07/02/2023 05:14 (act. 07/02/2023 05:14)
CIA Director William Burns/Archive Image ©APA/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA
The US foreign intelligence service, the CIA, wants to take advantage of what it has identified as a growing “disgust” in Russian society for the war in Ukraine for its spying activities. “This antipathy creates a unique opportunity for us at the CIA,” CIA chief William Burns said in a speech at the Ditchley Foundation in Oxfordshire, England, on Saturday. The CIA will not pass up this opportunity.
Burns pointed out that the CIA recently sent a message to the Russians on the Telegram online service. He would tell them how to contact the US Secret Service on what is known as the dark web, a hidden area of the internet. This message from his ministry was viewed 2.5 million times in the first week.
Burns said Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine was having a “dissolving” effect on Russian society and the government of Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin. This was also clear from the brief uprising of the head of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin.
The CIA chief described the attack on the wars as a “strategic failure” for Moscow. This exposed the weaknesses of the Russian army, damaged the Russian economy and set in motion an expansion and strengthening of NATO.