Former Uzbek Spy Goes Public
(PRAGUE, Czech Republic) A former Uzbek intelligence officer tells RFE/RL in an exclusive interview that President Islam Karimov personally ordered troops to fire on protesters during the 2005 Andijon massacre and accuses the government of being behind countless attacks, including a 2004 plane crash that killed a UN official.
Ikrom Yakubov, a 27 year-old former major in the Uzbek National Security Service (SNB) has been sharing his story with RFE/RL for the past two months from an undisclosed location. His decision is the culmination of a long and risky journey: from an intelligence officer who reported directly to Karimov to the realization that he no longer wanted “to work for the executioner.” His credibility rests on nearly a decade as an SNB officer, including two years as a member of the president’s National Security Council.