Russian Intelligence Services: News & Discussion

The head of the CIA spoke about the "impudent" attitude of Naryshkin, by Valentina Grigorenko for VZGLYAD. 02.26.2023.

CIA chief Burns denounced Naryshkin's 'impudent' attitude during their meeting in 2022.

The attitude from the director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergei Naryshkin, at a meeting in November 2022 was "impertinent," CIA chief William Burns said.

Burns, in an interview with CBS News , noted that there was also a very defiant attitude on the part of Naryshkin: a sense of impudence and arrogance, reports RIA Novosti.

The feeling, which he says reflects Russian President Vladimir Putin's own opinion, "his own belief today that he can make time work for him, that he can grind Ukrainians, that he can wear down European allies, that in the end there will be political fatigue.

As noted, Burns called the meeting "pretty depressing."

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the meeting between the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergei Naryshkin, and the head of the CIA, William Burns, took place in 2022 at the request of US President Joe Biden to Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Recall, Naryshkin said that he met with Burns to discuss nuclear security and Ukrainian issues.

https://vz.ru/news/2023/2/26/1200873.html

Gershkovich's arrest puts all US spy journalists at risk, by Andrey Rezchikov for VZGLYAD. 03.31.2023.

Experts explain the hysteria in the United States after the arrest of WSJ journalist Gershkovich in Russia.

As retribution for the arrest of Evan Gershkovich, The Wall Street Journal is proposing the expulsion of all Russian journalists and Ambassador Anatoly Antonov from the United States. However, US President Biden refused to resort to expulsions. However, according to experts, such a stormy reaction of the Western media hides the real concern of the United States for the fate of other intelligence journalists.

In response to  the arrest  in Russia of its correspondent Evan Gershkovich on suspicion of espionage, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ)  called on  the country's authorities to consider expelling the Russian ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, and all Russian journalists. The newspaper calls Gershkowitz's arrest evidence of a "declining US ability to deter attacks on its citizens."

The WSJ calls Washington's first duty to protect American citizens, while "too many governments today believe they can arrest and jail Americans with impunity." US President Joe Biden has already said that at this stage he does not plan to expel Russian diplomats from the country. “There are no such plans at this stage,” Biden said in response to a question from the White House press pool.

The day before, 31-year-old US citizen Evan Gershkovich was caught red-handed in Yekaterinburg. A few hours later, the Lefortovo Court of Moscow, at the request of the FSB, arrested him. The journalist is suspected of spying for the US government. According to Art. 276 of the Criminal Code (“Espionage”) he faces up to 20 years in prison. According to intelligence agencies, Gershkovich, on instructions from the United States, was collecting classified information about one of the Russian military-industrial enterprises.

The arrest of Gershkovich provoked a strong reaction in the American media. The New York Times (NYT) newspaper  calls  the incident "an unprecedented step since the collapse of the Soviet Union." It was a stunningly provocative move against one of the most prominent Western journalists still working in Russia and his employer, a mainstay of the American media.

The Western press also recalls the case preceding this story, when in 1986 the American reporter for US News & World Report Nicholas Daniloff was arrested by the KGB and charged with espionage. He was released 15 days later after intensive negotiations between the governments of the two countries.

“WSJ and NYT will hysteria for obvious reasons - a spy worked under their roof. I have no doubt that Gershkovich is a spy. I have no reason not to trust Russian specialists. This is not the first time that American spies have worked in Russia under the guise of a journalist, there is nothing supernatural in this, ”says Andrey Klimov, deputy chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, head of the Federation Council Commission for the Protection of State Sovereignty.

According to the senator, if the United States finally goes crazy and still decides to expel Russian diplomats and journalists, "then the answer will come immediately and at least symmetrically." According to him, the Russian authorities keep this issue under special control.

At the same time, the editors of the WSJ behaved strangely and unprofessionally, because they put the journalist accused of espionage and the Russian ambassador on the same level. “Their status is incomparable. As for the idea of ​​expelling all Russian journalists, the WSJ behaves completely inadequately here. In Russia, no one opposes Western journalists - the main thing is that they engage in their professional activities,” added Konstantin Dolgov, Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Economic Policy.

The leadership of the WSJ ignores or demonstrates ignorance of the elementary norms of interstate communication, the interlocutor emphasizes. “Interestingly, is the United States ready to stop any activity of American media and journalists in Russia? After all, this could be Moscow’s response to the expulsion of our specialists,” Dolgov explained.

The senator recalled that Russian-American relations are already "below the floor", and if the episode with Gershkovich is used as a pretext for further deterioration of bilateral ties, "it will be Washington's choice."

“The US will not expel our ambassador, but some journalists may be exiled. It is worse if they arrest one of the media workers on a far-fetched pretext for an exchange,” political analyst Stanislav Tkachenko believes. In his opinion, if the arguments of the Russian side regarding the Gershkovich case are convincing (as was the case in previous cases), then negotiations on a possible exchange for one of the Russians will become secret.

“At the same time, after the arrest of an American spy who was hiding behind journalistic activities, other countries can look around and carefully study the data of their counterintelligence. The Americans are reacting to the arrest of Gershkovich in this way because they are afraid of a new trend, when a whole class of intelligence journalists around the world will be under attack,” the source said.

Dolgov also does not rule out such a trend. “Active reconnaissance is a tradition for the United States, including on the territory of allied countries. Recall  the wiretapping  of Angela Merkel's phones and a number of other high-level ugly stories. The Americans have never shied away from espionage. But the case with Gershkovich is a fact, the journalist was caught red-handed and, accordingly, he will answer,” the senator concluded.

https://vz.ru/world/2023/3/31/1205536.html

FSB uncovers US intelligence operation via malware on Apple mobile phones
"The information obtained by the Russian special services confirms that Apple’s declared policy of ensuring the privacy of the personal data of users of Apple devices does not correspond to reality," the service stressed

MOSCOW, June 1. /TASS/. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has uncovered a US intelligence operation being conducted via a virus program on Apple mobile devices, the FSB’s public relations center said on its website.

"The Federal Security Service, in conjunction with the Russian Federal Protective Service (FSO), has uncovered an intelligence operation by US intelligence agencies carried out with the use of mobile devices. In the course of securing Russian telecommunications infrastructure, anomalies characteristic only of Apple cell phone users and caused by previously unknown malicious software exploiting vulnerabilities in the manufacturer’s software were revealed," the news release reads.

"It was established that several thousand handsets of this brand were infected. Alongside this, in addition to domestic subscribers, instances were revealed of the infection of foreign numbers and subscribers using SIM cards registered to diplomatic missions and embassies in Russia, including those of NATO member states and post-Soviet countries, as well as Israel, Syria and China," the FSB disclosed.

"The information obtained by the Russian special services demonstrates close cooperation between Apple and the [US] national intelligence community, in particular the US NSA [National Security Agency], and confirms that Apple’s declared policy of ensuring the privacy of the personal data of users of Apple devices does not correspond to reality," the FSB stressed.

"The company provides US intelligence services with a wide range of opportunities to monitor both anyone of interest to the White House, including their partners in anti-Russian activities, and their own citizens," the FSB said.