The captain of the 1st rank of the US Navy, the ex-chief of staff of the NATO Military Liaison Mission in Moscow Harry Tabach knows well how modern Russia is structured. In 1991, he was appointed to the State Department as an adviser to the United States Ambassador to the Russian Federation. Later, he worked in the "Prisoner of War" commission at the US Embassy in Moscow, searching for prisoners of war and missing Americans.

Therefore, in the first part of the interview with the "Observer" with Harry Tabach, they talked about the terrorist attack in St. Petersburg, the possibilities for regime change in Russia and the right way to seriously weaken the Kremlin.

- You have many years of experience in combating terrorism. Therefore, I wonder what you think about the terrorist attack in St. Petersburg? The Kremlin has always skillfully used the attacks. After Beslan abolished the election of governors. After "Nord-Ost" finished off NTV. So many have doubts ... - There are a lot of theories, and they are all possible. Will we ever know the truth - a big question. My version is a Syrian trail. What did Putin say? "We are fighting in Syria to prevent terrorists from coming to our house". They could show him that it was not so.

One thing is clear: terrorists do not understand how Russians think, and Russians do not understand how terrorists think. Because the terrorists think: "Now we are intimidating them, and they are not a step away". And Russians think: "Terror acts are, of course, scary. But the most important thing is that Putin rescues us from NATO ". These are two different psychologies.

Now the main questions: where did the TNT come from, and who built the bomb? If the people find out that the trail is Syrian, and touched with smuggling came from the Donbas, people will start asking: "Why do we need this Donbass and even more Syria, if we have problems from them?" Why no one asked what we said about this We do not need our boys to perish incomprehensibly for what, we do not need that peaceful people perish in the metro ".

About the city, Peter is not a coincidence. Why not Moscow? Because Putin's house is St. Petersburg. They blew up the bomb the very day he was at home. This is a clear signal addressed specifically to Putin. Although in Moscow, by the way, it is easier to organize.

- Why?.

- Because the big city, more corruption. Terrorism is also corruption. Always you have to bribe someone.

- Why then no one took responsibility?.

- First, it depends on the organization. Secondly, not always those who take responsibility really stand behind the terrorist act.

- Is there a chance that the Chechens are rising?.

- Probability is. But, frankly speaking, I do not see Chechen motivation and Chechen style here. This can be attributed to them, because people are used to. Only now I do not remember such a thing that the Chechens blew up something. They were going to blow up, but in the end, shooting began.

- Well, except that the explosions of apartment buildings in 1999. Although there is still a big question, whether the Chechens put their hand.

- There everything indicates that in the Kremlin they organized. It's like with a downed Malaysian Boeing. There are no other options: the Russian "Buk", Russian mercenaries, by mistake.

- Do you think they will prove it?.

"What's there to prove?" And so everything is clear to all. Just the problem is this: well, have proven, what to do next? If you prove, you need to somehow react? What, the war of Russia to declare?.

- This could be the basis for large sanctions.

- Sanctions do not work. Now if you disconnect them from the SWIFT banking system, this is serious..

- Well, Iran somehow and without SWIFT stretched ... - Iran - not Russia. This is a country of religious fanatics. They have SWIFT, that there is no SWIFT. And Russia is a country of thieves-in-law. They need an interbank system.

- But it is unlikely that Russia will be cut off from SWIFT. If in 2014 they did not dare.

- Unless Russia takes something very serious and radical.

- And maybe?.

- In the case of Russia, nothing can be ruled out. Can attack someone else. It seems that the Belarusians are also at gunpoint.

- And, do you think there will be a continuation of protests in Russia?.

- Yes, they will not flow into anything. The population of Russia is almost 150 million people. And how many protests? Several thousand.

- By the standards of Russia, there is already an event.

- You see, in Russia it has never been such that the people went against the authorities. Pugachev's riots were more of a bandit character, there were no ideas, and they were still suppressed. The only case when people wanted to change something, it seems, is only the Decembrists. That's all. But now in the textbooks on the Decembrists they teach how not to organize protests. In Russia, people do not rebel, unlike Ukraine.

In Russia, it seems, somehow historically it happened: my master rapes me, strangles, beats and humiliates, but all the same I will give my soul to the master. I can not understand this. Napoleon, too, could not. He wrote in his memoirs: "I go, I give them land, freedom for serfs, and they take forks, go into the forest and attack me".

- All because Napoleon was positioned as an external enemy.

- Apparently.

- So, the protests will not give anything, the election is also understandable, than will end. So, Putin forever?.

"Well, he's going to die some day, some kind of death.". But will it change something in Russia, I'm not sure. What in Russia ever changed? If you eat from Moscow for 20 km, then there are people like under Tsar Gorokha lived, and live.

The only thing, maybe it will eventually fall into 5-6 parts: the Caucasus, the Far East will go away. Territories that are closer to the West, will be more democratic, the rest - more despotic. It is difficult to hold such a large territory in one hand.

Russia has always been dangerous. When they speak about the military power of Russia, we, for example, are not afraid of it. But we have a saying: the Russian tank is not so terrible as its drunk crew. They can do this kind of thing, that then you will not dissolve.

- In this context, the hypothetical collapse of Russia is very dangerous.

- Of course. Remember the collapse of the USSR. They say that America has ruined the Soviet Union. Yes, America did everything to ensure that it did not fall apart.

- She was afraid?.

- Yes. I was afraid.

Previously, we had to negotiate with one country, and now with fifteen, and four of them had nuclear weapons. Therefore, we agreed that nuclear weapons remain in Russia, and the rest of the countries are guaranteed inviolability of borders. That's where the whole trick was. Russia violated these borders.

As reported by the "Observer", US President Donald Trump said that the relationship of the States with Russia will never be good.

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