CIA Director William Burns, who had recently visited Ukraine and held talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky and intelligence officials, said that the war has given a ‘once-in-a-generation opportunity’ to recruit Russian spies.
“Director Burns recently travelled to Ukraine, as he has done regularly since the beginning of Russia’s recent aggression more than a year ago,” the official said, while speaking to CNN.
“As with other trips, the director met with his Ukrainian intelligence counterparts and President Zelensky, reaffirming the US commitment to sharing intelligence to help Ukraine defend against Russian aggression,” he added.
The official clarified that Burns had travelled to Kyiv before the rebellion of Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, hence it was not discussed between the two leaders.
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Speaking to CNN, another official confirmed that Burns held talks with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Naryshkin after the Wagner group’s rebellion and reiterated that there was no involvement of the United States in the armed resurrection.
He stated the mutiny was an “internal Russian affair in which the United States has had and will have no part.” Burns added that Russia’s “future as a junior partner and economic colony of China” was being shaped “by Putin’s mistakes.”
“Disaffection with the war will continue to gnaw away at the Russian leadership, beneath the steady diet of state propaganda and practised repression,” said Burns on Saturday in remarks to the Ditchley Foundation in England, as per his speech’s transcript.
“That disaffection creates a once-in-a-generation opportunity for us at CIA, at our core a human intelligence service. We’re not letting it go to waste,” he added.
Social media campaign to recruit spies
Earlier, it was reported by CNN that a new effort has been launched by the CIA for recruiting Russian spies which includes a social media campaign aimed at convincing Russians, who are not happy with their life in Russia and the ongoing war against Ukraine, to share their secrets.
Speaking about the Wagner Group’s rebellion, Burns said that the actions and speech of Prigozhin before the attempted march to Moscow by his group show how the war has undermined the power of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
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“It is striking that Prigozhin preceded his actions with a scathing indictment of the Kremlin’s mendacious rationale for its invasion of Ukraine, and of the Russian military leadership’s conduct of the war. The impact of those words and those actions will play out for some time, a vivid reminder of the corrosive effect of Putin’s war on his own society and his own regime,” Burns stated.
“The impact of those words and those actions will play out for some time – a vivid reminder of the corrosive effect of Putin’s war on his own society and his own regime,” he added.
