Aum Shinrikyo Terrorist Cult

Aum Shinrikyo Terrorist Cult --- ===

" It is also clear that Aum received significant assistance from various Russian intelligence .... Originally, Mason thought these tests may have been of Russian KGB - or ..."

Aum Shinrikyo - Wikipedia Aum Shinrikyo (Japanese オウム真理教) is a Japanese doomsday cult founded by Shoko ..... In January 2003 Japan's Public Security Intelligence Agency received .Aum Shinrikyo (Japanese オウム真理教) is a Japanese doomsday cult founded by Shoko Asahara in 1984. It carried out the deadly Tokyo subway sarin attack in 1995 and was found to have been responsible for another smaller sarin attack the previous year.  The group never confessed. Those who carried out attacks did so secretly, without being known to ordinary believers. Asahara broadcast his singing, insisting on his innocence through a radio broadcast on a signal they purchased in Russia and directed toward Japan.[2]  Aum Shinrikyo, which split into Aleph and Hikari no Wa in 2007, has been formally designated a terrorist organization by several countries, including Russia,[3] Canada,[4] Kazakhstan,[5] and the United States.[6] Japan's Public Security Examination Commission considers Aleph and Hikari no Wa to be branches of a "dangerous religion"[7] and announced in January 2015 that they would remain under surveillance for three more years.[8]




Espionage: Spies and Secrets - Google Books Result
https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1448132142
Richard Bennett - 2012 - ‎ReferenceIronically, it was the KGB itself that informed MI5 of Bettany's treachery, ... The Soviet intelligenceservice lost a potentially priceless contact within MI5 who .... Aum Shinrikyo, unleashed a primitive chemical attack against commuters on the ...

Comprehensive Security in Asia: Views from Asia and the West on a ...
https://books.google.com/books?isbn=9004112022
Kurt Kurt Werner Radtke, ‎Raymond Feddema - 2000 - ‎Political Science... the attention of either Japanese or foreign governments and intelligence circles. ... Aum also purchased a Russian Mi- 17 helicopter for 78 million Yen and smuggled it ... they bought KGBcommando manuals for training of Aum's followers. ... of Weapons of Mass Destruction: A Case Study on the Aum Shinrikyo", p. 39.
Russia: There are many allegations that Aum members may have received military training in Russia.

following are some of the allegations made by Russian and Japanese press reports:

That Asahara led a delegation of 300 Aum members to Russia in March 1992. During that trip, Asahara met with Parliament Vice President Aleksandr Rutskoy and former Russian paiament speaker Ruslan Khasbulatov.

That Russian parliamentarian Vitaliy Savitsky, chairman of the Duma's Religious Affairs Committee told fellow parliamentarians that, " his committee seriously suspected that Aum Shinrikyo had been assisted in its penetration into Russia by Russian intelligence services."

That the premier nuclear research facility in Russia, the Kurchatov Institute, had Aum followers as employees.

That during 1992-93 Aum leaders visiting Russia approached Russian science ofcials to seek laser and nuclear technologies and that Shoko Asahara met Nikolay Basov while Asahara was. in Moscow in 1992. Basov is a 1964 Nobel prize winner for his research on the principle of laser technology.

That Secretary of the Russian Security Council, Oleg Lobov, received anywhere from $500,000 to even $100 million from the Aum. This relationship started in December 1991 and continued through 1995.

That a Russian known to be a secretary of Lobov' sent facsimiles to Hayakawa in Japan and that Hayakawa visited Lobov during his visits to Russia throughout the 1992-1995 time period.

That no one from Moscow asked Russian Embassy officials to check out the Aum and that Lobov met with Aum officials on his own, without informing the Embassy or asking its advice. The sources said that the February 1992 meeting was agreed to without the participation of the Russian Foreign Ministry or intelligence services prior to Lobov's trip to Japan. No leading Embassy staffers were present at the meeting.All of the officials have denied allegations that they helped the Aum.

Global security: non-proliferation, fourth report of session ...
https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0215530721
House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee - 2009 - ‎Political Science... Aum Shinrikyo experiments with nerve gas in Japan and the anthrax letters of ... and the Soviet Union, the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation ... a career KGB officer, was appointed Head of Russia's Foreign Intelligence ...

An ex-CIA officer: the Trump Jr. meeting shows how the Russians ...
https://www.vox.com/conversations/2017/.../donald-trump-jr-russia-collusion-cia-kgb


Jul 14, 2017 - He told me that the meeting with Trump Jr., while unusually brazen, fits a broader pattern of Russian intelligence attempting to engage with the ...
Missing: aum ‎shinrikyo

Aum Shinrikyo, Al Qaeda, and the Kinshasa Reactor - Defense ...
www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a439530.pdfCase Study 1: Aum Shinrikyo's Attempt to Acquire a Nuclear. Capability . ..... Russian intelligence may have helped Aum to exploit scientific and technical ...... ADMs, built for the KGB's First Directorate during the 1970s, are now in al. Qaeda's ...

Tesla Doom Weapons and Aum Shinrikyo - Deep Black Lies
www.deepblacklies.co.uk/doom_weapons_1.htm  When it comes to Aum Shinrikyo - the sinister Japanese cult said to be .... It is also clear that Aum received significant assistance from various Russian intelligence .... Originally, Mason thought these tests may have been of Russian KGB - or ...

Weapons of Mass Destruction: The no-nonsense guide to nuclear, ...
https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1780223773
Robert Hutchinson - 2011 - ‎History... source of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, the successor to the KGB. ... The Japanese groupAum Shinrikyo, who, as we have seen, used sarin nerve ...

Plague Wars: The Terrifying Reality of Biological Warfare
https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0312263791
Tom Mangold, ‎Jeff Goldberg - 2001 - ‎History... Jaan, see also Aum Shinrikyo human experimentation by, 14-28 Plague attacks on ... JointIntelligence Committee on inspection of Soviet sites, 139 on Russian ... Mike, 279 KGB, 180, 188 Killip, Hamish, 310-12 Kirov, 43 anthrax accident, ...

VI. Overseas Operations - A Case Study on the Aum Shinrikyo - ties to Russia
https://fas.org/irp/congress/1995_rpt/aum/part06.htm

The Aum Shinrikyo in Russia

1. The Organization

Through a number of private and government sources, including Aum documents, the staff has confirmed that the Aum began its activities in Russia in 1991 and the organization there quickly grew to become the Aum's largest organization in the world. The first followers registered in Moscow in 1991 and, in June 1992, the Russian Ministry of Justice registered the cult as an official religious organization.
There are many allegations in the Japanese and Russian press about Aum activities in Russia. The Staff was unable to confirm many of these allegations whilein Moscow investigating this issue. Through briefings over the last several months, the Staff also learned that U.S. government officials have been unable to confirm or deny many of the allegations.
Following the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, two Russian Duma committees began investigations of the Aum -- the Committee on Religious Matters and the Committee on Security Matters. A report from the Security Committee states that the Aum's followers numbered 35,000, with up to 55,000 laymen visiting the sect's seminars sporadically. This contrasts sharply with the numbers in Japan which are 18,000 and 35,000 respectively. The Security Committee report also states that the Russian sect had 5,500 full-time monks who lived in Aum accommodations, usually housing donated by Aum followers. Russian Aum officials, themselves, claim that over 300 people a day attended services in Moscow. The official Russian Duma investigation into the Aum described the cult as a closed, centralized organization.
The Russian Duma has reported that the Aum had eleven branches outside of Moscow and at least seven inside of Moscow. Some of the other Aum headquarters in Russia were located in St. Petersburg, Kazan, Perm, Vorkuta, Tyumen, Samara, Vladivostok, Elista, and Vladikavkaz.
According to Russian press reports, the Aum was very specific in targeting its recruiting in Russia. The majority of the Russian Aum members were disaffected university students. According to a Russian press report that claims to have access to forms that prospective Aum members filled out, the sect asked prospective members to choose the subjects among 24 fields they wanted to pursue in the future. Physics, chemistry, and biology were reportedly the top three areas listed.
Based upon official Japanese documents and numerous press reports and Staff interviews, the Staff has confirmed that in 1992 the Aum bought radio time from one of the largest radio stations in Russia - the state-run Mayak Radio -- under a three-year contract. The contract cost $800,000 per year, according to a Russian press report. The Staff has confirmed that the Aum broadcast an hour long program on a daily basis. The broadcasts were also relayed via an Aum radio tower in Vladivostok to Japan every evening. The Staff was told by U. S. and Russian government sources that the Aum, also, either owned or leased a radio station in Vladivostok. Aum programs were also televised on Russia's "2X2" television station.
A Russian press report claims that according to a sect document distributed to Russian followers, the Aum planned to form a company in Russia. The document states that Asahara was predicting an economic crisis in Russia that would lead to increased unemployment. The document asked Aum followers in Russia to quit their jobs and work for this company. The document said that Aum would train its Russian followers in agriculture, medicine, science, and legal services.
Japanese and Russian press reports claim that the Aum formed a security company in Moscow in 1994. Japanese reporters obtained copies of the registration papers for this company, called "Aum Protect." According to the address on the registration documents, the firm was located in the same building as the Aum's Moscow headquarters and was established with initial reserves of 2.5 million rubles (approximately $160,000). The Japanese press claims that this Aum company's staff of twelve had permits to bear ms from Russian authorities and they had received special training in the Russian armed forces. According to former Russian Aum members, quoted in the Russia and Japanese press, "Aum Protect" was used to put physical pressure on sect members who wished to leave the cult.
Even before the Tokyo sarin gas subway incident, the Aum had become controversial in Russia. According to Russian press reports, at the end of 1992, parents of cult members, lead by a Russian Orthodox priest who claims to have deprogrammed up to fifty Aum members, initiated a civil lawsuit against the sect. On July 15, 1994, Russia's Ministry of Justice annulled the registration of the Russian branch of the Aum on technicalities having to do with the registration procedure, according to Russian press reports. A few weeks later, however, the organization was re-registered by the Moscow Department of Justice as "Moscow's Aum Religious Association." Aum also registered a "Committee for thDefense of Freedom" at this time. It is this defense committee that fought the parents' group three year fight against the Aum, according to Russian and Japanese press reports.
Following the subway attack, activities against the Aum in Russia intensified. By mid-April 1995, President Yeltsin publicly ordered Russia's Prosecutor General, the Federal Security Service, and the Commission for Religious Organizations in the Russian government to thoroughly investigate the Aum. In response to this edict, Russian press reports indicate that the Russian court that had been hearing the parents' lawsuit against the Aum banned all of the Aum's activities in Russia. The court charged that the Aum was harming Russia's young people and criticized Mayak Radio and the Russian television station for allowing Aum propaganda on its airwaves. The Aum was ordered to pay 20 billion rubles (4 million dollars) to the defendants and it lost its registration as an official religion. The group was also banned from further television and radio broadcasting. Despite these actions, an Aum official in Moscow said: "...Aum will not cease to exist in Russia. We shall continue to exist in other forms, but we shall prevail by all means."
According to Russian press reports, in June of 1995 the parent group that had originally initiated the court case against the Aum, charged that the Aum continued to operate underground. By July 1995, the Russian press stated that Russian authorities began arreing Aum members. In early July, Russian authorities detained the leader of the Tatarstan branch of the Aum. The leader there told Russian reporters that his branch had 200 followers. On July 21, 1995, Russian law enforcement officials arrested one of the leaders of the Russian branch of the sect, Outi Toshiyatsu, who is a Japanese citizen. Russian authorities charged Toshiyatsu with organizing groups that infringe on citizens' rights and with causing material damage by cheating or breaching confidence. There has been no trial yet.
The press as well as the parent's organization opposed to the Aum, have publicly criticized the inaction of Russian authorities in closing the Aum headquarters in Moscow following the court's decree. According to their allegations, only one of the Aum's seven centers was closed immediately. In that center, reporters claim that authorities found powders and unpackaged tablets." Russian press reports claim that Russian officials did not move to close the remaining centers until at least a week after the court order to close the Aum premises and that by then, those centers were completely emptied, all their contents having been removed.

2. Arming With Russian Weapons

It is clear that the Aum was interested in the technology and weapons that are available in Russia. The major proponent of the sect's expansion into Russia was the Aum's Construction Minister Kiyohide Hakawa. He was also the mastermind of the Aum's attempts to arm itself, according to Japanese officials and cult documents.
In total, Hayakawa visited Russia 21 times from 1992-1995, spending a total of 180 days there. The first recorded visit took place from January 11-20, 1992. He visited three other times before mid-March of that year -- presumably paving the way for Asahara's late March visit. From November 1993 to April 1994, Hayakawa visited Russia regularly between one and two times a month. Hayakawa was in Russia from March 17-22 of this year during the sarin attack in Tokyo. He said that he was there to learn about the judiciary system and to renew broadcasting contracts.
The Staff believes that Hayakawa played a key role in obtaining technology and weapons from Russia. Hayakawa helped to purchase a Soviet-made MI-17 helicopter and invited Russian engineers to Japan to help train sect members to maintain the helicopter, according to official Japanese documents.
According to a Japanese Diet member who was giving a report to the Japanese legislature, the helicopter was built in Tatarstan. The Japanese official states that Russian law enforcement authorities were conducting a probe into an alleged bribe of a former Russian parliamentarian in connection with the purchase of the helicopter, according to the Japanese press. The Diet member said that the former Russian parliamentarian allegedly helped expedite the acquisition through Azerbaijan and that the Russian lawmaker under investigation is from the Caucasus and has great influence in that region.
The Staff has confirmed that the helicopter passed through Japanese Customs in 1994 via Azerbaijan Air and that the Aum subsequently inquired about certification for a larger MI-26 helicopter and requirements to fly an MI-26 to Japan from Russia. As indicated in section VI(C), infra, Aum members received helicopter training in the United States in late 1993.
Japanese police sours also allege that Hayakawa brought pistol models to Japan from Russia in the Spring of 1994 in order to produce the pistols in Japan, according to press reports. These sources also claim that documents seized from Hayakawa upon his arrest included blueprints for the Soviet Kalashnikov assault rifle.
There are many allegations that Aum members may have received military training in Russia.

Official Japanese documents and press reports state that a tourist brochure printed by Devenir Millionaire, an Aum- affiliated travel company located in Tokyo, described a tour of Russia that included shooting exercises at Russian military facilities. The brochure claimed that the exercises were performed under the supervision of former Spetznaz members of the Russian armed forces.

Press reports claim that Aum Defense Ministry leader Kibe and Secret Unit member Masaq Furukawa underwent comprehensive pilot training in Russia. The Aum paid Russian instructors at Moscow's "Airfield Number 3" $15,000 each for a rigorous training course. Furukawa was in charge of planning military training in Russia under a special Russian unit. As indicated elsewhere in this statement, the Staff has confirmed that Kibe did receive helicopter training in South Florida in late 1993.

Documents seized from Hayakawa contained the following schedule for military training:- Regulation program $2,800 to military
- 1st Day tank armored vehicle ride inside
- 2nd Day various guns, rocket cannon, machine gun
- 3rd Day rifle machine gun
- 4th Day rest

A senior Japanese police officer told the Japanese press that Hayakawa's documents stated, "if expenses are paid, government will grant approval." Russian Defense Ministry officials have denied that any training took place at official facilities. In contrast, the Staff found the following Russian and Japanese press reports:

Russian military sources told Japanese reporters that Asahara inspected a military base near Moscow in the summer of 1993, but stated that no training took place at that time. Together with a number of followers, he met military officials there for talks, and inspected the grounds. The officials pointed out that not only Asahara and his followers but many other foreigners were also given access to the base.

A Russian diplomatic source told Russian reporters that, "for many the military is letting in outsiders regardless of whether they are visiting officially or on a private trip."

A staff member of the Interior Ministry also publicly claimed that the Ministry would not participate in such training but that militants of any rich organization could have used training bases of private security bodies.The Chief of Staff of the Far Eastern Military District of Ruia has publicly denied rumors that Aum members were trained as pilots at his base but admitted that there are many private firms and air companies with helicopters at their disposal. The spokesman opined that one of these firms or a pilots' club may have trained the sect members. He noted that in 1993 the local press published a report concerning the death of a Japanese tourist in the crash of a helicopter belonging to a private company.
In addition to obtaining conventional arms and training, the Aum apparently saw Russia as a source for more exotic, and far more deadly, weapons. At the time of his arrest, Hayakawa had information about a gas laser weapon. His documents referred to the name of a Russian city where 'There is a weapons market" and noted its distance from Moscow, according to Japanese press. Hayakawa's documents also indicated that the sect was interested in obtaining a space-launch rocket, according to the Japanese press. According to press acounts, Japanese officials said that the documents include a reference to a Russian Proton rocket and reference its prices and the need to build a base in Japan. The Proton rocket is capable of carrying a satellite. The press has speculated that Russia's Khunichev Space Center, which is the designer and producer of the TOPOL rocket, had some sort Of relationship with the Aum. Recently, however, the public relations office of the Center announced that the Center has never had any contact with the sect.
The Aum's interests apparently extended to the most devastating of weapons. There are references in the documents seized from Hayakawa to the desired purchase of nuclear weapons. The documents contain the question "how much is a nuclear warhead?" and lists several prices. It is unclear whether the references are reflections of actual discussions or negotiations.

3. Allegations of Influence In Russia

Much has been written in the press about the relationship between the Aum and officials of thRussian government. Most of these allegations have been denied, in whole or in part, by the officials in question. Little has actually been confirmed by U.S. or Japanese government officials.
The following are some of the allegations made by Russian and Japanese press reports:

That Asahara led a delegation of 300 Aum members to Russia in March 1992. During that trip, Asahara met with Parliament Vice President Aleksandr Rutskoy and former Russian paiament speaker Ruslan Khasbulatov.

That Russian parliamentarian Vitaliy Savitsky, chairman of the Duma's Religious Affairs Committee told fellow parliamentarians that, " his committee seriously suspected that Aum Shinrikyo had been assisted in its penetration into Russia by Russian intelligence services."

That the premier nuclear research facility in Russia, the Kurchatov Institute, had Aum followers as employees.

That during 1992-93 Aum leaders visiting Russia approached Russian science ofcials to seek laser and nuclear technologies and that Shoko Asahara met Nikolay Basov while Asahara was. in Moscow in 1992. Basov is a 1964 Nobel prize winner for his research on the principle of laser technology.

That Secretary of the Russian Security Council, Oleg Lobov, received anywhere from $500,000 to even $100 million from the Aum. This relationship started in December 1991 and continued through 1995.

That a Russian known to be a secretary of Lobov' sent facsimiles to Hayakawa in Japan and that Hayakawa visited Lobov during his visits to Russia throughout the 1992-1995 time period.

That no one from Moscow asked Russian Embassy officials to check out the Aum and that Lobov met with Aum officials on his own, without informing the Embassy or asking its advice. The sources said that the February 1992 meeting was agreed to without the participation of the Russian Foreign Ministry or intelligence services prior to Lobov's trip to Japan. No leading Embassy staffers were present at the meeting.All of the officials have denied allegations that they helped the Aum. The Staff has discovered photographs that appeared in Aum publications purporting to be Rutskoy Khasbulatov, Basov, and Lobov with Aum leader Asahara. Furthermore, in a press statement quoted on page one of the March 30, 1995, Russian language edition of Mowcow Izvetsiya, Lobov admit to meeting with Aum officials but states that he was duped by them due to his "charitable nature" and neither the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor the Russian intelligence service warned him away from them.
The Staff has reviewed an official Japanese document that corroborate limited aspects of the above allegations. The document states:

In Fall 1991, Aum Shinrikyo gave a message promising aid to Russia, to a Russian business person in Tokyo who had been asking many organizations for such aid.

In December 1991, this business person visited Rusa with Hayakawa, then the cult's administration director, and met with Mr. Lobov, the President of Russian-Japan College, present Russian Secretary of Security Council, Mr. Muravjbv, the Secretary General, and Mr. Khushchov, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees.

In February 1992, Mr. Lobov was invited to Japan by Nissho-Iwai Co., Ltd, and met with Asahara.

In March 1992, by chartering an Aeroflot aircraft, a delegation of 300 cult followers headed by Asahara visited Russia and met with Rutskoy, Khasbulatov, and Lobov.In addition, the Staff has been able to confirm, through a visit to the Kurchatov Institute, that an employee of the Institute was, and still is, a member of the Aum. The nature of any of the relationships alleged above, if indeed a relationship existed, remains unconfirmed.

had been assisted in its penetration into Russia by Russian intelligence services.".

Allegations of Influence In Russia

Much has been written in the press about the relationship between the Aum and officials of thRussian government. Most of these allegations have been denied, in whole or in part, by the officials in question. Little has actually been confirmed by U.S. or Japanese government officials.
The following are some of the allegations made by Russian and Japanese press reports:

That Asahara led a delegation of 300 Aum members to Russia in March 1992. During that trip, Asahara met with Parliament Vice President Aleksandr Rutskoy and former Russian paiament speaker Ruslan Khasbulatov.

That Russian parliamentarian Vitaliy Savitsky, chairman of the Duma's Religious Affairs Committee told fellow parliamentarians that, " his committee seriously suspected that Aum Shinrikyo had been assisted in its penetration into Russia by Russian intelligence services."

That the premier nuclear research facility in Russia, the Kurchatov Institute, had Aum followers as employees.

That during 1992-93 Aum leaders visiting Russia approached Russian science ofcials to seek laser and nuclear technologies and that Shoko Asahara met Nikolay Basov while Asahara was. in Moscow in 1992. Basov is a 1964 Nobel prize winner for his research on the principle of laser technology.

That Secretary of the Russian Security Council, Oleg Lobov, received anywhere from $500,000 to even $100 million from the Aum. This relationship started in December 1991 and continued through 1995.

That a Russian known to be a secretary of Lobov' sent facsimiles to Hayakawa in Japan and that Hayakawa visited Lobov during his visits to Russia throughout the 1992-1995 time period.

That no one from Moscow asked Russian Embassy officials to check out the Aum and that Lobov met with Aum officials on his own, without informing the Embassy or asking its advice. The sources said that the February 1992 meeting was agreed to without the participation of the Russian Foreign Ministry or intelligence services prior to Lobov's trip to Japan. No leading Embassy staffers were present at the meeting.All of the officials have denied allegations that they helped the Aum.