{"id":270525,"date":"2010-12-02T03:52:50","date_gmt":"2010-12-02T03:52:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/?p=38814"},"modified":"2010-12-02T03:52:50","modified_gmt":"2010-12-02T03:52:50","slug":"wikileaks-russia-branded-mafia-state-in-recent-cable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2010\/12\/02\/wikileaks-russia-branded-mafia-state-in-recent-cable\/","title":{"rendered":"Wikileaks: Russia branded ‘mafia state’ in recent cable"},"content":{"rendered":"

A senior Spanish prosecutor told the US Embassy in Madrid that Russia, Belarus and Chechnya had become virtual “mafia states”, new disclosures of classified material by Wikileaks show.<\/p>\n

A cable also questions whether Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is implicated in the Russian mafia.
\nAnother reveals that a powerful Ukrainian businessman told US officials he had ties to Russian organised crime.
\nThe documents are among hundreds being released by the whistle-blower website.
\nOn Wednesday the US online shopping giant Amazon reportedly blocked Wikileaks from its servers – a move welcomed by US officials.
\nAccess to Wikileaks’ homepage was sporadic on Wednesday. The website had been using Amazon servers since its Swedish-based servers came under cyber-attack twice earlier this week.
\nThe cables, published by the Guardian newspaper, show that in January 2010, Spanish prosecutor Jose “Pepe” Grinda Gonzales claimed that in Russia, Belarus and Chechnya “one cannot differentiate between the activities of the Government and OC (organised crime) groups”.
\nJudge Grinda led a long investigation into Russian organised crime in Spain, leading to more than 60 arrests.
\nA cable from the US Embassy in Madrid talks about the “unanswered question” of the extent to which Mr Putin is implicated in the mafia and whether he controls its actions.
\nJudge Grinda reportedly said that former Russian security agent Alexander Litvinenko thought Russian intelligence controlled organised crime in Russia. Mr Grinda reportedly stated that he believed this thesis was accurate.
\nIn the cable, the judge is reported as saying he has information that certain political parties in Russia operate “hand in hand” with organised crime.
\nThe leaked cables also show that Washington believed Mr Putin was likely to have known about the operation to murder Mr Litvinenko in London in 2006. The Kremlin has denied any involvement.
\nWikileaks also released another cable, from the US Embassy in Kiev dated December 2008, which reveals that a Ukrainian businessman with links to the Russia state-run conglomerate Gazprom told the US ambassador he had ties to Russian organised crime.<\/p>\n


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The Main Leaks So Far<\/h2>\n