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Wikileaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson says people have a right to know what
officials working on their behalf are doing
Russia has become a virtual "mafia state" with widespread corruption, bribery
and protection rackets, US diplomatic cables on Wikileaks allege.
There was no differentiation between government and organised crime, one
Spanish prosecutor investigating crime links says.
PM Vladimir Putin told CNN there may be "political purposes" behind the leaks
but they were "no catastrophe".
The documents are among hundreds being released by the whistle-blower website.
'Unethically done'
The cables, published by the Guardian newspaper, paint a picture of a corrupt
Russia centred around the leadership of Mr Putin. Bribery in the political
system totals an estimated $300bn ( 192bn) a year, the paper says.
In one cable from 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".
Analysis
Steve Rosenberg BBC News, Moscow
These reports from leaked memos are embarrassing; but the fallout for the
Kremlin is likely to be minimal. At home, Russian TV is being highly selective
about what it reports about Wikileaks - there was no mention of a mafia state
in the main TV news bulletins.
But even if there had been, Russian viewers are unlikely to have been surprised
by that. Many people here assume that is the case. Even President Medvedev in
his state of the nation address this week conceded that law enforcement
agencies and organs of power were merging with the criminal world.
Diplomatically, the situation is a little trickier. The US defence secretary,
for example, may find it harder to win friends and influence people in Moscow,
after his leaked description of the Russian government "as an oligarchy run by
the secret services". But again, that such views exist in Washington will come
as no surprise to politicians in Moscow. And right now neither Russia nor the
West want relations to sour - when there are so many international issues they
need to work together on.
Judge Grinda led a long investigation into Russian organised crime in Spain,
leading to more than 60 arrests.
A 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.
The leaked cables also show that Washington believed Mr Putin was likely to
have known about the operation to murder former Russian security agent
Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006. The Kremlin has denied any involvement.
US ambassador to Russia John Beyrle also submits a damning report on corruption
in Moscow.
"Criminal elements enjoy a krysha (protection racket) that runs through the
police, the federal security service, ministry of internal affairs and the
prosecutor's office, as well as throughout the Moscow city government
bureaucracy," Mr Beyrle says.
In one cable from February this year, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates says
"Russian democracy has disappeared".
Mr Putin, responding to that claim in an interview with CNN on Wednesday, said
Mr Gates was "deeply misled".
He said of the Wikileaks affair: "Some experts believe that somebody is
deceiving Wikileaks to undermine their reputation, to use them for their own
political purposes later on. That is one of the possibilities."
But he added: "I don't see this as being a catastrophe."
Mr Putin did appear riled at US diplomats referring to him as Batman to
President Dmitry Medvedev's Robin.
"To be honest with you, we didn't suspect that this would be done with such
arrogance, with such a push and, you know, being so unethically done."
Other cables reveal:
information exchange nor routine dialoguing since the end of the Cold War",
says one US embassy cable
his extradition to the US from Thailand by using "money and influence", US
ambassador to Thailand says
autocracy"
told the US ambassador he had ties to Russian organised crime, needing approval
of a gangster called Semyon Mogilevich to run his business
Assange 'persecuted'
BBC diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall says that neither Moscow nor
Washington will be happy at being exposed by the latest Wikileaks revelations,
with the releases placing new strains on their relationship.
The Main Leaks So Far
In other developments, Interpol issued a notice on Wednesday asking for
information on the whereabouts of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.
Interpol said the Australian was wanted for questioning in Sweden over an
alleged sex offence, which he has denied.
Mr Assange's lawyer, Mark Stephens, accused Swedish authorities of
"persecuting" his client.
Mr Stephens added: "The security services of a number of countries know exactly
where he is. Scotland Yard and the Swedish prosecutor have known where he is
and how to get hold of him since he got into the UK."
On Wednesday the US online shopping giant Amazon reportedly blocked Wikileaks
from its servers - a move welcomed by US officials.
Access 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.
Wikileaks has so far posted only 505 of the 251,287 messages it says it has
obtained. However, all of the messages have been made available to five
publications, including the New York Times and the Guardian.
The US has condemned the disclosures as an attack on the world community.