In August 2022, the Justice Department announced that the FBI had foiled an Iranian plot to assassinate former national security adviser John Bolton in retaliation for the U.S. killing Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps–Qods Force commander Qasem Soleimani.
‘Hitman’ Recruited to Target John Bolton Was an FBI Informant
Tag: attempted assassinations
Ilya Ponomarev: Could this man bring down Putin? + Notes
Could this man bring down Putin?
Ponomarev is deadly serious about his military plot: He described himself in an interview as the political head of a group called the Freedom of Russia Legion*, which he claims has an army of four exile battalions — usually numbering about 1,600 people — based in Ukraine, as well as between 5,000 and 10,000 followers in Russia.
He helps run a Congress of People’s Deputies [government in exile/parallel government**], a shadow parliament based in Poland with about 100 members, 40 of them in Russia, he says, that oversees the legion. That group is developing new laws and a new constitution for a post-Putin Russia. It plans a large gathering in Warsaw this month to develop a transition to free elections in Russia.
Ponomarev described operations inside Russia: a drone attack on the Kremlin in May by an urban guerrilla group [National Republican Army & Russian Volunteer Corps*] loosely affiliated with Ponomarev and the Congress of People’s Deputies; the legion’s raids on Belograd and Shebekino just inside the Russian border in June; and what he claims are daily sabotage attacks on railway lines inside Russia. He said the group is building toward a decisive march on Moscow.
The Russian exile leader also linked his group to the August 2022 assassination of Darya Dugina, the daughter of a prominent Russian nationalist writer. U.S. intelligence officials had blamed that attack on Ukrainian intelligence and said they opposed it, according to an October 2022 account in the New York Times. Ponomarev said his group works closely with Ukrainian intelligence.
Ponomarev also claimed unspecified roles in two attacks this year on pro-Kremlin figures: the April assassination of a pro-war blogger named Vladlen Tatarsky and the May attempted killing of pro-Kremlin writer Zakhar Prilepin.
…
“In a crisis, a small, disciplined force can play a decisive role,” he said. And that’s precisely his aim. By recruiting Russian volunteers (he says he gets 1,000 applications a month, which he vets down to 40 reliable recruits), he hopes he can build a force that will march on Moscow, in the way Yevgeniy Prigozhin’s militia’s did in June. Prigozhin halted his march and later died in a mysterious plane crash. But Ponomarev says he won’t stop.
…
Ponomarev said he has support for his coup-plotting from Ukraine’s military intelligence service — and strong opposition from the United States. The message he has received from U.S. officials, he says, is: “We don’t want to be part of it.” [Doubt it!]
Right now, Ponomarev’s campaign seems more a series of modest trial runs than a full-fledged operation. Take the May 3 drone attack on the Kremlin. Ponomarev said the group smuggled several Ukrainian drones into Russia. Members fired one toward the Kremlin from east of the city and a second from southwest. They were carrying just one kilogram of explosives and didn’t do much damage, Ponomarev admitted, but they were meant to demonstrate the ability to hit a precise target.
Ponomarev considered it a triumph, of sorts, when Putin scaled back the planned Victory Day celebration of World War II triumphs in May — perhaps because the drone attack had worried the public. He said his followers have “several” more drones on ice for future attacks.
Notes:
Read More »US to cut military presence in Niger + Pentagon lied to Congress
The Pentagon reportedly plans to pull out some of its troops from the African country
The US has begun “repositioning” the troops it has in Niger and plans to cut their number “nearly in half” over the next several weeks, Politico reported on Friday citing two Defense Department officials.
US to cut military presence in Niger
Related:
AOC-Led Delegation Can Push for New Approach to Latin America
You might not know it by the relatively scant news coverage, but the U.S. congressional delegation, led by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, that visited Brazil, Chile, and Colombia in August marked a big step forward in the development of a new U.S. approach to Latin America and highlighted the important role that the U.S. progressive left has to play in it.
AOC-Led Delegation Can Push for New Approach to Latin America
Related:
AOC urges US to apologize for meddling in Latin America: ‘We’re here to reset relationships’
Asked if the left needs to build a counterweight network, Ocasio-Cortez, whose trip to Latin America was branded “AOC’s socialist sympathy tour” by Rupert Murdoch’s conservative Wall Street Journal newspaper, replied: “I absolutely believe that the battle for democracy must be transnational and it must be global, and it especially must be hemispheric.
“Legitimate target” — Bellingcat defends terror attack at St. Petersburg cafe
Christo Grozev of the US government-sponsored Bellingcat endorsed the terror attack that killed a Russian war reporter and injured many others during a public event in St. Petersburg. He also defended Ukraine’s attempt to assassinate a Russian philosopher because he was a “propagandist.”
“Legitimate target” — Bellingcat defends terror attack at St. Petersburg cafe
In a letter to CJP, Imran Khan calls for inquiry into ‘assassination attempts’ against him
Our lawyers were not allowed inside complex but about 20 or more “unknown people” were allowed inside, says PTI chief
In a letter to CJP, Imran Khan calls for inquiry into ‘assassination attempts’ against him
Is the U.S. and NATO Running Another Operation Gladio in Europe?
Part Two of a Three-Part CAM Series on Mercenaries and Clandestine Operations in Ukraine
[In Part Two of this three-part series on foreign mercenary fighters in Ukraine, (see Part 1) the nexus between mercenaries with experience in Syria, Ukraine and U.S.-EU-NATO armed forces becomes more apparent. This second part of the investigation looks at Shaun Pinner, Alexander Tobiassen, John Harding, Sjoerd Heeger, Craig Lang and Ben Fischer.—Editors]
Is the U.S. and NATO Running Another Operation Gladio in Europe?
Archived (WordPress is now private): American YPG Fighter Complains About Group’s Lack of Medical Care
Man who attempted to assassinate Argentine vice president has Nazi tattoo
Identified as Fernando Andre Sabag Montiel, suspect sports a ‘black sun’ symbol that has been used by white supremacist mass shooters
Man who attempted to assassinate Argentine vice president has Nazi tattoo
![](https://thechaoscat.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/img_3331.jpg?w=1008)
![](https://thechaoscat.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/img_3329.jpg?w=595)
![](https://thechaoscat.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/img_3330.jpg?w=640)
In the second photo: Ihor Halushka, member of the Azov battalion. He was honored a few days ago at Disney World.
In the third photo: the Sonnenrad, the Nazi tattoo that they both wear.” – PabloMM @ Twitter
Bolton ’embarrassed’ at low price allegedly offered in assassination plot
Former national security adviser John Bolton said he was embarrassed when he found out $300,000 was being offered to assassinate him
Bolton ’embarrassed’ at low price allegedly offered in assassination plot
I’m surprised that he’s even worth that much (if the story is even true)!
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