Paul
Goble
Staunton, February 1 – There are
denials, “non-denial denials,” and then denials that have the effect of
confirming exactly what those doing the denying are seeking to disown and
providing additional information as well.
A classical example of the last is provided by the head of Kremlin think
tank who was trying to undercut the revelations of one of his former staffers.
As Kseniya Kirillova documents on
Novy Region 2, the head of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies (RISI), earlier
part of the SVR and now in the Presidential Administration, admits his
institution “over the course of the year has actively cooperated with analysts
of the Greek SIRIZA Party” and that its leader, the new Greek prime minister, visited
RISI (nr2.com.ua/News/world_and_russia/Premer-ministr-Grecii-aktivno-sotrudnichal-s-rossiyskimi-razved-analitikami-89522.html).
That admission came in the course of
a press release from RISI director Leonid Reshetnikov, a retired lieutenant
general, concerning statements by Aleksandr Sytin, his former staffer, about
RISI’s involvement in planning the Russian Anschluss of Crimea and the war in
the Donbas and its current appeals for forming “pro-Russian” groups in Belarus
on the basis of ties with the security agencies in that country (riss.ru/news/4173#.VM4FGY0o7IX).
Reshetnikov
clearly intended his remarks to undercut what Sytin had said, but in fact, the
director’s words serve to confirm in large measure what the Russian analyst has
said. Thus, as Kirillova notes, during the course of 2014, the director said, “the
institute … prepared more than 600 analytic materials for those involved in the
foreign policy of our country.”
In response,
the former general said, the institute and its staff “received for many of them
a highly positive assessment from the policy making organs of the government.” Clearly, at least in Reshetnikov’s mind, RISI
is not one voice among many but a key player in the policy process in Moscow.
More than that,
it continues to play a role far beyond Ukraine. Reshetnikov noted that RISI
analysts have “devoted great attention to the situation” in other former Soviet
republics and beyond and to economic problems as well.
But perhaps
most immediately intriguing, Reshetnikov pointed to the close cooperation RISI
has with Alexis Tsipras, the new Greek prime minister, who is also thought to
have close ties with Eurasian ideologue Aleksandr Dugin who has also been a major
advocate of Putin’s “Novorossiya” program (nr2.com.ua/News/world_and_russia/Novyy-premer-Grecii-svyazan-s-putinskim-ideologom-Duginym-i-rossiyskim-oligarhom-Malofeevym-FOTO-89304.html).
And lest anyone
think that RISI is out on its own, Reshetnikov concludes his statement with the
observation that his institute “occupies a correct government position, and
with complete conviction,” he says, “we will continue this line!” – words that
should worry anyone concerned about the aggressive positions he and RISI have
taken up to now.
For background
on Sytin and RISI, see my “Russian Think Tank that Pushed for Invasion of
Ukraine Wants Moscow to Overthrow Lukashenka,” Eurasia Daily Monitor, 27.I.15 (jamestown.org/programs/edm/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=43458&cHash=7a202945ac364185e5021fc5dbf28fde#.VM4OIY0o7IU).
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