01/09/2004 | TEDDY

Subj: Georgiy Gongadze Homicide, Ukraine - September 2000
Date: 31 August 2002
From: Bob Levinson
To:

For over a year now, I have worked on the murder of the Ukrainian journalist Georgy Gongadze, first for a paying client and now on my own.

I'd like to provide you with the down and dirty version of what I have so you know what I know and might some other course of action. I’ve been trying over the past three months to motivate a number of individuals into interviewing a potentially key witness I’ve developed but it seems like two years after the fact, nobody cares. I feel that a sophisticated and trusted investigator, based in Moscow, could literally break this case wide open.

The short version is that Ukrainian opposition party leader Aleksandr Moroz went to Moscow during the late summer of 2000 seeking the support of Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven's "Alfa Group." He wanted introductions to powers that be in the Kremlin in an effort to get support for a push to have his party take over power in the Ukraine. Alfa Group, in return for their help, were to receive the benefits of lucrative privatization projects in the energy sphere and other areas when Moroz and his people got into office.

During the first week in August 2000, Moroz had the first of what I was told were several meetings (at least two, probably more) with the president of Alfa Group, Fridman. The agreement between the two sides, was made with the assistance of Vladimir Savoskin aka "Savoska," a "vor-v-zakonye" allied primarily with the Izmailovskaya Organization, who died of natural causes in Moscow in May 2001. Present at the meetings between Moroz and Fridman were Savoskin, Anton Malevskiy, and, I'm told, Sergey Aksyonov aka "Aksyon."

What I'm being further told was that as early as August 2000, Moroz was aware that former Major Nikolai Melnichenko had taped President Kuchma and overheard was Kuchma telling his aides to do something to get rid of the Internet journalist Georgiy Gongadze.

It is my understanding that the Izmailovskaya Organization, in the form of Malevskiy and Aksyonov, agreed to get rid of Gongadze and make it appear as if President Kuchma had, in fact, ordered the successful assasination. This then made the president vulnerable and liable to be thrown out of office via impeachment.

Gongadze was murdered, I believe, by a local group of assassins under the direction of Vladimir Kiselyov, who is one of the more powerful criminal authorities in Kiev, with the assistance of Vitaly Buslaev, one of Malevskiy's and Aksyonov's more trusted lieutenants. Buslaev spent a good deal of time in Kiev in the company of one of Mikhail Fridman's proteges (I have the name - I'll have to dig all of these details out later - as I said, this is the down and dirty version).

The key to this case was the series of meetings held by the vor, Savoskin, with both Moroz and Fridman in Mosocw. These took place at an establishment known as the Lucsor (possibly Luxor) Nightclub, located in the Metropole Hotel. This happens to have been the headquarters of Anton Malevskiy and Aksyon.

As of May 2002, I have developed the identity of a potential witness who could place all of the co-conspirators together and may, in fact, have been privy to some of the details of the planning and execution of this murder.

This person is a woman who works as the chief cashier for the casino of one of the major hotels in Moscow. She is the secret girlfriend of Aleksandr Moroz and no one, to this day, knows she even exists.

If approached in the right manner, she may be able to literally cite chapter and verse about Moroz' involvement with the boys named above -particularly how Moroz came into Moscow secretly, had the meetings with the people, stayed overnight at her apartment on each occasion (He's married, I'm pretty sure) - and basically plotted to take over politically in the Ukraine with the help of both Alfa and the Izmailovskaya.

I’ve given this, and more detailed information about the woman, including her name, address, telephone number and exact position, to people who were supposed to provide it to trusted contacts in the Prosecutor General’s Office in Moscow – to be followed up on – I’ve been waiting to see what would take place. So far, nothing. I’m hoping to hear something shortly.

Best wishes - please take particular care with this information, everyone thinks the president ordered it - that's the politically correct line – My investigation is showing that it was really Fridman, and the now-dead “bandits” Anton and Savoska, who were really responsible. I’d welcome your comments.