By Russia’s foreign intelligence service has released an English-language video inviting American “patriots” concerned about U.S. support for Ukraine to get in touch with the spy agency through secure communications.
Announcing the video Thursday on its website, Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence service mocked what it described as the CIA’s recent “clumsy attempts” to recruit disaffected Russians through “hackneyed” videos and said it was convinced there were Americans who reject Washington’s backing of the Ukrainian government.
The CIA has referred to the turmoil caused by Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to recruit disillusioned Russians.
A Ukrainian soldier fires a howitzernear the border with Russia in Lyptsi, eastern Ukraine, on Jan. 10.Wolfgang Schwan / Anadolu via Getty Images file
The American agency has posted Russian-language videos over the past two years that describe political elites living in luxury, while badly equipped Russian soldiers are dying on the battlefield. The video messages invite Russian spies and government officials to share secrets with the U.S. through a secure link.
The Russian video message comes as the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies face a potential exodus of experienced officers. As part of an effort to shrink the federal workforce, the Trump administration has offered so-called buyouts to CIA and other intelligence community employees, saying the workers can receive eight months pay if they agree to resign now.
In the introduction of the video, the Russian foreign intelligence service says its message is “an appeal to Americans for whom love for their homeland and the ideals of freedom are not an empty phrase.”
It adds: “We know that in the United States there are many true patriots who do not accept support for the corrupt political clique in Kyiv.”
The three-minute video begins with bucolic scenes of a boy on horseback and a galloping herd of horses, as the narrator says: “What could be more precious than our freedom?”
Black-and-white clips from the closing days of World War II invoke memories of U.S.-Russian friendship, with smiling American and Russian soldiers embracing at the River Elbe.
Then the mood darkens with footage from the war in Ukraine and references to U.S. weapons shipments to Ukraine, including land mines.
“Our grandfathers once saved the world, fighting side by side, brothers in arms,” the narrator says. American and Russian soldiers in 1945 pledged never to meet as enemies on the battlefield and to prevent a new war, the narrator says.
“Honor does matter. Be worthy of our grandfathers,” the narrator says, concluding: “Your option is a better future for the nation.”
A window flashes up on the screen: “We are the option.”
The CIA declined to comment.
