MOSCOW, July 10. /TASS/. The FSB and the CIA, by agreement of the presidents of Russia and the United States, prepared a joint operation to eliminate leader of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda (banned in Russia) Osama bin Laden, Nikolay Patrushev, presidential aide and head of the Maritime Board, said in an interview with a Vesti correspondent.
"Each service had its role: on the one hand, there was the CIA, on the other hand, the FSB. They asked us to install a lighthouse to the place where he was located. And they were supposed to strike and eliminate him. That was the deal," Patrushev explained, noting that Russia fulfilled its part of the agreement, while the US did not.
"They were sure that we would not solve the problem. We solved the problem. They didn't dare, they didn't strike."
Patrushev also said that he asked the CIA head why they disrupted the operation but received no answer.
"But we know that he (bin Laden - TASS) was their agent, and they used him for some time. At some moment when he was already getting in the way, I think that by simply compromising the activities of the special services, they eliminated him, as we all saw on the screen," the presidential aide concluded.