A report published by the British newspaper "The Times" revealed that the conflict between Ukrainian military intelligence and its Russian counterpart is a stand-alone war within the war, knowing that they come together from the same spring that was established at the beginning of the former Soviet Union when Ukraine was under its control.

Ukraine inherited the GUR branch of military intelligence, which was located on its territory, while Russia seized most of the central assets of the Soviet military intelligence (GRU).

Russian military intelligence has seen victories as well as disasters under Putin, and performed poorly during the 2008 invasion attempt on Georgia, he said. The Russian president appointed General Igor Sergon to head it in 2011, who succeeded because he knew that the secret to winning Putin's confidence was to hear exactly what he wanted.


weakness

The weakness of Russian military intelligence emerged with the invasion of Ukraine, as its calculations proved to be as wrong as those of Russian military commanders.

Russian military intelligence had a network of operatives willing to lead initiatives to cripple the Ukrainian chain of command, but hardly anything happened either because they were not ready for all-out war, or because Ukrainians were more willing to act without waiting for orders from above.

By contrast, the Times report confirms that Ukrainian military intelligence succeeded in taking the initiative, praising the great role played by its commander, Kirilo Budanov, a former officer in the Soviet agency Spetsnaz. It said his Russian counterpart, Admiral Igor Kostyukov, was a naval intelligence analyst.

The Spetsnaz were the elite special operations forces of the Soviet Military Intelligence and were the military striking hand of the Soviet Union.


Green Light

Ukrainian President Zelensky likely gave Budanov the green light to stir up "trouble" in Russia and made Russian citizens fear war could reach their homes.

The British newspaper reported that Budanov is famous for being an active and ruthless person, and Ukrainian military intelligence is likely behind recent "sabotage attacks" in Russia.

She spoke about the bombing that derailed the freight train in the Bryansk region this month, as well as the drone attack on the Kremlin, which the report suggested was carried out by Ukrainian hands, or at least directed by Russian elements.

She revealed that Russians loyal to the Ukraine issue, or at least hostile to President Putin's policies, have proven useful in confronting Russian plans in various forms.


Russian opposition organizations

The Times reported that the Russian military intelligence agency has played a pivotal role in ensuring the effectiveness of the Volunteer Corps with Ukraine around the world, but - and most importantly - it has established close ties with Russian opposition organizations, including the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Free Russia Corps.

She spoke of a symbolic cross-border incursion of the First Corps into the Bryansk region last March, and its organization of a joint raid with the Free Russia Corps on the Belgorod region, which resulted in the death of a number of border guards and policemen.

Western concern

The growing ambition of Ukrainian military intelligence has alarmed some Western countries, the Times report said, adding that leaked intelligence reports said the CIA had reined in Budanov to avoid attacks on Russia.

Unconfirmed reports also indicated that Moldovan authorities also asked the Americans to warn Budanov against trying to foment unrest in the Transnistrian region, where Russian "peacekeepers" oversee the arsenal of weapons and ammunition inherited from the Soviet Union.