2023-07-01 20:39:00
Recapture the territories occupied by Russia and then negotiate a ceasefire. It is the plan that Ukraine illustrated to the CIA a few days ago. At the beginning of June, the director of the CIA, William Burns, was on a visit – with a mission that has remained secret until now – in Ukraine. On this occasion, Kiev revealed an “ambitious strategy” to regain control of the territories occupied by the Russians and start ceasefire negotiations with Moscow by the end of the year, as reported by the Washington Post.
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Military strategists in Kiev showed optimism about the goal of recapturing significant territory by the autumn, moving artillery and missile systems near the border line with Crimea, advancing further in the east of the country and then starting negotiations with Moscow for the first time since peace talks broke down in March last year.
Burns’ visit, prior to Yevgeni Prigozhin’s failed uprising in Russia, included meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and top intelligence officials in Kiev. “Director Burns was recently in Ukraine, as he has done regularly since the beginning of the recent Russian aggression more than a year ago,” said a US official. The goal of the mission was to reaffirm the Biden administration’s commitment to sharing intelligence information to aid Ukraine’s defense.
“Russia will negotiate only if it feels threatened,” a senior Ukrainian official said. But, writes the Post, it remains to be seen whether Ukraine will be able to implement these plans, with such a short timescale, and the CIA declined to comment on Burns’ assessments of the offensive’s prospects.
Burns, in the days characterized by Prigozhin’s ‘near coup’ in Russia, called directly after the Russian intelligence leaders, in particular the director of the foreign intelligence service, SVR, to assure Moscow that Washington had not had no part in the mutiny.
On Monday, US President Joe Biden defined Prigozhin’s march on Moscow as part of an internal struggle within the Russian system in which the United States and its allies were in no way involved.
SPIES IN RUSSIA
US CIA director William Burns stressed that discontent with the war in Ukraine provided a “unique opportunity” for the recruitment of spies in Russia and proposed to take advantage of it. “Disaffection with the war will continue to gnaw at the Russian leadership despite propaganda and state repression. Such disaffection creates a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us, for the CIA. We will try not to waste it,” underlined Burns who attended an event organized by the Ditchley Foundation in England.
Specifically, Burns referred to a recent initiative on the popular Russian social network Telegram which explains to Russians how to contact the CIA safely via the dark web and which has already had 2.5 million views in just one week. “We are very open to business”, explains the director of the CIA.
Burns also referred to the recent rebellion by Wagner Group leader Yevgeni Prigozhin and stressed that his actions and movements prior to the capture of Rostov-on-Don are evidence of how the war has undermined Russian President Vladimir Putin’s power.
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