the situation in Russia provides great opportunities for recruiting agents – Kommersant

William Burns, director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), claims that the situation in Russia gives his structure ample opportunity to recruit agents. According to him, the CIA and other American intelligence agencies are currently stepping up their activities in this direction.

“The dissatisfaction of Russian citizens with military actions in Ukraine provides a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the CIA, which is based on undercover intelligence. We will by no means let this opportunity disappear,” said Mr. Burns in a lecture at the Ditchley Foundation in Oxfordshire, UK (quoted from Reuters). According to him, at present, the Central Intelligence Agency needs to make every effort to use the agency’s new opportunities to recruit agents in the Russian Federation. He also considers it important to conduct work to search for potential CIA agents in states friendly to Moscow.

In the same speech, the head of the CIA declaredthat Kyiv’s Western allies should not underestimate Russian President Vladimir Putin’s desire to “get control of Ukraine.” William Burns believes that the West should be ready for any scenario, including the prolongation of the military conflict.

Also, Mr. Burns said that the United States had nothing to do with the attempted armed rebellion in Russia arranged by the founder of the private military company (PMC) Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin. He stressed that this situation is “an exclusively internal affair of Russia” and Washington is not going to participate in it in any way.

Alexander Kislov