© Vladimir AstapkovichAnatoly Chubais, the Russian deputy prime minister
"In Chubais' entourage, it has now turned out, CIA officers worked as consultants," Putin said at a live Q&A session with the Russian public.
Putin also said "intelligence officers" had been prosecuted in the United States for illegally "enriching" themselves "during the course of privatization in Russia."
He gave no further details.
Putin also said "many mistakes" had been made during the controversial privatization of Russia's post-Soviet economy, but praised Chubais and the other reformers for their "courage" in taking the measures they deemed necessary.
Russian media reports have accused two members of the USAID project to advise the Russian government on its transition from the Soviet econmoy to capitalism - Andrei Shleifer, a Harvard economics professer, and Jonathan Hay, a Harvard-trained lawyer - of being CIA officers. There is nothing in the public domain to suggest either man was employed by the CIA.
Both men were accused by the US government of making illegal personal investments in Russia during their work in Moscow. In a settlement reached in 2005, Harvard agreed to pay $26.5 million, and both Hay and Shleifer were hit with fines. Both denied the charges against them.
What ever happened to those colored revolutions sponsored by the family at Langely and company? They were popular for a while but like any entertainment act, their day seems to have come and gone and quickly is forgotten. I read some US rebuttal on this about their USAID NGO sources, but of course, they fail to mention what nearly everyone around the world knows, that being that it was nearly the first NGO the CIA started, and that is how everyone in that country knew who the CIA man was. Only later did all the other sponsored NGOs get started to increase the employment potential here in the States and even in their host countries, so that today there are hundreds and most of the little workers don't even know who they're working for, but then isn't that the same everywhere?
Putin's mistake is in not mentioning this simple fact, which has to be spoken out loud lest the moment past unrecorded and quickly forgotten like that script these NGOs follow. Laws can be passed and penalties accessed, but the reason needs to be stated clearly and simply, and that he hasn't yet done and 'time waits for no one.'