BEREZOVSKY’S LATEST PROJECT.

Another newspaper, “Komsomolskaya pravda” reported in yesterday’s edition that Boris Berezovsky plans to create a CIS “antiterrorist” and “counterintelligence” center, directly subordinated to the CIS Executive Secretariat which he heads. The proposed center would “coordinate the efforts” of the CIS member countries’ counterintelligence services. According to Kremlin sources, Berezovsky has discussed this project with Nikolai Bordyuzha, who serves as both Russia’s Security Council Secretary and presidential administration chief. Berezovsky is said to have personally selected certain Russian specialists for the would-be center, and to claim that the presidents of CIS countries support his project.

Berezovsky’s motives in this initiative are a matter of speculation, which follows two lines: Either he seeks, in his capacity as a businessman, access to inside economic and financial information in CIS countries; or he is after political intelligence and analytical reports which would enhance his power and leverage in Moscow (Komsomolskaya pravda, January 21). Whatever his real motivation, Berezovsky’s project will be resisted not only in the CIS but also, and from the start, by his rivals in Moscow. This likelihood underscores one of Berezovsky’s inherent weaknesses as CIS executive secretary: His initiatives in that area are constantly being undercut by rival political, bureaucratic and economic interests at home.

MOSCOW PROSECUTOR CLEARS SHOKHIN OF INVOLVEMENT IN CONTRACT KILLING.