ARTICLE
CIA chief: The uprising in Russia shows ‘signs of weakness’ in Putin’s rule
NPR
Greg Myre
Updated July 21, 20234:04 PM ET
https://www.npr.org/2023/07/21/1189110621/cia-chief-the-uprising-in-russia-shows-signs-of-weakness-in-putins-rule
CIA Director William Burns said that a recent uprising by a mercenary group in Russia exposed “signs of weakness” in President Vladimir Putin’s regime and contributed to growing discontent among Russians.
“Putin has constructed his image around the notion that he is the arbiter of order in the Russian system,” Burns said Thursday. But last month’s brief rebellion by mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin challenged the persona Putin had cultivated for more than two decades.
“What we saw was Russian security services, the Russian military, Russian decision-makers adrift, or they appeared to be adrift, for those 36 hours. The question was, ‘Does the emperor have no clothes?’ Or at least, ‘Why is it taking so long for him to get dressed?’” Burns added.
The spy chief took several jabs at the Russian leader during at interview with NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly, co-host of All Things Considered, at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.
During the rebellion, Putin denounced Prigozhin in harsh terms, but met with him only days later and agreed not to prosecute him. Prigozhin is now believed to be in neighboring Belarus, where some of his mercenaries have apparently followed the man often referred to as “Putin’s chef.”
“What was remarkable to me was the way in which Putin felt compelled to do a deal with his former caterer,” Burns told Kelly.
AN OPPORTUNITY TO RECRUIT SPIES
The spy chief said this turbulence in Russia, and growing disaffection with the war in Ukraine was creating fertile ground for the CIA to recruit Russians to spy on behalf of the U.S.
“It would be crazy for us not to take advantage of what is, in effect, a once-in-a-generation opportunity for a human intelligence service,” Burns said.
The CIA recently posted a video on the Telegram app providing Russians with a secure way to contact the U.S. spy agency. Burns said it received 2.5 million views the first week it was posted.
“So the truth is, there’s a lot of disaffection in Russia, in the elite and outside it, in Russia right now,” he said.
Russia continues to unleash daily airstrikes on Ukraine, and this week the focus is the southern port city of Odesa and surrounding areas. Ukraine exports most of its grain from Odesa, and Russia announced it was suspending a deal that has allowed Ukraine to send its agricultural products through the Black Sea, which is controlled by Russia.
“What Putin is trying to do is wreck the Ukrainian economy and wreak real havoc on innocent Ukrainian civilians,” Burns said. “What Putin is engaged in is a very systematic effort. It’s not just about pulling out of the grain deal. It’s also about three nights in a row of intensive attacks in port cities against grain storage facilities.”
Ukraine last month began a counteroffensive in an attempt to dislodge Russian forces in the east and the south. But progress has been limited, with heavy casualties on both sides.
“I don’t think it should come as a surprise to anyone that the counteroffensive is a hard slog. Offense is a lot harder than defense. The Russians have had months to prepare. I am, however, an optimist,” he said, adding that he ultimately expected Ukraine to make some advances.
A LONG HISTORY WITH RUSSIA
Burns has played a prominent role in the U.S. efforts to support Ukraine. He’s made multiple visits to Ukraine, including one just last month, as part of the increasingly close intelligence partnership between the two countries.
In another reflection of his role in the administration, President Biden announced on Friday that he is elevating Burns to be a member of his Cabinet.
“It seems to me that William Burns is in many ways the right man, at the right place, at the right time,” said Calder Walton, a national security specialist at Harvard and author of the new book, Spies: The Epic Intelligence Battle Between East and West.
“With his background as a diplomat and his deep knowledge, particularly on Russia, this was an absolute godsend for the U.S. intelligence community when Putin launched his war in February 2022,” said Walton.
Walton believes Burns played a key role in the U.S. decision to declassify some of the intelligence on Russia’s war plans in advance of the invasion. The move is widely seen as helping galvanize international support for Ukraine and preventing Russia from developing its own narrative about the conflict.
In his interview, Burns also offered his assessment of possible Chinese military action against Taiwan.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has said his country’s military should be prepared to carry out an invasion by 2027, and Burns was asked if he thought that was likely.
“Today, President Xi and the People’s Liberation Army leadership have doubts about whether they could pull off a successful, full-scale invasion of Taiwan at acceptable cost to them,” Burns replied.
“I think no foreign leader has paid more careful attention to Putin’s experience in Ukraine than President Xi has, as he thinks about Taiwan. And I think that’s probably reinforced some of those doubts,” he added. “But having said all that, I don’t think any of us at CIA or in the U.S. intelligence community underestimate President Xi’s commitment eventually to try to control Taiwan.”
Since taking over as CIA direction a little more than two years ago, Burns has established a China Mission Center dedicated to the country seen as the most serious long-term U.S. adversary.
However, this project is seen as a major challenge given China’s vast, cutting-edge surveillance systems that make the country so difficult for foreign intelligence agencies to penetrate.
Before taking the top job at CIA, Burns was a diplomat for more than three decades, including a stint as U.S. ambassador to Russia. He sometimes jokes that most of his white hair came from dealing with Putin.
So who was the “creepiest” foreign leader he ever had to deal with? Answer: Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, who was overthrown and killed in 2011.
“You know, Gadhafi was in a class by himself,” Burns said.
VIDEOS
1. There will be new uprisings in Russia, there is evidence
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2. ANOTHER UKRANIAN STRIKE - HUGE RUSSIAN AMMUNITION DEPOT IS HIT IN CRIMEA || 2023
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Turns out that all the shuffle or reassigned Russian military officers have ended up being the Cadre for a newly trained 500K Corps, and the weakness or disagreement with Putin was an elaborate Deception to trick Ukraine into the meat grinder. That Ukraine doubled down on the failing offensive in the exact locations without success is proof Russia gave desperately needed false hope that has resulted in six weeks of losses.
If it doesn’t happen until September, it will all be very clear when Russia launches it Northern invasion and cluster munitions catch Ukraine unprepared, that the gravest judgment error Ukraine has made is mainstream the use of these bombs.
No way in hell the West (France,US, British Empire) can match the sheer numbers of this inhumane weapon.
Meeting with Permanent Members of the UN Security Council, July 21, 2023 (contiguous excerpt from here:
We can see the public opinion changing in Europe, too. Both the Europeans and European elites see that support for Ukraine is, in fact, a dead end, an empty, endless waste of money and effort, and in fact, serving someone else’s interests, which are far from European: the interests of the overseas global hegemon, which benefits from the weakening of Europe. The endless prolongation of the Ukrainian conflict is also beneficial to it.
Judging by the actual state of affairs, this is exactly what today’s US ruling elites are doing. Anyways, this is the logic they follow. It is largely questionable whether such a policy is in line with the American people’s true, vital interests; this is a rhetorical question, and it is up to them to decide.
However, massive efforts are being taken to stoke the fire of war – including by exploiting the ambitions of certain East European leaders, who have long turned their hatred for Russia and Russophobia into their key export commodity and a tool of their domestic policy. And now they want to capitalise on the Ukrainian tragedy.
In this regard, I cannot refrain from commenting on what has just been said and on media reports that have come out about plans to establish some sort of the so-called Polish-Lithuanian-Ukrainian unit. This is not about a group of mercenaries – there are plenty of them there and they are being destroyed – but about a well-organised, equipped regular military unit to be used for operations in Ukraine, including to allegedly ensure the security of today’s Western Ukraine – actually, to call things by their true name, for the subsequent occupation of these territories. The outlook is clear: in the event Polish forces enter, say, Lvov or other Ukrainian territories, they will stay there, and they will stay there for good.
And we will actually see nothing new. Just to remind you, following WWI, after the defeat of Germany and its allies, Polish units occupied Lvov and adjacent territories that had been part of Austria-Hungary.
With its actions incited by the West, Poland took advantage of the tragedy of the Civil War in Russia and annexed certain historical Russian provinces. In dire straits, our country had to sign the Treaty of Riga in 1921 and recognise the annexation of its territories.
Even earlier, back in 1920, Poland captured part of Lithuania – the Vilnius region, a territory surrounding the present-day Vilnius. So they claimed that they fought together with the Lithuanians against so-called Russian imperialism, but then immediately snatched a piece of land from their neighbour as soon as the opportunity presented itself.
As is well known, Poland also took part in the partition of Czechoslovakia following the Munich Agreement with Adolf Hitler in 1938, by fully occupying Cieszyn Silesia.
In the 1920-1930s, Poland’s Eastern Borderlands (Kresy) – a territory that comprises present-day Western Ukraine, Western Belarus and part of Lithuania – witnessed a tough policy of Polonisation and assimilation of local residents, with efforts to suppress local culture and Orthodoxy.
I would also like to remind you what Poland’s aggressive policy led to. It led to the national tragedy of 1939, when Poland’s Western allies threw it to the German wolf, the German miliary machine. Poland actually lost its independence and statehood, which were only restored thanks in a large measure to the Soviet Union. It was also thanks to the Soviet Union and thanks to Stalin’s position that Poland acquired substantial territory in the west, German territory. It is a fact that Poland’s western lands are a gift from Stalin.
Have our Warsaw friends forgotten this? We will remind them.
Today we see that the regime in Kiev is ready to go to any length to save its treacherous hide and to prolong its existence. They do not care for the people of Ukraine or Ukrainian sovereignty or national interests.
They are ready to sell anything, including people and land, just like their ideological forefathers led by Petlyura, who signed the so-called secret conventions with Poland in 1920 under which they ceded Galicia and Western Volhynia to Poland in return for military support. Traitors like them are ready now to open the gate to their foreign handlers and to sell Ukraine again.
As for the Polish leaders, they probably hope to form a coalition under the NATO umbrella in order to directly intervene in the conflict in Ukraine and to bite off as much as possible, to “regain,” as they see it, their historical territories, that is, modern-day Western Ukraine. It is also common knowledge that they dream about Belarusian land.