“Your information may be more valuable than you think. Contact us.”
The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has launched a massive Russian spy recruitment. It is interpreted as an attempt to strengthen capabilities in the information warfare that intensified after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
According to AFP and CNN on the 15th (local time), the CIA opened a channel called ‘Contact the CIA Safely’ on Telegram that day and uploaded a video about recruiting Russian spies. The video was also posted on other social media platforms such as YouTube and Twitter.
The video, made in Russian, features a Russian bureaucrat and a woman with a child at home, both of whom struggle with their lives.
Afterwards, with the narration, “We will live with dignity thanks to my actions,” the scene ends with a woman in a car looking at a cell phone screen with “Contact the CIA” written on it.
The video does not mention President Vladimir Putin or the war in Ukraine.
In the post shared together, details were also shared on how to contact the CIA anonymously through the dark web browser ‘Tor’.
“The CIA wants to know the truth about Russia and is looking for reliable people who can tell it to them,” he said. “The CIA will take care of your safety. Please contact me.”
A CIA official told CNN, “Ukraine (war) will come to mind first, but it’s just a sign of a bigger problem.”
The CIA estimates that thousands or tens of thousands of people will come from inside and outside Russia, and many of them do not know how to contact the CIA or may not even realize that the information they know is important, so they planned the recruitment.
Another official explained, “The US is not trying to incite rebellion or regime change,” and “it is suggesting a way for some Russians to help their country develop through this.”
Meanwhile, the CIA also recruited Russian spies early in the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) also began recruiting Russian spies before the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.
Source: Donga