Andrei Liakhov: “Re: 2017-#98-Johnson’s Russia List/ My answer to the ‘prominent Washington expert'”

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Subject: Re: 2017-#98-Johnson’s Russia List
Date: Wed, 24 May 2017 20:01:47 +0300
From: Andrei Liakhov <gaffriloff@yahoo.co.uk>

My answer to the “prominent Washington expert”:

Dear expert, you have not read the report correctly. [“Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections”] The January report never stated unequivocally that Russia’s interference is an established fact. At most, to me, as to the former user of intelligence, this report raises a possibility (not even a probability) that the alleged attack was connected to a group rumored to be associated with Russian intelligence services. The January report very unprofessionally puts the FSB (which is the closest analogue of the FBI and/or Homeland Security Department) as being the handler of the hackers. The FSB’s operations outside Russia are strictly limited to external counter intelligence operations (like the famous killing of a Chechen warlord in Qatar) and combatting international terrorism. However, one agency technically capable (and legally empowered) of running such an operation, the SVR, is not even mentioned in the Report. Which fact alone makes any REAL Expert on Russia extremely skeptical about its findings.

Furthermore, CrowdStrike is run by a unscrupulous Soviet emigre with a questionable business reputation and technical skills which have been questioned more than once. Even Ukraine has exposed CrowdStrike’s report on another matter as being thoroughly wrong.

In addition, recent apparent revelations about the murder of a DC lawyer who worked for the DNC indicate that it was he who passed over 40,000 DNC emails to one of co-founders of Wikileaks shortly before his murder.

To ignore these (and other facts, like the fact that the author of the program allegedly used in the possible hacking is a Ukrainian programmer based in a Kiev) lead objective observers to doubt (at least) the whole WASHINGTON OBKOM narrative on the alleged Russian hacking story.

Yours,
Andrew Liakhov,
Former head of the Legal Department of the Chancellery of the President of the USSR and Chairman of Intelligence Civil Supervision Committee (1988-1991).

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