CIA seeks to recruit Russian spies on Telegram messaging

CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. © AFP

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1 min

The US intelligence agency is encouraging Russian citizens to provide it with information about their country through a well-honed video campaign on the encrypted messaging service Telegram, the main source of unfiltered information in Russia.

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You are not powerless. Contact us." Dramatic staging, dark scenery: the video broadcast by the CIA on Telegram features a civil servant, his wife and their child, a Russian family that seems to have a difficult daily life. At least that's what the comments suggest, with these questions posed in Russian: "Is this the life I dreamed of? The path I chose?

The CIA targets those dissatisfied with Vladimir Putin's policy, but denies fueling unrest around the figure of the Russian president, never mentioned. On the contrary, the video suggests that citizens can help improve the situation, while remaining patriotic." It will always be my Russia. I will resist. My family will resist. We will live with dignity. Because of my actions," the propaganda message says.

The American agency seeks above all to get in touch with people from intelligence, diplomacy, science or technology, while wanting to be reassuring about the discretion of exchanges. This is the first time the CIA has broadcast such messages on the encrypted Telegram network, Russia's main source of unfiltered information. According to a CIA official, similar campaigns have already been successfully conducted on other social networks.

► Read also: How US intelligence envisages the continuation of the war in Ukraine

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