US Foreign Intelligence Service
CIA: War has “corrosive” effect on Russian leadership
The CIA launched a social media campaign a few weeks ago to reach out to people in Russia. photo
© Carolyn Kaster/AP/dpa
CIA boss Burns sees the failed uprising in Russia as new opportunities for recruiting agents. A CIA video on Telegram has been clicked millions of times.
According to the US foreign intelligence service, the Ukraine war is having a “corrosive” effect on the Russian leadership under President Vladimir Putin. The disappointment in Russia about the war offers the CIA new ways to gather intelligence information, CIA director William Burns said at the annual Ditchley Foundation lecture in Oxfordshire, England, on Saturday (local time) – a week after the failed revolt by the Wagner mercenary group in Russia, according to the BBC. “This dissatisfaction creates a unique opportunity for us at the CIA,” Burns said of agent recruitment. “We will not let this opportunity go to waste.”
Burns said the actions of Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin were “a vivid reminder of the corrosive effect of Putin’s war on his own society and regime.” Prigozhin’s actions and statements would have an effect for some time. “Disappointment with the war will continue to gnaw at the Russian leadership.”
The CIA launched a social media campaign a few weeks ago to reach out to people in Russia. According to media reports, a video was published on Telegram explaining how to contact the CIA secretly and anonymously. The video was also published on other social networks. In the first week alone, the video is said to have been clicked 2.5 million times.