"People who are disgusted": US secret service recruits frustrated Russians - and advertises with Putin video
Created: 11/23/2022 11:26 am
By: Stephanie Munk
The US secret service wants to recruit Russians who are dissatisfied with their President Vladimir Putin as spies.
© Mikhail Metzel/Imago
The Ukraine war gives secret services the chance to recruit disaffected Russians as spies.
The FBI has probably developed its own advertisements for this - with Putin as the main actor.
Washington DC - The US secret service CIA apparently sees the Ukraine war as a great opportunity to recruit Russians as secret agents against the Kremlin regime.
The secret service specifically wants to recruit Russians who are dissatisfied with President Vladimir Putin and the Ukraine war as informants, the US daily
Wall Street Journal
reports .
"We're looking around the world for Russians who are just as disgusted as we are," CIA Intelligence Director David Marlowe said in a speech to academics in the state of Virginia.
"Because we are open to working together."
According to the report, the CIA has long assumed that the dissatisfaction of many Russians with the Ukraine war offers fertile ground for recruiting new informants.
Target groups include disgruntled military officials, oligarchs battered by Western sanctions, Russian businessmen and people who fled Russia.
FBI recruits informants on Facebook and Twitter - with a Putin video of all things
The
Washington Post
reports that the US Criminal Investigation Agency (FBI) is also using a new strategy to attract Russians who are dissatisfied with the Ukraine war.
The agency places online advertising on Facebook, Twitter and Google.
This would be specifically displayed to people who happen to be near the Russian Embassy in Washington DC.
"The ads seek to exploit dissatisfaction or anger among Russian spies and émigrés," the report says.
Specifically, a short video of Putin being shown in the online advertising as he harshly snaps at the head of the Russian foreign intelligence service, Sergey Naryshkin, and publicly dupes him.
Then follow the request to the addressee to contact the FBI if they are frustrated with Putin: "If you have information that could help the FBI, please contact us."
Vladimir Putin (right) publicly embarrassed the head of the foreign intelligence service, Sergey Naryshkin (shaking hands) during an appearance.
The FBI now uses this for themselves.
© Alexei Nikolsky/Imago
CIA spy chief describes Ukraine war as a "massive mistake" by Putin
According to the Wall Street Journal
, CIA spy chief Marlowe described the invasion of Ukraine
as a "massive mistake" by Putin, which would now offer Western secret services the opportunity to recruit frustrated Russians.
With the day of the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian president squandered all his trump cards, the CIA official said - his ability to suppress Ukraine, influence NATO and show Russia is a powerful nation.
also read
Politicians on Russian State TV: Ukrainian population must “freeze to death and rot”
"Were under great pressure": Russian recruits refuse to do military service - and are imprisoned by Putin's army
In the Ukraine war, in addition to what is happening on the battlefield, there is also a battle between the secret services, which, according to the British broadcaster BBC, has intensified in recent months.
Putin is said to have set up a whole network of spies in Europe, who apparently often hide behind normal jobs.
Thousands of Russian agents are also said to be active in Germany.
Among other things, secret service activities were observed at a military base in the Upper Palatinate, where Ukrainian soldiers are being trained.
West expelled hundreds of suspected spies
Several Western countries - including Germany - have expelled hundreds of Russian diplomats from their countries, who are said to be secret service employees.
Russia, in turn, expelled a third of the German diplomats in Russia.
A secret meeting between William Burns, Director of the CIA, and his Russian counterpart Naryschkin in Ankara recently caused a stir.
The CIA chief is said to have warned the director of the Russian foreign intelligence agency SWR against the use of nuclear weapons and a so-called dirty bomb.
(smu)
