Gallery: Hiding in Plain Sight: In-Depth Photos Track International Weapons Deals
Mari Bastashevski01State Business II
*AN 32 and UkrOboronProm officials in charge of a liaison between Antonov and Indian Defense Ministry with a honorary diploma from the cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. From the series* State Business.
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*Port of Durres, Albania, from the series* State Business *(Chapter I). In 2010, Albania's state export control agency (AKSHE) issued export licenses for controlled goods to Montenegro, the Czech Republic and Yemen. However, Albania'€™s exports to Montenegro for 2010 do not match Montenegro's controlled goods reports. Albanian reports list 65,040 mortar shells exported with Montenegro as the End User. Montenegro'€™s report shows that 53,528 shells were exported to Armenia, the origin of which was Albania. In 2009 Albania exported 2.5 million dollars worth of small arms to Montenegro, but shells are not listed. Erald Dervishi, head of AKSHE, denies knowledge of any Albanian weapons going to Armenia.*
Mari Bastashevski03State Business II
*Yuzhmash Avia head office, Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine. From the series* State Business *(Chapter II).*
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*"Fundraiser, Ukraine," from the series* State Business *(Chapter II).*
Mari Bastashevski05State Business I
*"Riedbach, Switzerland. View from BT International head office," from the series* State Business *(Chapter I). Henrich Thomet co-founded Swiss arms manufacturer Brügger & Thomet in 1991. In 2005, he sold his shares to his partner and left the company. Since then he has continued brokering arms deals through Swiss-registered BT International, a family company founded more than 20 years ago. BT International currently owns Tara Group, a weapons manufacturer in Montenegro. While still at Brügger & Thomet, he created Talon, an Israeli arms exporter, together with Shmuel Avivi, Israel's defense attache in Switzerland. Avivi was later tried and convicted of breach of trust in Israel. In 2007, Thomet brokered an arms deal in which Albania sold dated Chinese ammunition to the US. Thomet has also been tied to selling arms to Zimbabwe. Thomet has been on a US Department of State watch list for potential arms traffickers since 2006, for reasons classified by the CIA.*
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*Excerpt from* State Business*: "... In 1951 A.M Makarov Southern Machine-Building Plant, or Yuzhmash, began designing and manufacturing military rockets and missiles. by the 1960s it was also producing space launch vehicles, becoming the soviet union’s premier space research and development center. Yuzhmash created the Soviet Union’s first nuclear armed rockets, and its first ICBMS. During the cold war such activities were classified, and Yuzhmash was billed as a manufacturer of tractors and kitchen equipment until the collapse of the Soviet Union. After the Ukraine’s independence the company has remained wholly state-owned. Yuzhmash key export markets are Russian Federation and United States."*
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*Google Earth View of Nakhichevan and Nasosnaya Airbase. From the series* State Business *(Chapter II).* Nakhichevan Airbase is a civilian airport and Azerbaijani air-force base located in an autonomous landlocked enclave with the same name. Nakhichevan is separated from mainland Azerbaijan by Armenian territory. Nakhichevan’s leader, Vasif Talibov, is related by marriage to the Aliyevs, Azerbaijan presidential family. Recently, Nakhichevan employees leaked video-tapes showing alleged illicit transferral of goods. They were subject to a military tribunal and charges of military espionage. One employee has died, his family lawyer suggests it was from torture while authorities claim it was a sudden onset of cancer. Others have since then been released while others have fled.
Mari Bastashevski08State Business II
*"Pavlograd Chemical Plant." The image shows a [RT-23 Molodet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RT-23_Molodets) ballistic missile, called "Scalper" by NATO. From the series* State Business*.* Excerpt from State Business*: "... Pavlograd Mechanical Plant and Pavlograd Chemical Plant were founded before World War II but did not gain prominence until the mid 1960s when the Mechanical Plant began manufacturing solid-fuel rocket engines and the Chemical Plant began specializing in production of the solid fuel for the rockets. The location of these plants was considered a state secret during the Soviet era. Eight years ago, the Pavlograd Chemical Plant has been contracted by NATO and Ukroboronservice to participate in an ambitious demilitarization program aimed at disarming Ukraine’s surplus stocks of ammunition and anti-personnel mines."*
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*"Yuzhmash construction and stockpile facility in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine," from the series* State Business *(Chapter II).*
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*"Residency compound for foreign oil investors, Baku Azerbaijan," from the series* State Business *(Chapter II).*
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*[DIA Holding](http://www.icij.org/offshore/offshore-companies-provide-link-between-corporate-mogul-and-azerbaijans-president), Baku, Azerbaijan. From an ongoing untitled series.*
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*A Facebook personal page of an "Artic Group Ltd." director, from the series* State Business *(Chapter II). Artic Group Ltd. is a Ukrainian aviation and logistics brokering company that has ties to many firms and states within Bastashevski's research.*
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*A diplomatic gathering hosted by Moroccan Embassy at the Landmark Hotel Baku, Azerbaijan, from an ongoing untitled series. OSCE mission, as well as the British and European Union Embassies, are located at the Landmark Hotel. The hotel and its business center also houses a number of large international business and is one of the locations used by the presidential family to house its honorable guests: businessmen, politicians, and journalists. When invited, all expenses are covered by Azerbaijan’s Gymnastics Federation, an organization chaired by Ilham Aliyev’s wife, Mehriban Aliyeva. The Landmark also provides lunch for British Petroleum, whose offices are located in a neighboring building.*
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*"Dragan Dabić," from the series* The Dabić
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*"Dragica Dabić," from the series* The Dabić
Mari Bastashevski16Radoslav Dabic
*"Radoslav Dabić," from the series* The Dabić
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*"Jovana Dabić," from the series* The Dabić
mari bastashevski18works 2012
*"17 passports of Doctor Branco Radulovic," The Yugoslav passport, distributed to citizens of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, was allegedly the most stolen and falsified passport in the word. Yugoslavia's neutral position during the Cold War enabled holders of the passport unrestricted travel through nearly all of the European states in both Eastern and Western Blocks. The defunct passports hold nostalgic value and is considered a memorabilia item by many former Yugoslavians. Branco Radulovic 95, was Tito's personal physician, and considers himself one of the greatest practitioners of orthopedics in history. From the series* Privileged|Confidential *(ongoing).*
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*Left: Educated in the United States, Mustafa Ceric failed a number of finals before turning to religion as a profession and becoming an imam in Zagreb. During the '92-'95 Bosnian War he was active in Sarajevo as the deputy reis-ul-ulema of the Islamic Community, an organization focused on the needs of Bosnian Muslims. His involvement eventually led to Ceric’s current position as Grand Mufti, the highest clerical title in Bosnia. Alongside his religious activities, Ceric worked as an agent for Socialist Croatia’s secret police. His name appears on a published list of government informers, under the code-name "Vizier."* Right: Vojislav Carkic, also known as Pop Zuco, served as an army priest in the Vojska Republika Srpska during the Bosnian War. In this capacity he blessed the canons firing on Sarajevo, at one point remarking that “In a military uniform or robe, I am always a soldier of Christ and a soldier of the Serbian people.” Before the war Zuco was active in the budding Orthodox Serbian charity movement. At the same time, he was an informer for the Yugoslavian secret police, the UDBA. His name appears on a published list of government informers, under the code-name "Piccolo."
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*"Hotel Moskva," from the series* Privileged|Confidential *(ongoing). Located in central Belgrade, Hotel "Moskva" opened in 1908. During the German occupation of Belgrade in World War II, it was commandeered by the Gestapo. During the NATO bombings of Belgrade during the Kosovo conflict the hotel served as headquarters for Western reporters. Moskva is currently owned by Mile Dragic. Aside from owning the hotel, Dragic is head of Mile Dragic Production, a Serbian arms manufacturing and exporting company. In 2005 Dragic made headlines by purchasing a majority stake in Moskva for € 8.45 million, acting as a representative of a company registered in Belize. Later that same year Dragic was accused of giving bribes to government officials in order to secure questionable military contracts. Although the ensuing scandal led to ministerial resignations, Dragic was soon released. He currently lives and works in Belgrade and Oslo.*
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*"Sveti Stefan Aman Resort, Montenegro," from the series* Privileged Confidential *(ongoing). During the communist era, Alexander Nevsky church located on the island was demolished by the communists. In the '50s locals were removed from the land and the lsland was then transformed into a city-hotel for the rich and famous on both sides of the Iron Curtain. In 2006, Aman resort group signed a 30-year lease to renovate and manage the hotel and once again the island became off-limits for the general population. In 2009, Aman group took on an outside investor, billionaire Restis Group, who then took over the property and poured cash into the project through Montenegrin company Adriatic Properties. Villa Milocer opened in 2009 and ran into a number of confrontations with the locals over the access restrictions and the reconstruction of the church. The investors asked the local government to take care of the issue. The reservations are by request only.*
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*A repository of DNA at the Identification Coordination Division (ICD) includes the living relatives of the victims who have gone missing during the Balkan conflicts. Tuzla DNA and other types of reference samples gathered from the relatives as well as the found remains are immediately made anonymous through a bar-code tracking process, allowing for scientific analysis to remain neutral to ethnic origin or religious backgrounds of the individuals. From the series* Privileged|Confidential *(ongoing).*
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*Gas and oil concession map at the Sirte Corporation's International Conference Room, Brega, Libya. From the series* Libya.
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*"Apti Zainalov," from the series* File 126*. In June 2009, human rights organisation Memorial Grozny received information that Apti Zainalov, a victim of abduction who had been reported to them earlier that year, had been spotted in Atchko-Martan hospital with multiple bullet wounds. Apti was unconscious and being kept under strict police surveillance. Memorial launched an immediate inquiry but the organization lost access to Apti after the authorities noticed activity around the hospital. Memorial employees managed to trace a car that moved Apti to a secure facility in Gudermes but they were unable to gain further access. The case was one of the last abductions investigated by Natalia Estemirova, a human rights advocate who was herself abducted and murdered on 15th of July, 2009. While continuing to investigate Zainalov’s case, another employee of Memorial, Akhmed Gisaev, received death threats and emigrated shortly thereafter, fearing for the safety of his family. The whereabouts of Apti remain unknown.*
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*"Batyr Albakov," from the series* File 126*. On the 10th of June, 2009, Batyr Albakov was dragged out of bed by police operatives and driven to an undisclosed location. He remained missing for two weeks until he was confirmed dead by the Nazran morgue, where his body had inexplicably appeared. The body was riddled with bullet wounds and showed signs of severe torture. Ingushetian President Yunus-Bek Evkurov offered his sympathies to Batyr's parents, but insisted that the military contractors who were likely to have been involved in the abduction are not under his command -- they take orders directly from Moscow*
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*"Eldar Navruzov," from the series* File 126*. In March 2008, armed and masked police officers in military fatigues arrested Eldar Navruzov in Makchatchkala, Dagestan. They drove him to an undisclosed location and said: -Don’t make it any worse for yourself, confess that you’re a Wahhabi." At first he refused, but after hours of sustained torture he gave in. His confession stated that he was part of a gang led by Vadim Budaev, who had been killed earlier that year. Two months after his arrest, Eldar’s case was assigned a lawyer, but the testimonies of neighbors who witnessed the abduction were not added to his case until eight months later. In February 2009, Eldar was released, but forbidden to leave town until the trial. He was abducted again in November 2009 and remains missing.*
