LONDON -

Intelligence men are usually described as shadow men who are keen to work in secret and invisibility, but the Ukrainian crisis has changed many of the rules of the game between the most powerful intelligence services in the world. What is meant is the conflict between British and American intelligence on one hand, and Russia on the other.

It is not in the habit of the leaders of foreign intelligence services in these countries to talk to the media or to leak information to them, but the crisis in Ukraine made these agencies a race to present secret security information and present it to the world.

Hardly a speech by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and US President Joe Biden is devoid of the phrase "based on intelligence services", to emphasize the seriousness of the situation in Ukraine.


Intelligence in live broadcast

In a precedent of its kind, the British Ministry of Defense’s account on its Twitter account published a section entitled “Intelligence Update”, which includes maps and a detailed explanation of the areas of deployment of Russian forces, and the aim of this section is to deny Russia’s announcement of withdrawing part of its forces from the Russian borders.

The British Ministry of Defense sharing intelligence in this way is unprecedented, and it shows that there is a struggle going on over the narratives, who will convince the world of his version: Russia or the West?

The level of statements made by the former or current leaders of the British Military Intelligence Office "MI6" to the Western media rose, and they all agree on one narrative that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is imminent, and even detail the Russian plan to attack, from Belarus and the eastern borders of Ukraine.

In the United States, hardly a day passes without news networks transmitting information about US intelligence sources about the imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Thus, the world is on a date with a daily meal of secret intelligence that puts it in a picture of what is happening in those inflamed borders, which is what Russia calls "media terrorism" or Western "hysteria".


Crimea and Afghanistan lessons

By flooding the media and political scene with intelligence information, it appears that the West - especially the United States and Britain - does not want to repeat what happened during the Russian invasion of Crimea, nor those unprecedented scenes of the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

During the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014, the move was surprising from Russia, and the West appeared in general in a state of deep slumber, as it could not keep up with the speed of the Russian movement, and in the end it admitted the fait accompli, and in that period many asked a question: Where were the Western intelligence services and NATO? When was Russia moving its armies to invade the peninsula?

In Afghanistan, the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the British Military Intelligence Office, MI6, found themselves in great embarrassment, after it appeared that their expectations of Kabul's ability to withstand for a longer period in the face of the advance of the Taliban were wrong. It resulted in a disastrous and chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the British government blamed it on Military Intelligence, and this mistake even cost the British Army Chief of Staff his post.

Iraq ghost

On more than one occasion, spokesmen for the US administration or British government ministers are faced with a difficult question: How can this intelligence be trusted, and the invasion of Iraq was also based on intelligence information that later turned out to be wrong and unfounded?

Neither the Western citizen nor the media forgets how former British Prime Minister Tony Blair was always keen to carry a file in his hand that he says contains intelligence information showing that Iraq has chemical weapons, a file that was later called by anti-war opponents “the bad file.” ".

American and British officials find it difficult to convince everyone of the intelligence story, especially since the information that is presented is based on conclusions, for example saying that "the Russian invasion of Ukraine is imminent", but without providing details and clear evidence that support these conclusions.


Russian reaction

The appearance of intelligence officials was not limited to the Western camp, but also moved to Russia. For the first time, Russia presented the details of the security meeting that preceded Russian President Vladimir Putin's recognition of the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

More than this, the public appearance of the head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergei Naryshkin, was remarkable. The man appeared very confused, as he seemed to be unaccustomed to the spotlight and talking in front of the cameras, especially when the Russian President asked him about his opinion on recognizing the independence of Donetsk and Lugansk.

And the head of Russian intelligence went far when he announced his support for the idea of ​​including them directly in the Russian Federation, in a statement that may be a slip of the tongue or a threat to the West.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also mocked expectations that the Russian invasion of Ukraine will begin in mid-February, and said that the Western media "should publish a timetable of our invasions so that we can plan our holidays."

It appears that the West's goal through this daily news based on intelligence information is to keep all Russian moves under the spotlight, unlike what happened during the invasion of Crimea.