Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov slammed a new CIA ploy to recruit Russians and emphasized that foreign intelligence services have not let up in their efforts. Peskov added that he is positive that Russian counterintelligence is also monitoring the field.
In a short but pretentious clip, published by the US spy agency, it said that "for the first time, the CIA is establishing a presence on Telegram – to reach those who feel compelled to engage the CIA." The agency specified that it is looking for information about the Russian economy and key political figures.
The clandestine US spy agency’s channel posted a video message urging Russians to heed its instructions on how to connect with the CIA secretly via dark net. Moreover, American intelligence called on Russian military officers, diplomats, scientists or even people who are simply in touch with such figures, to engage in contact.
In remains unclear, if the CIA is really desperate to get more sources in the country or simply believes in its own propaganda about Russian people, hoping to get a lot of feedback from people unhappy with the current government.
However, sociological research debunks US intel's assumption as a complete falsehood. A February study carried out by Russia's Public Opinion Research Center shows that 80% of Russians trust Vladimir Putin and 77% approve of his work performance.
What’s more important, the attempt to contact the CIA will obviously not go unnoticed by Russian law enforcement agencies and the nation's Criminal Code says that state treason is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, so its obviously not worth chatting with American spies via the dark net.
Startlingly, the messages appeal to patriotism and try to capitalize on Russia's rich culture, quoting Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. The writers would be utterly disgusted if they found out that a foreign spy agency was using their ideas to encourage Russians to stab their Motherland in the back.
This is not the first time, the CIA has fruitlessly attempted to recruit Russian citizens. In November 2022, the agency’s Deputy Director of Operations, David Marlowe, openly acknowledged that the intel service was looking for upset Russians in order to turn them into agents. Russian diplomats stressed that this honest confession indicates that US and NATO are directly involved in Ukrainian crisis and pursue an impossible goal to defeat Russia strategically.
When Moscow launched its special military operation to protect the people of Donbass from the Kiev regime’s aggression, Western countries did their best to turn the crisis into a proxy conflict, de-facto sacrificing the lives of Ukrainians in order to "weaken" Russia. However, at the same time, the US and its allies consistently deny their direct involvement in the hostilities.