Moscow is mocking the CIA's effort to recruit spies from Russia by using social media.
A video posted by the CIA on social media platforms shows "a fictionalized Russian making the difficult but important decision to secretly contact CIA," according to the American intelligence agency's YouTube channel, Politico reported.
"At CIA, we have a solemn duty to protect those who work with us around the world. If you're reaching out to CIA to share information about Russia, please do so securely via our portal on the dark web," the CIA says in the post. "When possible, CIA has verified its social media accounts through each platform's official process."
The Kremlin laughed off the attempt.
"Somebody should tell the CIA that VKontakte is much more popular here than the banned X and that VKontakte has a much larger audience," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, commenting on the video while referring to the Russian social media platform. Peskov was quoted by Tass, the state-run news agency.
David Marlowe, the CIA's deputy director of operations, spoke to academics in 2022 about the invasion of Ukraine and opportunities for Western intelligence agencies to turn disaffected Russians to their favor.
"[Russian President Vladimir] Putin was at his best moment the day before he invaded, when he could have coerced Ukraine, influenced NATO, and proven Russia's might," Marlowe said at George Mason University's Hayden Center. "He squandered every single bit of that.
"We're looking around the world for Russians who are as disgusted with that as we are. Because we're open for business."
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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