Paul
Goble
Staunton, July 17 – There is a good
reason that Mikhail Babich, the former Russian ambassador who is now deputy
economic development minister, has dropped off the media radar screen, a source
close to him says. He is now focusing on using the strategy he employed in
Belarus across the CIS, the Legitimate Telegram Channel says.
Babich is too busy doing so, the
channel continues; but he is also keeping a low public profile lest his name
become a lightning rod once governments in the former Soviet republics
recognize what he is about: identifying in their countries specific businessmen
who can be bought off and then taking steps to do so (t.me/legitimniy/1280).
The latest successful talks by
Dmitry Kozak about Moldova “have demonstrated the effectiveness of such economic
pressure on political groups,” the channel continues. “In each of the trends,
there are beneficiaries who are interested in receiving concessions and profits
and not in the prestige of their own countries.”
“The list of these people has long
been known, but now a format of working with these groups and of using this
method of pressure is defined. By fall, we expect a major shift in a number of
countries and in the first instance in Belarus and Ukraine” where such lists are
being compiled.
“The participation of Mikhail Babich”
in this operation as far as the public is concerned “will be minimal,” the
Legitimate Telegram Channel says, “in order to minimize the negative associations”
many non-Russians have with his person after his controversial embassy in the
Belarusian capital.
While it is possible that this is
simply a leak by Babich’s friends to keep him in the public eye indirectly, it
is far more likely that this in fact reflects what he is doing – and that
Moscow will be making pitches involving concessions, benefits and outright
bribes to key business leaders in the CIS countries.
No comments:
Post a Comment