The US secret service exiled from Russia in 2017 a mole they had in the Kremlin, which confirmed to them that Vladimir Putin personally orchestrated the interference of Moscow in the US presidential election of 2016, say US media. According to the CNN television channel, this mole recruited by the Americans several decades ago had direct access to Vladimir Putin and provided them with images of documents secretly photographed on the president's desk.
Years in the Russian presidential administration
After years of loyal service, Washington's agent in the Russian presidential administration was eventually exfiltrated in 2017, CNN and the New York Times reported . According to the New York Times , the CIA had suggested to his spy to release it in 2016, while rumors spread about the existence of this mole. When he refused, citing family reasons, the US secret service had begun to fear a double agent, fears that proved unfounded months later.
According to CNN , he ended up being exfiltrated in 2017 for fear that US President Donald Trump or his administration would betray him in one of their untimely revelations of classified information. The CIA has denied this last point. "The unfortunate allegations that the president's handling of the most sensitive information in our nation - which he has absolutely every day access to - would have led to a supposed exfiltration is inaccurate," the CIA director of public affairs told CNN. Brittany Bramell. White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham told television that CNN's article "is not only wrong, it can also put lives at risk."
Putin directly orchestrated Russian interference in favor of Trump
The informant, whose name has not been disclosed, has proved to be a key source of information for US services, who have concluded that Vladimir Putin directly orchestrated Russian interference in Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, the Times continues. According to the New York daily, the informant also directly involved Vladimir Putin in the hacking of the email server of the Democratic National Committee, which had revealed a huge amount of embarrassing messages for Clinton camp.
The exfiltrated agent was, according to the Times, the most valuable source of the CIA in Russia, and his flight from the country prevented US intelligence from knowing the Kremlin's activities during the mid-term elections in the United States. in 2018, and during preparations for the 2020 presidential election. On Tuesday, Russian media quoted the name of the mole in question, asserting that it was a man who had worked at the Russian embassy in Washington before to return to his country, where he had climbed the ladder of the presidential administration.
Moscow downplays the importance of the mole
While confirming that a man of the same name had been employed by the presidential administration, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov downplayed his importance on Tuesday and said he was "sacked a few years ago" , in "2016 or 2017". "His position was not one of those at the highest level (...) and did not foresee any contact with the president," added Dmitry Peskov, describing the information disseminated by the US media as "novel to feel".
Meanwhile, the American channel NBC claims to have found a person living near Washington which, according to two sources at the FBI, correspond to the man CNN was talking about. When the NBC reporter approached his apartment, two men, who identified themselves as "friends of the Russian", suddenly appeared and asked him why he wanted to talk to the person.