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Citizens across Greece are still trying to come to grips with the classified document that came to light several weeks ago from the Greek secret services stating that “certain shady forces” were plotting the assassination of former Prime Minister of Greece Costas Karamanlis.
Kontra TV channel reported that Karamanlis was unexpectedly visited by Greek secret service agents right after the article was published and was in the process of giving a report on this.
In a follow-up story to this serious accusation, Greek political magazine Epikaira on Thursday unravelled even more information on this shocking story with even more hair raising details about the conspiracy against Karamanlis in 2008 that had as its aim his eventual assassination.
The only bizarre aftermath of the news is that it was the number one story on all the online news sites, blogs and what not, but very few mainstream media giants featured the issue, and rather chose to altogether ignore it.This alone is shocking!
The Editor of Epikaira gives a brief report on this case.
In its comeback article, Epikaira says that the classified documents it featured were from the Greek secret services, and involved a probe that was made in Greece by Russian intelligent sources (or FSB). According to the magazine, when Russian Secret Services discovered that there was a hacking attempt on the telephone communication between the Greek and the Russian PMs, it was then decided that a team of officials would come to Athens to investigate the incident. The “Working Group” apparently began looking into the wire-tapping incident and stumbled on the planned assassination plot, codenamed “Pythia 1” and thus began to monitor Karamanlis’ moves at the beginning of April 2008.
Before you continue reading, it would be wise to read PART I of this series. Please click here.
As mentioned in the first part of this three part series of articles, after uncovering the plot, and massing together the information, Russian intelligence officials concluded that it was the brainchild of an allied country. More specifically, the planned assassination would be carried out by a “shady” mixed team of individuals, and was apparently linked to Karamanlis’s pro-energy policies and tight relations with Russia, which the west and other Greek allies at the time did not approve of.
According to the highly confidential document codenamed "Special Newsletter" (No. 219 / 5 February 2009), both the Prime Minister, the Minister and Deputy Interior ministers Prokopis Pavlopoulos and Christos Markogiannakis, respectively, were informed about the "Working Group’s" mission in Greece, as well as the fact that they had identified and revealed the plan of attack against the former PM in the framework of either postponing and/or cancelling "the energy policy of Greece."
The silent, or as some term him, or the “mysterious” advisor to Prime Minister George Papandreou, and former formal advisor to the government of Georgia, Alex Rondos was also said to have known about the plot, and it was concluded that he in return informed Papandreou. (Details about this further down)
Both Pavlopoulos and Makrogiannakis (no other names were listed) were apparently informed about the plot from a classified document entitled “Special Newsletter” (No. 213 / 5 February 2009), as well as the intentions of the “Working Group” who were in Greece to investigate the relevant wire-tapping incident mentioned above.
As stated in the first article on this issue, between the dates of April 20-25, 2008 Russian intelligence officers actually came face to face with the suspects. They later said in their report to Greek secret service agents that Western intelligence agencies with the involvement of homologous Israeli Services were involved. After the engagement, FSB officers apparently investigated one of the vans that was abandoned by the suspects and discovered maps, communication systems, weapons and C-4, a type of explosive material.
In their report to Greek officials, the Russians noted a few important notes of interest. They said that the mentioned "points" of their investigation, where they spotted the suspects, should not be adopted as the only formal points of this conspiracy.
In their estimate they concluded that the area of Marathonos was an appropriate point so that the suspects could monitor the former prime minister’s car, while the area around CARREFOUR could have acted as a point for unlawful engagement. Finally the FSB report noted that the area near the ERT television channel and also around AB Vassilopoulos supermarket were most likely used by the suspects as meeting points.
In their report to their Greek counterparts, the Russian intelligence officials also placed special importance on the maps, which were confiscated after they came face-to-face with the suspects, since they contained an attached diagram (image) entitled “Signs on Map” (no other information was given).
The FSB also sounded an alarm on the distance which divided all the meeting points where the suspects were detected, when measured against the distance from the Attika Road, since they said the suspects could have devised some sort of route as a starting point for their planned criminal act.
The Russians also noted that C-4 explosive is solid military material, and does not circulate freely on the market. They also underline that terrorist groups operating in Greece have never used this component until now on any of their explosive devices.
Getting back to Rondos, the magazine states that he had apparently received notice of a Western plan that had as its goal the termination and/or delay of the South Stream gas pipeline, and part of this plan also included the assassination of Costas Karamanlis (noted in the classified document as ‘the target’). The Russian agents placed great importance on this last point in their report to the Greek secret services saying that Papandreou found out about this plot and knew of its existence via his silent advisor.
(Rondos, according to reports, is directly linked and a very very chummy friend of George Sorros. He is a former Ambassador of Greece. Prior to his government service he worked for the World Bank (IMF), formed the first international relief and development organisation of the Orthodox Church, the International Christian Orthodox Charities, and worked with Catholic Relief Services in Ethiopia, the Middle East and the US. Currently he consults for the private sector contributing to the efforts of several non-governmental initiatives. Read more about Alex Rondos here.)
With this last point in mind, Epikaira magazine spoke with LAOS parliamentarian and former head of the Greek secret services Gianni Korantis about this very issue but he declined to give any comment.
Under a sub-section entitled “Tango under the Acropolis” the magazine article said that the assassination plot codenamed “Pythia 1”, was devised to totally throw Greece’s economic, social, political and foreign climate off balance, and could very well be in its climax today with everything that is currently happening in the country.
Korantis said at this point that “what concerns the world of intelligence (simultaneously) concerns international politics”.
Commenting on the reaction by readers who literally “fell from the clouds” with the article from Epikaira, and the various roles intelligence plays in the diplomatic world, Korantis noted that nations obviously regulate their intelligence services to suit their interests and/or purposes and Greece is no exception. He said that if American, British and Israeli interests wanted the destabilization of a nation, “even though it was an ally” then “they would use all possible means to achieve this goal.”
Turning to a separate report that was featured on http://olympia.gr on Saturday June 25, and which was a response to another report on the fimotro blog which stated that Karamanlis was getting set to send a letter of some sort to Papandreou to demand what he knew about this whole affair, Olympia.gr said that associates of Costas Karamanlis have left it to be understood that the former prime minister has no such intention and is not even planning to take this whole issue to court.
In its opinion, Olympia.gr says that information such as this cannot be dealt with on a personal basis, but rather has to be tackeled at a national level by the Greek state.
The same article also predicts that when the political climate changes in Greece, the justice system might finally do what it is obligated to do and summon the people named in this whole hair raising scandal (Papandreou and Rondos) for questioning.
The author of the article in Olympia is right…
Indeed the assassination plot against the former prime minister of Greece, or any attempt on a statesman of any country cannot and should not be handled privately, but rather should be looked at as a matter of national importance. My only question is why hasn’t the state already acted… there is a haunting silence over all of this which is chilling.
Translation By
Marina Spanos
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