{"id":15919,"date":"2023-07-25T03:41:44","date_gmt":"2023-07-25T08:41:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=15919"},"modified":"2023-07-25T03:41:48","modified_gmt":"2023-07-25T08:41:48","slug":"us-seeks-to-crack-putin-power-with-high-level-russian-spies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=15919","title":{"rendered":"US seeks to crack Putin power with high-level Russian spies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The U.S. and its allies are looking to exploit cracks in Russian President Vladimir Putin\u2019s\u2002<\/u><\/a>power base by recruiting high-level Russian officials to spy for the West. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The effort is taking on new urgency following the shocking but short-lived rebellion by Yevgeny Prigozhin,<\/u><\/a> a former Putin ally who turned his private military Wagner Group against the Kremlin late last month. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

CIA Director William Burns,<\/u><\/a> in his call for recruits among the Russian elite, has said the schism has presented a \u201conce-in-a-generation opportunity\u201d to exploit cracks in Moscow\u2019s upper echelon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think Putin is already a little bit uneasy as he looks over his shoulder,\u201d Burns said in remarks to the Aspen Security Forum Thursday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CIA director\u2019s comments follow a rare speech earlier this week by the chief of the U.K.\u2019s foreign intelligence service, MI6, that echoed the call for Russians who are \u201cappalled\u201d by Putin\u2019s war in Ukraine to reach out to Western intelligence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are many Russians today who are silently appalled by the sight of their armed forces pulverizing Ukrainian cities, expelling innocent families from their homes, and kidnapping thousands of children,\u201d MI6 Chief Richard Moore said in a Wednesday speech in Prague.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u200b\u200b\u201dI invite them to do what others have already done this past 18 months and join hands with us. Our door is always open,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The public remarks build on earlier efforts by intelligence agencies, particularly the CIA and FBI, to appeal to Russians disaffected by Putin\u2019s war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Burns said a CIA video released on Telegram in May telling Russians how they could discreetly contact the spy agency reached 2.5 million views in its first week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Russian-language video depicts fictional Russians grappling with a decision to contact the CIA and demonstrates how using portals on the dark web can help shield their communications from surveillance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The messaging app is one of the most widely used social media tools in Russia, where other sites \u2014 like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram \u2014 are blocked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn today\u2019s Russia, it remains very difficult to speak out, and telling the truth often carries serious consequences,\u201d a CIA official, granted anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, told The Hill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCIA wants to know the truth about Russia, and we are looking for trustworthy people who can tell it to us and with whom we can communicate securely,\u201d they said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The goal is to reach Russian officials who serve in critical fields \u2014 such as the military, intelligence services, scientific research and technology \u2014 or business associates who are connected to these industries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople may also be unaware that what they know is of great value to us,\u201d the official said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re interested in advanced science, military and cyber technology, financial information, sources of valuable data and foreign policy secrets,\u201d the official added, noting that information on senior leadership and the Russian economy is also prized.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russians making the choice to oppose Putin and his government face enormous dangers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yana Gorokhovskaia, research director with the nonprofit organization Freedom House, said that Russia\u2019s erasure of nearly all political freedoms has made speaking out in any way extremely dangerous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is very little room to agitate, and the Kremlin has punished people very severely for speaking out in any way against the war, including making very anodyne comments that this is a war, that Russian soldiers shouldn\u2019t be dying in this way \u2014 people are getting prison sentences,\u201d she said. \u201cThe cost of speaking out is much higher now than it was 20 years ago.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clandestine and public opponents of the government have been targets of assassination attempts and exorbitant prison sentences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018, Sergei Skripal,<\/u><\/a> a former Russian military intelligence official who acted as a double agent for the U.K., survived a poisoning attempt by Russian security services in the British city of Bristol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In April, Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza\u2002<\/u><\/a>was convicted of treason and sentenced to 25 years in prison for opposing Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine, a sentence criticized by the State Department as an act of repression by the Kremlin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who survived an alleged assassination attempt in August 2020, currently faces a 20-year jail sentence on charges of extremism that he and his supporters criticize as attempts to silence dissent.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEveryone in Russia knows that he who seeks justice in court is completely defenseless,\u201d Navalny said in a statement<\/u><\/a> from prison that was read by his supporters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDisputes are resolved by bargaining, authority, bribery, deceit, betrayal and other real-life mechanisms, not by some kind of law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Burns, in his remarks in Aspen, called Putin \u201cthe ultimate apostle of payback\u201d and quipped that Prigozhin \u2014 who is believed to be in exile in Belarus as part of a deal with Putin that ended the rebellion \u2014 should keep his food taster on salary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Putin\u2019s paranoia also appears to extend to those close to him. Russia\u2019s top general, Sergei Surovikin, has disappeared from public view after it was reported he may have had advanced knowledge of Prighozin\u2019s mutiny plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAn atmosphere of paranoia is very bad for any organization \u2014 you don\u2019t share information properly, you don\u2019t trust people, you fire people, etc,\u201d Daniel Byman, senior fellow with the Transnational Threats Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, wrote in an email to The Hill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are probably many Russian officials who are upset about the war, may have a tougher financial situation (and thus be more open to financial inducements), or are otherwise more willing to consider spying than in the past. So there could be potential walk-ins,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Byman added that even if the spy recruitment effort fails, \u201cthe perception being created is that there are a lot of potential US\/UK etc. spies or potential spies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CIA\u2019s recruitment pitch does not explicitly include financial benefits, although the State Department\u2019s \u201cRewards for Justice\u201d program provides significant compensation for actionable intelligence for a basket of U.S. national security priorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the main selling point seems to be affecting change and exercising influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MI6 Chief Moore said that the goal of the U.K.\u2019s intelligence services is to recruit Russians who can \u201chelp us to bring the bloodshed in Ukraine to an end,\u201d not necessarily about overthrowing Putin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s nothing to do about what\u2019s going on in Russia. What happens in Russia is down to Russians ultimately,\u201d Moore said in an interview with Politico following his speech. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Burns, in his remarks in Aspen, said the U.S. and U.K. are \u201caimed at the same objective,\u201d but the CIA official who spoke to The Hill said the agency also wants to know what is happening inside Russia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe remain intently focused on gaining information on Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, but we also recognize that that invasion is a symptom of broader issues in the Russian system, and so we\u2019re seeking broader information on Russia as well.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And what can someone expect when they make the decision to reach out to the CIA?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe would say, please be patient. We thank you for your brave action and we will choose the safest time and manner to respond,\u201d the official said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thehill<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The U.S. and its allies are looking to exploit cracks in Russian President Vladimir Putin\u2019s\u2002power base by recruiting high-level Russian officials to spy for the West.  The effort is taking on new urgency following the shocking but short-lived rebellion by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former Putin ally who turned his private military Wagner Group against the Kremlin late last […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":15920,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[10107,1558,4451,3864,10108],"class_list":["post-15919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-internal-division","tag-officials","tag-putin","tag-recruitment","tag-russian-spies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15919"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15921,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15919\/revisions\/15921"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}