlin had provided satisfactory accounting for previous loans. Meanwhile, the Yeltsin administration?s performance over the issue hasn?t given Western law enforcement much cause for confidence. The best efforts...
...NATO has reportedly arrested a spy within its command structure who allegedly passed on sensitive information that allowed Yugoslavia to down an F-117 stealth fighter in March, according to a report in the Scotsman newspaper. Unnamed NATO sources told the paper that a financially motivated turncoat had sold Russian intelligence agents some of the alliance?s Kosovo battle plans, including "detailed flight plans" for the F-117 on the day it was shot down. The Russians immediately passed the information on to the Serbs, who scored their most important propaganda victory of the war in downing the supposedly undetectable...
...Yeltsin, tales of corruption are a big yawn in Moscow. An Italian newspaper on Thursday accused Russia?s president of taking bribes, while USA Today alleges that he presided over a $15 billion money laundering scheme. But the allegations are unlikely to dent Yeltsin?s already negligible popularity. "The Russian people are suffering scandal burnout," says TIME Moscow correspondent Andrew Meier. "Some of these allegations have long been aired in the Russian press ? although they?re dismissed by the Kremlin. Charges of corruption at the highest level don?t have much shock value in this country...
Better news for Yeltsin came from his generals, who claimed Wednesday to have routed Islamic separatist rebels in the restive republic of Dagestan. But even though Russian forces have recaptured the villages held by the insurgents, their victory was anything but total. "The rebels had left the villages before the Russians actually recaptured them," says Meier. "In fact, Russian forces spent two days shelling empty villages. The rebels retreated in the face of superior firepower, but they haven?t gone far; this is not over." Indeed, as Russian forces pursuing the retreating rebels bombed villages in neighboring Chechnya Thursday, Moscow...