Stanley Johnson - Kompromat

‘Now we’re going to hear Bert Rumbold,’ Zhang commented.

Sitting there in Zhongnanhai, Beijing, seven thousand miles from Washington, they heard a low throaty comment: ‘ INF means the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, Ron .’

‘ Thanks so much, Bert. We understand the 9M729s have a range of 620 to 3240 miles. Apparently they hit Syria from the Caspian the other day. So if we agree that their use is compatible with the INF, then Russia can legally hit every capital in Europe. More to the point, perhaps, Russia will able to blast the living daylights out of every city in China .

‘ Let’s take China’s build-up in the South China Seas. I believe the United States must be ready to go to war with China over these illegal bases. But it would be better still if Russia and the US could take a coordinated approach. We can say to China “Pull back from the Spratlys” or the Russians will whack Chengdu or Xian or wherever with their 9M729 missiles can reach. We could also put pressure on them to deal with North Korea, tell North Korea to nix their nuclear testing programme, for example. And if the Chinese don’t deal with North Korea, we will! ’

‘Good God,’ President Liu Wang-Ji exclaimed. ‘This is dynamite!’

A new silky, cultivated voice, speaking perfect English, was to be heard on the recording:

‘ Interesting. Very interesting, ’ Georgiy Reznikov said . ‘ Let’s talk about global warming too? As you may know, President Popov believes that Siberia should blossom like the rose. He believes Russia needs the massive increase of productivity in Siberia that global warming will make possible. How can a Craig Administration help here ?’

‘ We can help bigly, ’ they heard Craig reply. ‘ Global warming’s bullshit, a giant hoax perpetrated by the Chinese to grab American jobs. I’ll make sure we pull out of the Paris Agreement. I’ll dismember the EPA – the Environmental Protection Agency – and revive the American coal industry. Believe you me, we can warm up Siberia in no time at all. One degree, two degrees, three degrees, ROCK! We’ll rock around the clock tonight! Remember Bill Haley and his Comets, Ambassador ?’

Sensing that the US Republican presidential candidate was on a roll, Georgiy Reznikov quickly interrupted. ‘ Thank you, gentlemen. This has been a most productive meeting. I can assure you that President Popov will be pleased. In view of what I have heard today I am authorized to tell you that between now and Election Day we will make sure that our cache of emails from the Democratic National Committee, including those from Caroline Mann, the Democratic presidential candidate, is deployed to the fullest possible extent. We further undertake to offer Craig Shipping and Craig Oil the most favourable terms possible as far as their operations in the Russian Arctic are concerned .’

Reznikov paused. ‘ Of course, we will, I hope, have further conversations, many further conversations when Ron – may I call you Ron? – is elected. But perhaps our discussions today will do for starters .’

‘ Just one thing ,’ Craig intervened. ‘ Don’t forget about my old friend Mickey Selkirk. Selkirk Global is planning a major expansion in Russia. I think he has his eyes on Pravda and Izvestia as well as RT, Russian television! ’

‘ I am sure President Popov will be pleased to hear that too ,’ Reznikov replied.

Zhang turned the recording off. ‘There’s more where that came from. Of course, we don’t listen to all of it. Normally, we just store the recordings after checking electronically for key words. What we’ve just heard happens to be particularly interesting.’

President Liu Wang-Ji stood up and put his arm round Zhang’s shoulder. ‘Well done, old friend. You have been tested and have not been found wanting. Don’t forget to take those US-Flag boxer shorts with you when you go.’

Halfway to the door, President Liu Wang-Ji paused: ‘That Logan Act you mentioned. That’s a pretty old statute, isn’t it? Dates from 1799? Is it still in force?’

‘It certainly is,’ Zhang replied.

President Liu Wang-Ji didn’t miss a trick, he thought. That was probably why Liu was President and he wasn’t.

Galina Aslanova, head of Special Projects in the FSB’s Moscow Headquarters, had been required to undertake many strange assignments in the course of her career as a secret agent. She had learned how to assassinate people with undetectable poisons, how to kill them with a single blow of the hand, how to hack computers and siphon money from bank accounts. But up till now she had never been asked to impersonate a schoolgirl from Illinois.

Yuri Yasonov came to see her with less than ten days to go before the US Presidential Election. ‘I’ve had a message from our people in Washington,’ he said. ‘They think Craig’s in trouble. He’s closing the gap on Mann, but not fast enough. We’ve got to do more.’

‘What more can we do?’ Galina asked.

As the operative with overall responsibility for Tectonic Plate, the FSB’s project designed to change the whole structure of international politics, Galina was quite ready to do whatever was necessary to influence or subvert normal democratic processes but on this particular occasion, with time running out, she was at a loss.

‘I’ve been thinking about it,’ Yuri said. ‘I think we have to get the FBI to reopen the enquiry into Caroline Mann’s emails. I’m not criticizing you, Galina. Please don’t get me wrong. At the technical level, the FBI couldn’t have been more helpful. We handed them 30,000 of Caroline Mann’s hacked emails, via WikiLeaks. Wilbur Brown, the FBI director, put his analysts to work as we always assumed he would. Whatever the political pressures might have been on him to do nothing, he could hardly duck that one. And the analysts came up with a conclusion which was totally helpful to us.’

Yuri Yasonov paused while he consulted his papers.

‘Okay, I’ve found it,’ he continued. ‘The FBI read every single email and concluded – and now I’m quoting – that “out of the fifty-two email chains determined by the owning agency to contain classified information, eight of those chains contained information that was Top Secret at the time they were sent; thirty-six chains contained Secret information at the time; and eight contained Confidential information, which is the lowest level of classification”.’

Yasonov put the paper aside. ‘So where did our scheme go wrong?’ he asked. ‘Confronted with the evidence, why didn’t the FBI bring criminal charges? They should have. We thought they were going to. Criminal charges at this point of her campaign would have holed Caroline Mann below the waterline. But what happens? What does Wilbur Brown, the FBI director, do? He lets Caroline Mann off with a slap on the wrist. Tells her she’s been a naughty girl, and “extremely careless” and please don’t do it again.’

‘I’m not sure where this is going?’ Galina said.

‘I’ll tell you where it’s going,’ Yuri Yasonov replied. ‘We’re going to force the director of the FBI to reopen the enquiry. He may not have time actually to conclude the new enquiry before Election Day. That doesn’t matter. It may not discover anything new anyway. But the very fact that the FBI is focussing attention yet again on those illegal Caroline Mann emails at this late stage should be enough to sink her. She’ll haemorrhage votes, I promise you.’

‘So how do we persuade Wilbur Brown to take another look at this?’ Galina asked. ‘Some piece of Kompromat, perhaps? Something that might persuade him to change his mind?’