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| Central Asia |
| Russia blamed for bid on Turkmen leader |
| 2002-11-26 |
| Russian politicians were behind Monday's apparent assassination attempt against Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov, a top Turkmen official said Tuesday. "I cannot say that this (was organized) in Russia, but I can officially say that in Russia there are political figures patronizing the organizers of the (assassination) attempt," Serdar Durdyev, the head of the Department for International Information at the Turkmen president's office, said. What the hell did he just say? On Monday, attackers opened fire at Niyazov's motorcade as it traveled to the presidential palace in Ashgabat. The president, who later said he had not realized he was being fired upon, was unharmed. No one was hurt. Can't have been a Russian hit if no one was hurt. Relations between the two nations have been strained over Moscow's perception that Niyazov is blocking the division of the Caspian Sea's vast mineral wealth. Earlier this year, there were rumors Russia was supporting a coup against Niyazov. Turkmen officials called the incident "an act of international terrorism." Critics said, however, Niyazov staged the attack. Now that I think about it, it does sound staged. The average hired gun would have at least hit one innocent bystander. A word to the wise, Mr. President. Don't poke the bear, you won't like it when he gets mad. I'm sure Vlad has the phone numbers of a few reliable shooters left over from his KGB days. |
| Posted by:Steve |