'Putin's mistakes' giving US 'once-in-a-generation' chance to recruit Russian spies, says CIA director
Speaking at a lecture to the Ditchley Foundation - a charity focused on British-American relations - Mr Burns said dissatisfaction with the war was creating a rare opportunity to recruit spies, which the CIA was capitalising on."Disaffection with the war will continue to gnaw away at the Russian leadership beneath the steady diet of state propaganda and practiced repression," Mr Burns said.
"That disaffection creates a once-in-a-generation opportunity for us at the CIA - at our core a human intelligence service. We're not letting it go to waste." In May, the Kremlin said its agencies were tracking Western spy activity after the CIA published a video encouraging Russians to make contact via a secure internet channel.
The video in Russian was accompanied by text saying the agency wanted to hear from military officers, intelligence specialists, diplomats, scientists and people with information about Russia's economy and leadership.
"It is striking that Prigozhin preceded his actions with a scathing indictment of the Kremlin's mendacious rationale for the invasion of Ukraine and of the Russian military leadership's conduct of the war," said Mr Burns, who served as US ambassador to Russia from 2005 to 2008 and was appointed CIA director in 2021., which may be using cookies and other technologies. To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Ukraine war corrosive for Vladimir Putin - CIA bossWilliam J Burns says dissatisfaction with the conflict in Russia is a valuable recruiting tool.
Read more »
Russian secret service feared Putin assassination attempt on Moscow bridgeA plot to assassinate Vladimir Putin by blowing up his motorcade on a bridge in Moscow was foiled by the secret services.
Read more »
Putin coup 'not over': Zelensky's closest aide says Wagner chaos exposed Russian army weakness“The coup is not over... We saw that [Putin] is weak, and it should be noted that the other result is that Wagner is also very weak and is no longer significant” DavidParsley50 interviews Zelensky’s closest aide Mykhailo Podolyak
Read more »
Plot to assassinate Vladimir Putin foiled by Russian secret serviceThe Federal Protection Service (FSO) has said that explosives were laid under a bridge that the Russian leader was expected to travel across.
Read more »
How Putin Cannibalizes Russian Economy to Survive PersonallyJeffrey Sonnenfeld and Steven Tian: Putin’s financial lifeline has his merciless cannibalization of Russian economic productivity. It's unsustainable
Read more »
Putin seeks to show Russian elite he is ‘strong emperor’\n\t\t\tGet local insights from Lisbon to Moscow with an unrivalled network of journalists across Europe,\n\t\t\texpert analysis, our dedicated ‘Brussels Briefing’ newsletter. Customise your myFT page to track\n\t\t\tthe countries of your choice.\n\t\t
Read more »