US intelligence service recruit spies in Kremlin

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Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine gave USintelligence agencies a rare opportunity to recruitKremlin insiders angry about the war.

As the head of the Central Intelligence Agency,Bill Burns noted last year that dissatisfaction withthe war creates a once-in-a-generation

opportunity.Recruitment efforts are not a state secret. Duringthe war, the CIA released Russian-language

videos appealing to Russians dissatisfied withthe invasion who had access to informationuseful to the United States. It underscores theevolution of an intelligence service that haslargely carried out its tasks under the cloak ofsecrecy.

The intelligence posts provide step-by-stepinstructions for potential whistleblowers onavoiding detection by using virtual privatenetworks and the Tor web browser to contact theagency anonymously on the so-called "dark web",according to CNN.
"As during the Cold War, espionage remains a

vital tool on both sides of the latest conflict, as

evidenced by tech-savvy American intelligenceagents who are trying to recruit new agents inplain sight, as well as Russian-linked operativeswho are reportedly have stepped up theiractivities across Europe", CNN adds.According to Douglas London, the former headof the CIA's overseas division, directlyapproaching potential informants is an unusualapproach but one that can prove effective.Since the beginning of the full-scale war, Russiahas intensified the activity of its spy networksthroughout Europe. The latter's task is to commitsabotage, gather the information they need, orundermine support for Ukraine. Russian spiesbungled preparations for the war and were thenexpelled from Europe en masse. But newevidence gathered by the Royal United ServicesInstitute, a think-tank in London, shows that theyare learning from their errors, adjusting theirtradecraft and embarking on a new phasepolitical warfare against the West.