Category Archives: Russia

Cyber Hacking Tools for Sale on Underground Network

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Executive Editor Fionnuala Sweeney sits down with Steve Grobman, Chief Security Officer with the Intel Security Group. When it comes to America’s security in the cyberspace, the U.S. government and the private sector haven’t always seen eye to eye.

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Stop the denial about Russian intrusion…..how about taking the United States out of the debate and examine other countries… you must also remember that all payments and or salaries are often paid for using Bitcoin….un-traceable. Have you thought about Islamic State migrating to hacking operations using ransomware?

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Brit cyber warriors fight off two hacking attempts against the state every day

The National Cyber Security Centre has foiled 86 attacks in its first month – most of which are suspected to have come from China, North Korea, Russia, Iran and criminal gangs

Cyber warriors are fighting off more than two major hacking attempts against the British state every day.

Top targets include the Bank of England , the Ministry of Defence , nuclear bases, security services and infrastructure such as transport, the NHS and power systems.

Chief suspects are China, North Korea, Russia, Iran and major criminal gangs.

The National Cyber Security Centre foiled 68 major attacks in the first month after it was launched in October.

China is suspected of trying to steal technology or probing our security and finance systems while Russian is feared to be testing security and military networks.

It is believed North Korea may be doing all the above and Iran is suspected of acting for other countries, including Syria .

Retail, technology and security firms have also been hit. Senior security sources say a major theft of aerospace technology cost hundreds of millions of pounds.

It is thought cyber experts have responded to many of the attacks by hacking into systems used by the attackers. A source said: “This is the new front line.”

The NCSC was formed as part of a £1.9billion government crackdown.

At its launch Chancellor Philip Hammond said we had to hit back against “foreign actors” or face having planes grounded or being left in darkness.

Going back to 2012, was this fella part of a Kremlin authorized hack operation? If not, is he a proxy? Note what corporations and operations had cyber intrusions…

A Russian man was arrested in Cyprus last week for allegedly launching two distributed denial-of-service attacks on Amazon.com in June 2008.

Dmitry Olegovick Zubakha, a 25-year-old man from Moscow, was indicted last year by a Seattle grand jury for conspiracy to intentionally cause damage without authorization to a protected computer and possession of more than 15 unauthorized access devices.

In addition to the attack on Amazon, Zubakha was linked to similar attacks on Priceline.com and eBay.

Along with fellow hacker Sergey Logashov, Zubakha is alleged to have launched the attack using a botnet of computers under the control of multiple users. The duo brazenly took credit for the attacks on hacker forums, according to the indictment.

In addition to their denial-of-service attacks, law enforcement also traced 28,000 stolen credit-card numbers back to both men, which helped lead to the arrest.

“Amazon is willing to expend dollars and energy beyond even what can be economically justified in order to bring cybercriminals to justice,” said company spokesperson Mary Osako in a statement.

If found guilty on all charges, Zubakha could face up to 37 years in prison and $750,000 in fines. Intentionally causing damage to a protected computer with a resulting loss of more than $5,000 is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Logashov was also charged with the same count.

The arrest in Cyprus was a complex undertaking, with the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington and the Seattle Police Department all working together with global officials.

“The [three agencies] talking to each other is a direct result of the birth of the Department of Homeland Security,” security consultant Robert Siciliano told the E-Commerce Times.

American authorities are seeking Zubakha’s extradition.

According to the indictment, the first of two attacks lasted four and a half hours on June 6, 2008, before Amazon was able to intervene. Amazon’s servers were working overtime, on a magnitude of between 600 and 1,000 percent of normal traffic. The second attack began on June 9 of the same year and lasted until June 12.

Zubakha was also charged with aggravated identity theft for using the credit card of a Lake Stevens, Wash.,  resident illegally.

“This defendant could not hide in cyberspace,” said U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan, head of the Justice Department’s Cybercrime and IP Enforcement Committee. “I congratulate the international law enforcement agencies who tracked him down and made this arrest.”

Logashov is still at large.

 

Netanyahu will not Attend Paris Peace Summit

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Did any of those votes at the UN for the recent resolution endorsed by John Kerry, Samantha Power and the Obama White House remember this?

Now would be a good time to refer to an earlier post on this site:

Documents: Mahmoud Abbas Former KGB, Syria

 

The documents reveal an extensive relationship between the Soviet Union and the nascent Palestinian nationalist movement that began in the late 1960s. At the time, the Soviets established a covert channel with Yasser Arafat’s terror-inclined guerilla group, the Palestinian Liberation Organization, or PLO. Abbas held an integral role in these backdoor communications, functioning as liaison. Accordingly, the PLO closely collaborated with the KGB, receiving Soviet arms to launch asymmetrical warfare against the State of Israel. More from DailyWire.

January 15, there is a Peace Summit in Paris, Prime Minister Netanyahu will not attend. Below could be the reason for that decision.

TEL AVIV, January 2. /TASS/. A meeting of Palestine’s major forces Fatah and Hamas alongside representatives of other factions seeking to restore unity among the Palestinians will be held in Moscow on January 15, Wasel Abu Yousef, a PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) Executive Committee member, said cited by Israel’s The Jerusalem Post daily on Monday.  

“The Russians will host a meeting of Fatah, Hamas and other Palestinian officials in Moscow in the middle of January to discuss reconciliation,” Yousef said.  

The PLO official added that the talks in Russia would be held simultaneously with an international peace conference in Paris scheduled for the same day, January 15.  

“The Palestinian leadership wants to demonstrate that it is working on both the peace process through the Paris conference and reconciliation by way of the Moscow meeting,” he said.  

On June 3, 2016 Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, the special presidential envoy for the Middle East and Africa, at the first international conference on the Israeli-Palestine settlement in Paris called “the split among Palestinians” as “another negative factor hampering the peace progress.”  

“This issue should be resolved as the priority task so that the Palestinians present a single and united delegation at the talks on the final status,”  Bogdanov said at the time.  

“Russia fully supports efforts on soonest restoration of inter-Palestinian unity on the basis of PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) and Arab Peace Initiative, holds dialogue with representatives of the whole range of Palestinian forces, first of all Fatah and Hamas, in the interests of achieving appropriate agreements. We hope that such approach is shared by other members of the international community,” the diplomat concluded.  

In May 2011, a first meeting behind closed doors took place at a health resort near Moscow in an attempt to reconcile major Palestinian groups, including Fatah and Hamas. High-ranking officials of key Palestinian movements arrived in Russia after Fatah and Hamas had sealed a deal in Cairo to form a Palestinian government of “professionals.”  

A split between Palestine’s two major forces, Fatah and Hamas, occurred after the parliamentary elections in Palestine in 2006 when Hamas won. In June 2007, its militants seized power in Gaza Strip. Since then, Palestine has been divided into two parts: Fatah controls West Bank and Hamas controls the Gaza Strip.

 

Russia Sides with the Taliban, ‘Just a Local Nuisance’

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Note, that no NATO country was in attendance, note any American representation was not even consulted. This continues  Russia’s hybrid-warfare tactics. Obama in mid-2015 announced a drawdown of troops in Afghanistan to an estimated 5500. That objective was delayed permanently. An investigation is underway that includes Tajikistan as being the weapons route for the Taliban from Russia.

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AFP: Allegations over Russia and Iran’s deepening ties with the Taliban have ignited concerns of a renewed “Great Game” of proxy warfare in Afghanistan that could undermine US-backed troops and push the country deeper into turmoil.

Moscow and Tehran insist their contact with insurgents is aimed at promoting regional security, but local and US officials who are already frustrated with Pakistan’s perceived double-dealing in Afghanistan have expressed bitter scepticism.

Washington’s long-time nemesis Iran is accused of covertly aiding the Taliban, and Russia is back to what observers call Cold War shenanigans to derail US gains at a time when uncertainty reigns over President-elect Donald Trump’s Afghanistan policy.

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The US will slow its troop drawdown in Afghanistan, leaving a force of 8,400 when President Barack Obama completes his term, the president announced on Wednesday in a blunt acknowledgment that America will remain entangled there despite his aspirations to end the war.

In a statement at the White House,  Mr Obama said the security situation in Afghanistan is “precarious” and the Taliban remain a threat roughly 15 years after the US invaded in the aftermath of 9/11. He said he was committed not to allow any group to use Afghanistan “as a safe haven for terrorists to attack our nation again.”

“It is in our national security interest – especially after all the blood and treasure we’ve invested in Afghanistan over the years – that we give our Afghan partners the very best opportunity to succeed,” Mr Obama said, flanked by top military leaders.

Mr Obama has been under pressure from US allies to make a decision following a NATO announcement last month that the alliance would maintain troops in regional locations around Afghanistan. NATO’s future involvement in the fight is to be a major topic when Mr Obama attends a NATO summit later this week in Warsaw, Poland.

Mr Obama said boosting the planned troop levels would help other countries prepare their own contribution to the fight. He said his decision should help the next president make good decisions about the future of US involvement.

“l firmly believe the decision I’m announcing is the right thing to do,” Mr Obama said. More here. 

Russia’s New Favorite Jihadis: The Taliban

In its latest ploy to undermine NATO, Russia is urging cooperation with the Afghan extremists even as their ties to al Qaeda grow deep.

More than 15 years into America’s war in Afghanistan, the Russian government is openly advocating on behalf of the Taliban.

Last week, Moscow hosted Chinese and Pakistani emissaries to discuss the war. Tellingly, no Afghan officials were invited. However, the trio of nations urged the world to be “flexible” in dealing with the Taliban, which remains the Afghan government’s most dangerous foe. Russia even argued that the Taliban is a necessary bulwark in the war against the so-called Islamic State.

For its part, the American military sees Moscow’s embrace of the Taliban as yet another move intended to undermine NATO, which fights the Taliban, al Qaeda, and the Islamic State every day.

After Moscow’s conference, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova spoke with reporters and noted that “the three countries expressed particular concern about the rising activity in the country of extremist groups, including the Afghan branch of IS [the Islamic State, or ISIS].”

According to Reuters, Zakharova added that China, Pakistan, and Russia agreed upon a “flexible approach to remove certain [Taliban] figures from [United Nations] sanctions lists as part of efforts to foster a peaceful dialogue between Kabul and the Taliban movement.”

The Taliban, which refers to itself as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, quickly praised the “Moscow tripartite” in a statement posted online on Dec. 29.

“It is joyous to see that the regional countries have also understood that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is a political and military force,” Muhammad Sohail Shaheen, a spokesman for the group’s political office, said in the statement. “The proposal forwarded in the Moscow tripartite of delisting members of the Islamic Emirate is a positive step forward in bringing peace and security to Afghanistan.”

Of course, the Taliban isn’t interested in “peace and security.” The jihadist group wants to win the Afghan war and it is using negotiations with regional and international powers to improve its standing. The Taliban has long manipulated “peace” negotiations with the U.S. and Western powers as a pretext for undoing international sanctions that limit the ability of its senior figures to travel abroad for lucrative fundraising and other purposes, even while offering no serious gestures toward peace.

The Obama administration has repeatedly tried, and failed, to open the door to peace. In May 2014, the U.S. transferred five senior Taliban figures from Guantanamo to Qatar. Ostensibly, the “Taliban Five” were traded for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, an American who reportedly deserted his fellow soldiers and was then held by the Taliban and its jihadist allies. But the Obama administration also hoped that the exchange would be a so-called confidence-building measure and lead to more substantive negotiations. The Taliban’s leaders never agreed to any such discussions. They simply wanted their comrades, at least two of whom are suspected of committing war crimes, freed from Guantanamo.

Regardless, Russia is now enabling the Taliban’s disingenuous diplomacy by pretending that ISIS is the more worrisome threat. It’s a game the Russians have been playing for more than a year.

In December 2015, Zamir Kabulov, who serves as Vladimir Putin’s special representative for Afghanistan, went so far as to claim that “the Taliban interest objectively coincides with ours” when it comes to fighting ISIS head Abu Bakr al Baghdadi’s loyalists. Kabulov even conceded that Russia and the Taliban have “channels for exchanging information,” according to The Washington Post.

The American commanders leading the fight in Afghanistan don’t buy Russia’s argument—at all.

During a press briefing on Dec. 2, General John W. Nicholson Jr., the commander of NATO’s Resolute Support and U.S. Forces in Afghanistan, discussed “the malign influence of external actors and particularly Pakistan, Russia, and Iran.” Gen. Nicholson said the U.S. and its allies are “concerned about the external enablement of the insurgent or terrorist groups inside Afghanistan, in particular where they enjoy sanctuary or support from outside governments.” Russia, in particular, “has overtly lent legitimacy to the Taliban.”

According to Nicholson, the Russian “narrative” is “that the Taliban are the ones fighting the Islamic State, not the Afghan government.” While the Taliban does fight its jihadist rivals in the Islamic State, this is plainly false.

The “Afghan government and the U.S. counterterrorism effort are the ones achieving the greatest effect against Islamic State,” Nicholson said. He went on to list the U.S.-led coalition’s accomplishments over the past year: 500 ISIS fighters (comprising an estimated 25 to 30 percent of the group’s overall force structure) were killed or wounded, the organization’s “top 12 leaders” (including its emir, Hafiz Saeed Khan) were killed, and the group’s “sanctuary” has been reduced from nine Afghan districts to just three.

“So, this public legitimacy that Russia lends to the Taliban is not based on fact, but it is used as a way to essentially undermine the Afghan government and the NATO effort and bolster the belligerents,” Nicholson concluded. While Nicholson was careful not read too much into Russia’s motivation for backing the Taliban, he noted “certainly there’s a competition with NATO.”

There’s no doubt that ISIS’s operations in Afghanistan grew significantly in the wake of Baghdadi’s caliphate declaration in 2014. However, as Nicholson correctly pointed out, Baghdadi’s men are not adding to the territory they control at the moment. Their turf is shrinking. The same cannot be said for the Taliban, which remains the most significant threat to Afghanistan’s future. At any given time, the Taliban threatens several provincial capitals. The Taliban also controls dozens of Afghan districts and contests many more. Simply put, the Taliban is a far greater menace inside Afghanistan than Baghdadi’s men.

Regardless, the Russians continue to press their case. Their argument hinges on the idea that ISIS is a “global” force to be reckoned with, while the Taliban is just a “local” nuisance.

Kabulov, Putin’s special envoy to Afghanistan, made this very same claim in a newly-published interview with Anadolu Agency. Kabulov contends that “the bulk, main leadership, current leadership, and the majority of Taliban” are now a “local force” as a “result of all these historical lessons they got in Afghanistan.”

“They gave up the global jihadism idea,” Kabulov adds. “They are upset and regret that they followed Osama bin Laden.”

Someone should tell the Taliban’s media department this.

Earlier this month, the Taliban released a major documentary video, “Bond of Nation with the Mujahideen.” The video included clips of the Taliban’s most senior leaders rejecting peace talks and vowing to wage jihad until the end. It also openly advertised the Taliban’s undying alliance with al Qaeda. At one point, an image of Osama bin Laden next to Taliban founder Mullah Omar is displayed on screen. Photos of other al Qaeda and Taliban figures are mixed together in the same shot.

An audio message from Sheikh Khalid Batarfi, an al Qaeda veteran stationed in Yemen, is also played during the video. Batarfi praised the Taliban for protecting bin Laden even after the Sept. 11, 2001 hijackings. “Groups of Afghan Mujahideen have emerged from the land of Afghans that will destroy the biggest idol and head of kufr of our time, America,” Batarfi threatened.

A narrator added that the mujahideen in Afghanistan “are the hope of Muslims for reviving back the honor of the Muslim Ummah [worldwide community of Muslims]!” The Afghan jihadists are a “hope for taking back the Islamic lands!” and a “hope for not repeating defeats and tragedies of the last century!”

The Taliban’s message is, therefore, unmistakable: The war in Afghanistan is part of the global jihadist conflict.

All of this, and more, is in one of the Taliban’s most important media productions of 2016. There is no hint that the Taliban “regrets” allying with al Qaeda, or has given “up the global jihadism idea,” as Kabulov claims. The exact opposite is true.

There is much more to the Taliban-al Qaeda nexus. In August 2015, al Qaeda honcho Ayman al Zawahiri swore allegiance to Mullah Mansour, who was named as Mullah Omar’s successor as the Taliban’s emir. Mansour publicly accepted Zawahiri’s fealty and Zawahiri’s oath was prominently featured on the Taliban’s website. After Mansour was killed earlier this year, Zawahiri pledged his allegiance to Mansour’s replacement, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada. Zawahiri and other al Qaeda leaders regularly call upon Muslims to support the Taliban and reject the Islamic State’s Afghan branch.

In his interview with Anadolu Agency, Kabulov concedes that not all of the Taliban has “given up” the global jihadist “ideas.” He admits that within the Taliban “you can find very influential groups like the Haqqani network whose ideology is more radical, closer to Daesh [or ISIS].”

Kabulov is right that the Haqqanis are committed jihadi ideologues, but he misses the obvious contradiction in his arguments. Siraj Haqqani, who leads the Haqqani network, is also one of the Taliban’s top two deputy leaders. He is the Taliban’s military warlord. Not only is Siraj Haqqani a “radical” ideologue, as Kabulov mentions in passing, he is also one of al Qaeda’s most committed allies. Documents recovered in Osama bin Laden’s compound show that al Qaeda’s men closely cooperate with Siraj Haqqani on the Afghan battlefields.

Kabulov claims that ISIS “operates much more smartly” than al Qaeda and has “learned from all the mistakes of al Qaeda.” He says Baghdadi’s enterprise has “brought more advanced and sophisticated people to design, plan, and [execute] policy.” Once again, the exact opposite is true.

Al Qaeda has long known the pitfalls of ISIS’s in-your-face strategy, and has smartly decided to hide the extent of its influence and operations. Zawahiri and his lieutenants have also used ISIS’s over-the-top brutality to market themselves as a more reasonable jihadi alternative. And both the Taliban and al Qaeda are attempting to build more popular support for their cause as much of the world remains focused on the so-called caliphate’s horror show.

Al Qaeda’s plan has worked so well that the Russians would have us believe that the Taliban, al Qaeda’s longtime ally, should be viewed as a prospective partner.

Kabulov says that Russia is waiting to see how the “new president, [Donald] Trump, describe[s] his Afghan policy” before determining what course should be pursued next.

Here’s one thing the Trump administration should do right away: Make it clear that the Taliban and al Qaeda remain our enemies in Afghanistan.

Hillary was a Target of Russia Spies for Many Years

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The Obama administration says that even though a prominent Democratic Party fundraiser close to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton allegedly was targeted for cultivation by a Russian spy ring, there is no evidence that Clinton herself was a target of the spies.

“There is no reason to believe that the Secretary of State was a special target of this spy ring,” P. J. Crowley, assistant secretary of state and Mrs. Clinton’s chief spokesman, told Declassified. News reports suggested that New York financier and tycoon Alan Patricof, a longtime Clinton supporter, was probably the American financier alleged, in a Russian spy message, to have had several meetings with a Russian operative who used the name Cynthia Murphy. Murphy was one of eight alleged Russian spies arrested on Monday by federal authorities, who accused them of carrying out long-term, “deep cover” assignments inside the U.S. for Russia’s principal, post–Cold War foreign-intelligence agency, known as the SVR. More from Time.

Russian spy ring complaint  <— 37 page deposition and fascinating read including foreign trips, fake documents and burying money.

According to court documents relating to the spies’ arrest, Murphy had been in contact with a fundraiser and “personal friend” of Hillary Clinton, who took the office of Secretary of State in January 2009. The fundraiser, Alan Patricof, said in a statement in 2010 he had retained Murphy’s financial services firm more than two years before, had met with her a few times and spoke with her on the phone frequently. Patricof said they “never” spoke about politics, the government or world affairs.

A spokesperson for Clinton told ABC News in 2010 that at the time there was “no reason to think the Secretary was a target of this spy ring.” More here from ABCNews.

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FBI: WASHINGTON—Ten individuals pleaded guilty today in Manhattan federal court to conspiring to serve as unlawful agents of the Russian Federation within the United States and will be immediately expelled from the United States, the Justice Department announced today.

In hearings today before Judge Kimba M. Wood in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, each of the 10 defendants arrested on June 27, 2010, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government within the United States without notifying the U.S. Attorney General. Under their plea agreements, the defendants were required to disclose their true identities in court today and to forfeit certain assets attributable to the criminal offenses.

The defendants known as “Richard Murphy” and “Cynthia Murphy” admitted they are Russian citizens named Vladimir Guryev and Lydia Guryev and are agents of the Russian Federation. Defendants “Michael Zottoli” and “Patrica Mills” admitted they are Russian citizens named Mikhail Kutsik and Natalia Pereverzeva, and are agents of the Russian Federation. Defendants “Donald Howard Heathfield” and “Tracey Lee Ann Foley” admitted they are Russian citizens named Andrey Bezrukov and Elena Vavilova, and are agents of the Russian Federation. “Juan Lazaro” admitted that he is a Russian citizen named Mikhail Anatonoljevich Vasenkov and is an agent of the Russian Federation.

The defendants Vicky Pelaez, Anna Chapman and Mikhail Semenko, who operated in this country under their true names, admitted that they are agents of the Russian Federation; and Chapman and Semenko admitted they are Russian citizens.

The United States has agreed to transfer these individuals to the custody of the Russian Federation. In exchange, the Russian Federation has agreed to release four individuals who are incarcerated in Russia for alleged contact with Western intelligence agencies.

“This was an extraordinary case, developed through years of work by investigators, intelligence lawyers, and prosecutors, and the agreement we reached today provides a successful resolution for the United States and its interests,” Attorney General Eric Holder said.

“Counterintelligence is a top FBI investigative priority, and this case in particular represents the dedicated efforts of the men and women who have worked tirelessly behind the scenes to counter the efforts of those who would steal our nation’s vital secrets,” said FBI Director Robert S. Mueller.

This case is the result of a multi-year investigation conducted by the FBI and other elements of the U.S. intelligence community; the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York; and the Counterespionage Section and the Office of Intelligence within the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

The prosecution was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Farbiarz, Glen Kopp, and Jason Smith of the Terrorism and International Narcotics Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, and Trial Attorneys Kathleen Kedian and Richard Scott of the Counterespionage Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

***Even back in 2009, the Hillary camp was in denial. So examining the spy ring facts from 2010 after a long investigation reads as follows:

More from Time: According to FBI documents about the investigation that were made public on Monday, investigators apparently intercepted a February 2009 electronic message among alleged members of the spy ring reporting that alleged spy Cynthia Murphy “had several work-related personal meetings” with a person described as a “prominent New York–based financier.” The message also described the financier as “prominent in politics,” “an active fundraiser” for an unnamed political party, and “a personal friend of” someone the FBI described as “a current Cabinet official, name omitted.” The government says that Russian intelligence headquarters, known in spy jargon since the Cold War as Moscow Center, sent a reply in which it said that the unnamed financier had been “checked in C’s [Moscow Center’s] database—he is clean. Of course he is very interesting ‘target.’ Try to build up little by little relations with him moving beyond just [work] framework. Maybe he can provide [Murphy] with remarks re US foreign policy ‘roumours’ [sic] about White house [sic] internal ‘kitchen,’ invite her to venues … etc. In short, consider carefully all options in regard to [financier].”

Patricof, a well-known venture capitalist and longtime supporter of Bill and Hillary Clinton, confirmed to The Washington Post that he believed he was the financier and fundraiser targeted by the alleged spies. He apparently met the woman who called herself Cynthia Murphy while a client of a Manhattan tax-preparation service called Morea Financial Services, where Murphy, who reportedly had an MBA degree, worked. (Morea declined to comment.)

Patricof did not respond to several messages left by Declassified on Tuesday and Wednesday requesting comment, but told The Washington Post that he and Murphy “never discussed anything but paying the bills and taxes in normal phone calls or meetings. … She never once asked me about government, politics, or anything remotely close to that subject.” Patricof was first identified as the prominent fundraiser mentioned in FBI documents by Politico.

While Patricof’s political activities have been closely identified in news reports with the Clintons, a senior U.S. official familiar with the spy investigation, who asked for anonymity when discussing sensitive information, said that Patricof also “knows lots of political figures.” The official added that from information available so far, “it doesn’t appear that [the accused Russian spies] were particularly successful in gaining insights beyond what is readily available through Google.” Court papers say that in addition to trying to get close to a wealthy fundraiser like Patricof, the Russian undercover spies also established contact with “a former high-ranking United States Government national security official”—so far unidentified—and another unnamed person who worked at an unidentified U.S. government research facility on strategic planning related to nuclear weapons.

Several of the accused Russian spies are expected to appear at federal court hearings in Manhattan, Boston, and Alexandria, Va., on Thursday.

UPDATE: After this item was posted, financier Alan Patricof sent us the following statement:  ”Cindy Murphy worked for Morea Financial Group, a firm I retained approximately two and a half years ago to handle my personal bookkeeping, bill paying, accounting and tax services. During the course of that time, I met with her a limited number of times and spoke with her frequently on the phone on matters relating to my personal finances. We never – not once – discussed any matter other than my finances and certainly she never inquired about, nor did we ever discuss, any matters relating to politics, the government, or world affairs. Since I understand she was employed by Morea approximately ten years before I became a client, I highly doubt that I could have been an intended target by her.”

 

 

The Russian Dachas in Maryland and Long Island

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This 45 acre compound in Maryland was purchased in 1972. This is used as a safe hour and listening post along with database and communications systems.

 

WashingtonLife: Russian Ambassador Yuri Ushakov and his wife Svetlana continue the Russian tradition of summer escapes and family bonding on Maryland’s Eastern Shore

Russians cherish the dacha, a word meaning summer house or cottage. During summers and weekends, millions of them leave the stress of congested city life for the solace of a cabin or house in the countryside. “It’s a Russian tradition,” explains Yuri Ushakov, ambassador of the Russian Federation. “You will find Moscow empty on Saturdays and Sundays, even in winter. A dacha is a good place to spend time outdoors with family and friends.”

Since arriving in Washington eight years ago, the Ushakov and his wife Svetlana Ushakova have kept up this tradition on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. They spend nearly every weekend and longer stretches during the summer at the embassy’s three-story brick dacha fronting the Chester River. While the 1920s Georgian-style house doesn’t exactly look Russian, it offers the couple the same pleasures as their dacha outside of Moscow, especially the chance to spend time with their 10-year-old grandson Misha, grilling shashlik (Russian shish kebob), with friends, or relaxing in the bania, Russian for steam room.

“Because we have such a hectic life in Washington, we need a place to hide for awhile,” says Ushakova on a recent tour of the dacha, accompanied by Simon, her west highland terrier. “This is the best spot for really being alone with your family. Of course, we entertain friends, colleagues and officials here but not as much as we do in the city. We prefer to host small gatherings where you can really talk, exchange opinions and enjoy each other’s company.”

Strolling the grounds of this park-like setting, lushly planted with magnolias, cypress and boxwood, it’s easy to understand why these diplomats treasure their getaway. It is located right on the waterfront with all the amenities of a resort. Within a short walk from the main house are a swimming pool and cabana, tennis court and waterfront dock. While the 57-yearold ambassador’s wife likes the seclusion of the pool near the river, her husband, a fit 60-yearold, prefers swatting balls on the tennis court, boating on the river or cycling around the grounds with his grandson in tow. The couple can also be found browsing the antique shops in nearby Centreville, Chestertown and Easton, looking for the porcelains that Ushakova collects or the old books treasured by Ushakov, who also collects red wine.

Some of the finds from those trips, along with a phone from a Soviet submarine, adorn the one-room “hunting lodge” where the couple hosts special visitors. “No one really hunts but that’s what we call it,” Ushakova says with a laugh. This shingled shed with its outdoor fireplace, one of many outbuildings on the property, is tucked off the tree-lined lane leading to the house. Inside, a long wooden table under timber ceiling beams and glass beer steins hanging from a rack create the feeling of a rustic pub. A colorful mural of Russian and American sailors clinking their beer glasses decorates the back wall; the Russian wears a naval hat inscribed with “Ushakov.”

The lodge is one of several recent renovations to the sprawling estate once known as Pioneer Point Farm. The current 45 acres originally belonged to a 700-acre land grant from Britain in the 1600s. In 1702, the farm was purchased by Richard Tilghman and remained in his family until 1925 when it was sold to John J. Raskob, an executive with Dupont and General Motors. Tombstones dating from the early 1800s still remain on the property, but the first wood-framed dwelling on the estate is long gone. Raskob built the current brick mansion where the front door knocker, inscribed with “Hartefield House,” bears the only witness to that original home. For his 13 children and their friends, he also constructed an equally grand, neighboring brick house, which is now being restored by the Russian government.

After Raskob died, the estate was sold to a succession of owners in the decades following World War II. The Soviet government purchased the two houses and surrounding land in 1972 and later obtained more acreage after a land swap with the State Department, which in return received property in Moscow. The deal, however, wasn’t initially well received by the locals who were worried about suspicious foreigners. “It was during the Cold War and people around here were afraid that the Russians would bring their battleships,” Ushakova says. “But then they realized that it wasn’t so bad because Russians started coming to the local shops to buy food and everything. They realized that there was no danger and saw that we took care of the house and property. Moreover, they realized that the Russians were friendly and hospitable.”

For more than two decades, the Eastern Shore property served as a dacha for Anatoly Dobrynin who was the Soviet ambassador during the Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter and Reagan administrations until he returned to Moscow in 1986. Dobrynin preserved the Flemish-bond red brick and ornate painted ironwork of the Raskob mansion and kept many of the furnishings that came with the house. Fourteen rental cottages, some built in Finland and shipped to the site, were added for embassy staff.

Much of the original flavor of the house remains intact. The formal living and dining rooms flanking the wide center hall retain their teak floors, oriental carpets and impressive crystal chandeliers. An archway on one side of the living room leads to the walnut-paneled library where built-in shelves hold many of the ambassador’s favorite books. Off the other side, a glass-enclosed porch overlooks a brick-walled courtyard where a fountain gurgles quietly. A two-story screened porch, set behind the rear colonnade of the house, provides a river view between nearly century-old boxwoods.

As an offshoot of the embassy, the dacha is frequently used for official functions. Every May, the entire staff is invited to celebrate Victory Day, a Russian holiday commemorating World War II, and on Labor Day, the Sailing Club of the Chesapeake arrives to enjoy an annual fete. “The main mission for us has been to keep the house and grounds alive,” Ushakov says.

On weekends, the couple prefers hosting smaller gatherings and house parties of no more than 10 people. Menus include fish freshly caught from the Chesapeake and salads tossed with lettuces, cucumbers and tomatoes picked from the vegetable gardens on the property. “People can relax and open up in way that they never do in the city,” Ushakova says. “A dacha is not just about entertaining. It’s about uniting people in a very spiritual way because here you are in harmony with nature. That’s why the dacha is so powerful for Russians.”

 


A painted mural of toasting Russian and
American sailors decorates the rear wall of
the rustic hunting lodge, a former outbuilding
converted by the ambassador and his wife
for entertaining.

****

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NYT’s: The Soviet compound on Dosoris Lane, was the idea of Walter Green, chairman of the Harrison Conference Services, the parent concern, who invited his neighbors for the early-morning get-together.

Mr. Belonogov brought along two Soviet trade aides, Yuri D. Sherbena, president of the Amtorg Trading Company, and Dimitry A. Solovykn, deputy president of the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Trade and Economic Council, and said that a number of Soviet products, including textiles, nickel, plywood and fertilizers, could be marketed here effectively.

Calling it ”most urgent” to start to move in the armaments race, Mr. Belonogov said: ”The more arms at our disposal, the less secure we are. Arms today are more sophisticated. As a result, all are becoming hostages of military technology.”

The chief delegate escorted the businessmen -all presidents or chief executive officers of major Long Island concerns – and a few journalists around the mansion, which was built by George DuPont Pratt, an heir to the Standard Oil fortune, in 1913. The Soviet Government bought the 49-room mansion and its 36 acres of choice property in the 1940’s, around the time of the formation of the United Nations, as a facility for its staff at the world organization, then headquartered at Lake Success.

Today, the compound, called Killenworth, is used as a weekend retreat for members of the Soviet Mission to the United Nations.

Austere and sparsely furnished, the mansion has only a few of the lush trappings associated with turn-of-the-century elegance on the North Shore. The chapel still has all its original woodwork and decorations, and the mansion’s fireplaces work, Mr. Belonogov noted. Many of the sconces, chandeliers and some furnishings remain intact from the early days. The rest, with modern plumbing and electricity, is basically functional.

”The property is very picturesque,” Mr. Belonogov said, ”and two families live here on a permanent basis. There is a swimming pool and facilities for sports.”

The businessmen did not get a chance to explore the grounds, which include a rose garden and Roman and Greek-style statuary, because of inclement weather, but the landscape appeared well gardened, lush and verdant, with bursts of early spring flowers.

Mr. Green of the Harrison center said he expected to have additional meeting with diplomats and business leaders.

Among those who toured the Soviet compound were Martin Hills, president of Venus Scientific; Mervin H. First of RFI; Daniel M. Healy, managing partner of Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co.; Harry Mariani, president of Villa Banfi; W.F. Kenny of Meenan Oil; Douglas Maxwell of Powers Chemco; Sal J. Nuzzo of Hazeltine;, Aneen Solomon of Jack LaLanne Management, and Harold Lazarus of the School of Business of Hofstra University.

***

Or is it this one?

A House of Intrigue and, the Neighbors Say, Espionage

 

 The house in the foreground, on Fieldston Road in the Bronx, was long rumored among neighbors to be used by the government to spy on the taller building behind it, which is used to house Russian diplomats.
The house in the foreground, on Fieldston Road in the Bronx, was long rumored among neighbors to be used by the government to spy on the taller building behind it, which is used to house Russian diplomats. Ángel Franco/The New York Times

In real estate, the saying goes, location is key, and it is certainly true for the little white house at 5437 Fieldston Road in Riverdale.

In a world without global tensions and nuclear showdowns, this modest, single-family house in the Bronx might have enjoyed a perfectly neutral existence.

Instead it became infamous locally, gaining a reputation as a spy house because it is separated by a fence from the Russian Federation, which opened in 1974 as a diplomatic residence.

This unassuming house provided perhaps the best physical vantage point to the 20-story building on the property, which lies between Mosholu Avenue and Fieldston Road near 255th Street and is encircled by an imposing, spike-tipped fence.

Shortly after the Russian compound opened, the house was bought by a corporation, Van Cortland Realty, whose ownership was difficult to discern. Neighbors say they can never remember anyone living there – even up to the present day.

The property was maintained by a landscaper, and junk mail and circulars were presumably collected periodically, although none of about a dozen neighbors interviewed can recall how.

“I call it the mystery house,” said Mike O’Rourke, 86, who has been a doorman at Fieldston Manor, across the street from the house, for 20 years.

“I’ve never seen anyone go in or out,” Mr. O’Rourke said.

Herminio Sanes Jr., the superintendent at Fieldston Manor, said most neighbors assumed it was used by federal agents as a surveillance house to watch the Russian compound, which is now operated by Russia’s mission to the United Nations.

“Everyone always said it was an F.B.I. house,” said Mr. Sanes, who added that the most activity he ever spotted near the property were repair crews that seemed to constantly tend to the phone lines near the house.

“We used to always see men working on the telephone poles, and we used to say, ‘How many times can they possibly fix these lines?’” Mr. Sanes said.

But it appears this house of intrigue may be reborn as a house of worship. According to New York City finance records, the house has been purchased for $400,000 by the Talner Congregation Beth David. The congregation hopes to demolish the house and build a synagogue, according to New York City Department of Buildings officials.

Congregation officials did not return messages requesting comment, but Susan Goldy, a local real estate agent helping the congregation find temporary rental space, said she had discussed the sale with a congregation member.

“The congregation basically doesn’t even know who they bought the house from,” Ms. Goldy said. “The inside of the house looked as if it had never been lived in, and the lawyer for the seller who handled the closing never explained who the real owner was, beyond the corporate name.”

Two officers from Van Cortland Realty, a holding company that bought the house shortly after the compound opened, and which has a business address in Ellicott City, Md., near Washington, did not return phone calls.

An F.B.I. spokesman in New York declined to comment about neighborhood rumors regarding the house. Officials of Russia’s United Nations mission also did not respond to a request for comment.

So while the truth of the 5437 Fieldston Road may never be known, its history as a local legend with spy-novel status seems worth summarizing.

In the early 1970s, as the Russian compound was being built, the modest house was sold several times between real estate holding companies.

Cold-war-spy story lines flew about the house, which looked about as nondescript as a man in a tan overcoat and sunglasses reading a newspaper in a spy movie.

Its vantage point overlooked huge satellite dishes mounted on a lower floor of the Russian Federation building. The blinds on the windows that faced the federation building always seemed closed.

Neighbors theorized that the house was used for camera surveillance and to monitor phone lines at the Russian Federation, but no one ever seemed to come or go. After snowstorms, the front of the house would remain covered in smooth white snow, with no footsteps, sometimes for weeks until the snow melted.

“It was well known that it was a government house, one of the agencies,” said a longtime resident on the block who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is a retired deputy inspector with the New York Police Department and he did not feel comfortable being revealed speaking about the topic.

Several residents of Fieldston Manor said it was common knowledge that F.B.I. agents worked out of an apartment in the complex that faces both the house and the compound.

“A lot of us spoke to the agents, and they did not hide who they were,” said William Nage, 60, a retired interior designer.

Workers would show up so often to climb a utility pole outside the house and work on the lines, it became a running joke among residents.

“We used to say, ‘At least we probably have better television reception than anyone else,’” Ms. Goldy said.

And even after the breakup of the Soviet Union, the house remained empty yet well maintained, Mr. O’Rourke said.

As he spoke he stopped a passing resident and asked, “What do you know about that white house across the street?”

“Oh,’’ the resident replied nonchalantly, “that’s a government house.”