How safe are You?

How safe are YOU?

It’s not a secret that the “best” :p plays dirty and plays it always dirty, but how dirty can it get?… probably much more than anyone of us can even imagine (?) …. Also, its been no secret in here as well that, once u mention Venik, and there will be a bunch of ppl getting to ur throat. I wonder abt their attitude for a person who keeps his site and does not have the same view as that put forward by the ‘free & independent’ international media, but the first of response is to just laugh him off. But he has always be mentioning his ‘controversial’ stuffs based on the Russian intelligence reports (where ever he collects it from) and it wud be highly insane of anyone to just write it off. (it more so shows the induviduals capacity)

Well if anyone have’t yet read this, can read it now, for this cud as well be the ‘reward’ for any reporter who can take a different path … i’d though of posting thgis earlier, but backed, but anyway posting it now, since the flight affairs came open ….

Russian police kills journalist

January 12, 2003
http://www.aeronautics.ru

Vladimir “Cliver” Sukhomlin, April 13, 1979 – January 4, 2003.

Photo provided by Roman Alymov, Katya, Valeriy Mukhin and other members of the Russian Military-Historical Forum.

On January 7, 2003, the Moscow police discovered a body of a well-known Russian Internet journalist, Web developer and political activist Vladimir Sukhomlin. He disappeared three days earlier from the coffee bar of the Moscow “Kinoplex” movie theater, where he went to attend a business meeting. Vladimir Sukhomlin’s body was discovered in a south-western Moscow suburb of Solntsevo. Investigators have discovered that the 23-year-old computer programmer died from a massive scull fracture. His hands were tied behind his back and his body showed multiple bruises. A baseball bat was named as the murder weapon.

A few days earlier Vladimir Sukhomlin received a call from a potential client, who was interested in discussing an Internet business venture. The caller set up a meeting at the “Kinoplex” – a popular movie theater and entertainment center located in downtown Moscow – at 10 pm Saturday night, which was workday in Russia. In the movie theater Vladimir Sukhomlin was approached by plain-clothed police officers, who informed him that he is being detained. Vladimir made a call from his cell phone to the police dispatcher and for a few minutes tried to determine the reasons for his arrest. The phone call abruptly ended, but was recorded on tape and later reviewed by the investigators.

Soon after Vladimir’s disappearance his relatives notified the police, which searched the movie theater and nearby area. On January 6 a criminal investigation was launched into Sukhomlin’s disappearance and a day later his body was discovered at an abandoned building lot in Solntsevo, which is a thirty-minute drive from downtown Moscow. His body was identified by the relatives a day later and on the same day the police detained two suspects – police officers from the Balashikha Police Department. One of the officers has a rank of Lieutenant.

During the interrogation of the two suspects the investigators have established a third accomplice – an employee of a private security firm – who was also arrested. At this point the prosecutors knew that this was murder for hire and begun their search for the individuals who put a hit on Vladimir Sukhomlin. On January 9 the investigators have arrested the managing director of Plasttorg Ltd. – a company registered in Moscow with unclear business history.

Some of you may be surprised to find these news on my web site. Vladimir Sukhomlin was my close friend, colleague and my Web hosting provider. During the 1999 NATO aggression against Yugoslavia Vladimir, who was only 20 years old at the time, offered free and unlimited hosting to a number of Yugoslav Web sites struggling against NATO propaganda.

In 1999 my Web site was based in the United States and was chased from server to server by anonymous US government agents, who threatened my Web providers and claimed that my Web site was involved in anti-American activities by publishing information about the true extent of US aviation losses in the Yugoslav war.

One of the last Web server providers to close my site was the Arizona-based Web hosting provider “Cybercities“. On May 26, 1999, I received the following letter from “Cybercities“:

Dear Madam – Sir,

We recently got some governmental complaints about your web page on our server concerning the topic: Aircraft used and lost in Yugoslavia. You know, that our policy is, and always will be, to obtain the free speech on the internet.

But, as you might know, our server is located in the U.S. , so we cannot provide any topics, that collide with federal laws of the U.S.. And according to one of these laws, no company inside the U.S. is allowed to supply any hostile country,this concerns ALSO (due to the email we got) YOUR web page.

So we please you to rearrange your web site the way it does not show the numbers and locations where the Yugoslavian side assume NATO planes got down (If it is true or not I do not care!!!!) or we have to shut down your web page.

Sorry about that [email]Webmaster@cybercities.com[/email]”

The same day “Cybercities” closed my account, deleted all of my files and did not respond to any of my e-mails or letters. This was not the first such incident since the beginning of the operation “Allied Force” and my coverage of NATO aviation losses. It wasn’t the last such incident either: just a short time later a mirror of my site was closed by XOOM, which cited similar reasons.

During this difficult time Vladimir, known to many on the Internet as “Cliver”, offered his help in hosting “Venik’s Aviation”. He also hosted dozens of popular Web sites from Yugoslavia, including sites of such large news agencies as TANYUG. Vladimir also created a special war-time portal of resources -SERBIA.RU – related to the situation in Yugoslavia.

In the fall on 1999 Russia’s southern republic of Dagestan was invaded by the Chechen rebels trained by Taliban and led by Osama bin Laden’s Al Quaida. During this time Vladimir created a news portal CHECHNYA.RU dedicated to fighting Western anti-Russian propaganda and delivering up-to-date news about the true situation in Chechnya.

In 2000 Vladimir begun working on his most ambitious project – the VIF2 Portal for the members of the Russian Military-Historical Forum “VIF2”. He provided free hosting and other services to dozens of enthusiasts researching Russian military history.

The joke that Russia would solve most of its crime-related problems simply by getting rid of police altogether today does not seem so funny. The two police officers arrested for the murder of Vladimir Sukhomlin told the investigators that they did it for $1200 – given the extent of their crime, a laughable amount of money even by Russian standards. The two cops carried out this heinous act certain of their untouchable status and did not even bother to cover their tracks. They were arrested at work, inside of the police department building.

Too often the problem of police and government corruption in Russia is blamed on low salaries and unstable economy. This is an empty excuse. Increasing the salary would not make a decent human being out of somebody, who is prepared to commit murder for money.

Government and police officials, who take bribes and engage in other illegal activities, do so not because they cannot feed their families but because the kind of people that these positions attract in Russia. Weak or non-existent control, supervision and punitive measures created a heaven for criminals within the Russian law enforcement community. You can double or triple their pay, but you would not turn crooks into honest people.

Many blame this problem on the collapse of the Soviet Union and on the incompetent leadership of the past decade. However, it is clear that the problem started much earlier. The two police officers accused of the murder did not come from the criminal background. Their fathers, according to the “Izvestiya” newspaper, are high-ranking officers – one is an FSB (KGB) general and the other one is a Colonel with the FPS (the Federal Customs Service).

On a greater, national scale, the Russian government lacks control over its own internal structures. Attempts made by the current Russian administration to consolidate power and provide leadership proved to be far from sufficient. It is this lax control and indecisiveness of the government that makes possible for someone to hire two cops and pay them twelve hundred bucks for a murder.

So far nobody knows what were the motives behind Vladimir’s murder. Four people are currently in custody, including the two cops from Balashikha. Considering the breadth of Vladimir’s interests and the number of people he dealt with, the reason for his murder so far remains a mystery. The list of possibilities is just too long to mention.

I express my heartfelt condolences to his relatives and to his numerous friends. Vladimir was a wonderful person and a true Russian patriot. In his short life he has accomplished more in research and popularization of his country’s glorious past than most professional historians and journalists achieved during their entire careers. I will always miss his never-ending energy and boundless optimism in the face of adversity. I trust that his killers will be brought to justice.

Venik
12 January, 2003
http://www.aeronautics.ru

P.S. If you knew Vladimir, knew his work, or just would like to express your condolences to his family, please visit the Memorial Page. You can leave your message in any language. Just scroll down a few lines and you will find a simple form with three fields: You name, e-mail, your comments. Thanks for you support.