SVT: Putin is indirectly responsible for an assassination attempt in Sweden
Russian President Vladimir Putin was indirectly responsible for the assassination attempt on a Chechen regime critic in Sweden, an intelligence report concludes.
Two Russians, a man and a woman, were sentenced in January to ten and eight years in prison, respectively, in connection with the attempted murder of the Chechen video blogger Tumso Abdurakhmanov in Gävle.
Tumso Abdurakhmanov was assaulted at the end of February last year, but managed to overpower the man who attacked him. The vlogger then posted a video of the man and showed a hammer that was used as a weapon during the attack.
Abdurakhmanov is a well-known critic of the Chechen regime. The 34-year-old’s video blog on YouTube has more than 250,000 subscribers.
Blood revenge
The prosecutor linked the motive to a threat of “blood revenge” that Magomed Daudov, the president of the Chechen elected assembly, made in March 2019. The background for the revenge was Abdurakhmanov’s criticism of Chechnya’s former president Akhmad Kadyrov.
Swedish security police (Säpo) are looking for a third man, Chechen Imran Chashanov, who is suspected of being the mastermind behind the attack.
Secret report
A secret European intelligence report SVT has gained access to discusses both the attack on Abdurakhmanov and similar attacks on other Chechen regime critics in Europe.
According to SVT, the report describes how Chechnya and Russia cooperate and concludes that there is a special department within the Russian National Guard, SOBR Terek, which has the capacity to organize and carry out such attacks and eliminations.
The report accuses Russian President Vladimir Putin of being indirectly responsible for such attacks in Europe, including the attack in Gävle.
As long as Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov does not go too far, Putin will let him hold on, the report concludes.
Indirect liability
The Swedish Defense Research Agency (FOI) in Sweden shares that view.
“As the leader of Russia, one can be considered to have the responsibility. Especially if nothing concrete is done to stop this type of violation of human rights and the sovereignty of other states by sending homicide patrols around Europe,” security policy expert Fredrik Westerlund of FOI stated.
The Kremlin completely denies the allegations to SVT.
“We really have nothing to do with these killings of people in European countries,” an email signed by Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin, penned by his spokesperson, reads.
Source: © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews
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