According to the New York Times, the CIA has been present on Ukrainian soil for nearly ten years, where it has established a partnership with Kiev.
Some of the bases are said to have been discreetly built to help the Ukrainians monitor their Russian rival.
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Ukraine: Two Years of War
The CIA on the front lines of the conflict in Ukraine. The New York Times It was revealed this weekend that the US intelligence agency has secretly set up less than a dozen bases on the front line. Long standing cooperation: Both countries have shared strategic information for almost ten years. More precisely from 2014.
At the time, Ukraine was living in the rhythm of the Maidan Revolution, named after the central square in Kiev where the protesters gathered. In question? The last-minute refusal of then pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych to sign an agreement on relations between Ukraine and the European Union under pressure from Moscow. After a bloody crackdown on the protests, in which nearly a hundred people were killed, the leader fled to Russia. The new management team then decided to turn west. The head of intelligence, Valentin Nalyvaichenko, offers the CIA and British MI6 a partnership.
Recruitment of spies supervised by the CIA
According to New York Times, Kyiv and Washington will quickly find this new alliance beneficial. Ukraine may have in fact leaked information about Russia’s involvement in the 2014 Malaysia Airlines crash. Then, in 2016, data on Russia’s disinformation during the American presidential election.
Years later, the Americans would return the favor to Kiev. Since the Russian invasion, the CIA has provided intelligence on missile strikes or enemy troop movements. It also helps recruit and train Ukrainian spies. This program also has a name: “Operation Goldfish”. Officers monitored by the CIA may have joined Unit 2245 before being deployed to one of the bases built along the border with Russia. Among them: Kyrillo Baudanov, who would become a general as head of military intelligence Ukrainians.
A bunker built under a former Ukrainian military base
According to New York Times, the Americans will participate behind the scenes in the standoff between Kiev and Moscow. The attack against Volodymyr Zelensky, for example, was thwarted by the CIA, according to a Ukrainian official interviewed by the daily. Another example? William J. Burns, head of the agency, frequent visits to Ukraine. The latter was also present in Kiev last Thursday, his tenth visit since the start of the war. It must be said that the agency has many foundations on site. A dozen foundations may have been financed primarily by Americans.
The diary describes one bunker in particular, cleverly constructed under the ruins of a military base destroyed by the Russians early in the war. In this basement,”Teams of Ukrainian soldiers track Russian spy satellites and listen in on conversations between Russian commanders. On one screen, a red line follows the path of an explosive drone past Russian air defenses from a point in central Ukraine to its target in the Russian city of Rostov.“, our colleagues explain.
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On the American side, we know that this closeness to Kiev could annoy Vladimir Putin. US officials have often been reluctant to fully engage for fear of provoking the Kremlin. A similar story from a senior European official: Questioned by a newspaper, the latter clarifies “Toward the end of 2021, Putin was considering whether to launch his full-scale offensive when he met with the head of one of Russia’s main intelligence services, who told him that the CIA, along with MI-6, controlled Ukraine. And it is a beachhead for operations against Moscow.”
