Russians accused of murdering Ukraine rebel on British soil

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/16/russians-accused-murdering-ukraine-rebel-british-soil

16 January 2018

Russians murdered a man on British soil by torturing and burning him in his car, Ukrainian rebels have claimed.

Mikus Alps, 33, was reported missing from his home in Guernsey last week. A shotgun and human remains were subsequently found in the Latvian’s burnt out car on the island’s south coast.

He was said to have been a member of a volunteer brigade trying to expel Putin's troops from the Crimea for the last two years.

Andriy Gergert, commander of the eighth detached battalion of the Ukrainian Volunteer Army, wrote on Facebook: "He was tortured and burnt in the car he used for the military needs of the battalion.

“The Sicilian Mafia is a kindergarten compared to the methods used by the Kremlin to achieve its imperialist goals. For them there is no difference whether they kill in eastern Ukraine or in centre of Europe. And they won't stop.

“I have no doubt that this was the Muscovites.”

Friends of Mr Alps said he regularly handed over used cars to Ukrainian volunteers and had been threatened for providing aid to a Ukrainian battalion in Donbass.

Patrick Rice, Guernsey's head of law enforcement, revealed that a “sombre and reflective” letter purporting to be from Mr Alps had been handed in to the station.

He added: "We are aware that Mr Alps has connections with a pro-Ukrainian and anti-Russian movement.

"Given that it is yet to be formally confirmed whether Mr Alps is alive or deceased, there is no concrete evidence at this stage linking his involvement with this movement to his car being found burnt out."

Forensic investigations will be completed later this week.

Victoria Ward

It appears Russia just assassinated someone in a British crown territory

www.washingtonexaminer.com/it-appears-russia-just-assassinated-someone-in-a-british-crown-territory/article/2645958

January 15, 2018

Last Monday, Jan. 8, a car was found set alight on the British crown territory of Guernsey.

Skeletal remains since found in the driving seat are believed to be those of its owner, Mikus Alps, a Latvian who had fought with pro-Ukrainian volunteers against Russia's incursion into south-eastern Ukraine.

A small island in the English channel, Guernsey is normally a quiet, peaceful place. But according to Mikus Alps' volunteer friends, he had suffered escalating threats in recent months. In addition, according to Ukrainian press reports, Alps was providing cars to Ukrainian forces fighting the Russian-aligned rebels.

This establishes the motive for a Russian assassination: the Russian intelligence services work persistently to coerce individuals against opposing Putin's interests in Ukraine. While most of this activity is carried through via threat, it also takes the form of assassinations in Ukraine.

But it is the attack itself which offers the strongest evidence of Russian culpability.

First off, consider the photo — released by Guernsey police — of the burned out wreckage.

The degree of damage here and the limited skeletal remains found suggest that the fire was extremely intense. This suggests the involvement of trained killers rather than simple thugs. More importantly, however, the skeletal remains were found in the driving seat. And that reeks of Russian intelligence's particular fetish for what might be called their pageantry of death. Rather than simply eliminating a target, the Russians like to send aggressive messages as they do so.

Conversely, had thugs or otherwise criminally motivated individuals been responsible for this act, they would more likely have thrown the victim into the back seat for simple reasons of ease. The driver seat position of the skeleton is thus significant. In a small mercy, it seems that the victim was dead before the car was set alight: a Guernsey government spokesman told the Washington Examiner that there is no evidence that the victim had been bound to the steering wheel.

Of course, the operative point is that Mr. Alps was delivering cars for the Ukrainian volunteers and that the skeleton was found in his driving seat. This suggests the killers intended to draw a very specific connection point between his activities with regards to Ukraine and his apparent death in Guernsey. Here, it is notable that the Guernsey government says a "Home Office" pathologist will examine the skeletal remains. In situations like this, "Home Office" should be regarded as a code word for Britain's domestic intelligence service, MI5.

There's one final point here: context.

As I've noted, the British government recently pledged to crack down on Russian intelligence operations in the U.K. This represents a significant challenge to the relative ease with which Russian intelligence officers, agents, and interests have pursued their ambitions in Britain in recent years. This killing might be a Russian message to London: "We are undeterred."

If so, this is also a warning for us: as the U.S. now provides military arms to Ukraine, we must be aware that unless deterred, Russia will escalate against our interests.

Tom Rogan