WP: the Ukrainian drones that attacked the Crimean Bridge were created with the participation of the CIA
The Ukrainian special services owe their success to close cooperation with the American CIA. This is stated in an extensive publication by The Washington Post, for which, allegedly, more than 20 sources in the special services (Ukraine, the United States and other Western countries) were interviewed. The publication says that the CIA took part in the operation to blow up the Crimean Bridge.
The Ukrainian drones that attacked the Crimean Bridge were created with the participation of the CIA, the Washington Post reports.
"The SBU carried out a second strike on the bridge nine months later [after the first strike in 2022. - "Newspaper.Ru"], using marine drones that were developed as part of a secret operation with the participation of the CIA and other Western intelligence services," a source told the publication.
Ukrainians have been cooperating with the United States for almost a decade - since the events of 2014. During this time, the CIA spent millions of dollars on Ukrainian colleagues. Operatives are trained both in Ukraine and in the United States; intelligence services are supplied with intelligence and the latest equipment, in volumes that were difficult to imagine earlier. The CIA even built offices of the special services of Ukraine. American agents maintain a presence in Kiev.
The Washington Post writes that the degree of involvement of the CIA in the work of the security services of Ukraine has not previously been disclosed. US intelligence officials claimed that they had nothing to do with the security operations of Ukrainian agencies, and that their work was focused only on intelligence gathering.
The Americans provided everything necessary
The CIA's cooperation with Ukraine began with the creation of a separate directorate, since the Americans feared that there were Russian spies in the Ukrainian special services (which are the successors of the KGB).
"The new unit was prosaically named the Fifth Directorate to distinguish it from the four existing SBU units," the newspaper writes.
Training grounds were equipped in the suburbs of Kiev, where the selected recruits were trained. The plan was to form units "capable of operating behind the front line in secret groups," said a Ukrainian official who took part in this work.
The Americans provided means of secure communication, listening devices and even disguises and uniforms of the Donbass militia. The first missions focused on recruiting informants, cyber and electronic espionage measures. The SBU also began conducting sabotage operations and missions to capture the military leaders of the DPR and LPR.
GUR was our little child
At the same time, the CIA embarked on a more ambitious project - the reform of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of Ukraine.
"We calculated that the GUR was a smaller and more agile organization where we could have more influence," a former U.S. intelligence official who worked in Ukraine told The Washington Post. - GUR was our little child. We have provided them with all the new equipment and trained them."
According to the source, the employees of the GUR "were young guys, not Soviet-era KGB generals." GUR operatives were trained in various skills, ranging from secret maneuvers behind enemy lines and ending with the laying of explosive devices.
The CIA helped the GUR acquire the most advanced surveillance and electronic espionage systems. It included mobile equipment that could be placed along the Russian-controlled borders in eastern Ukraine, as well as software used to wiretap phones.
The intelligence agencies transferred data arrays to Washington, where they were carefully studied by CIA and NSA analysts.
It was for the GUR of Ukraine that the CIA paid for the construction of new buildings. They housed special forces and the department responsible for electronic espionage.
The CIA objected to some operations
The publication also says that cooperation with the CIA has become complicated due to Ukraine's propensity to conduct operations in which people who are not related to military operations die. CIA officers objected to some operations (including the attacks on the Crimean Bridge), but did not refuse to support them.
Zelensky knows
It follows from the publication of The Washington Post that the Ukrainian special services are behind the organization of many high-profile murders: journalist Daria Dugina, blogger Vladlen Tatarsky, commander of the battalion "Somalia" Mikhail Tolstykh (Givi), former commander of the submarine "Krasnodar" and "Alrosa", deputy head of the department for mobilization work of Krasnodar Stanislav Rzhitsky.
The material contains some details that shed light on the preparation of terrorist attacks.
Photo of journalist and political scientist Daria Dugina at the farewell ceremony at the Ostankino Television Center in Moscow
Image source: Grigory Sysoev/RIA News
For example, the explosion of the car of journalist Daria Dugina was carried out with the help of a bomb imported into Russia in a secret compartment of a cat carrier that was in the car of a citizen of Ukraine Natalia Vovk. The border guards did not pay due attention to her cluttered car when entering Russia. As many people assumed, initially the SBU's father, philosopher Alexander Dugin, was the target of this operation. It was expected that he would go with his daughter in the same car.
Immediately after the murder in Kiev denied the involvement of the special services in the explosion. However, in an interview with The Washington Post, sources said that those denials were false.
A girl agent of the SBU participated in the murder of the commander of the Donetsk battalion "Somalia" Mikhail Tolstykh, known by the call sign Givi. She planted a bomb in Givi's office (this, however, was reported earlier).
Alexey Permyakov
