Russian CIA whistleblowers have "disappeared"

According to some sources, informers belonging to the CIA, on which the United States has relied in order to steal strategies and tactics used by Moscow, in recent months, have not spoken. For many years, US intelligence agencies have built networks of Russian informers. These are officials placed in prominent positions within the Kremlin and other Russian government institutions, which can help shed light on Russia's political maneuvers. These informants were instrumental in enabling the US intelligence community to issue warnings about possible Russian interference in the November 2016 US presidential election. Since then, US intelligence agencies have relied on these subjects to provide detailed assessments of Russian intelligence activities to the United States, and to propose actions against those involved.

On Friday, the New York Times reported in an article that these important sources of information in Moscow have been out of control in recent months.

Citing "officials currently in service and ex", the newspaper said that US officials did not believe the idea that the informants had been captured or killed. On the contrary, they feared the idea that they had voluntarily hidden themselves for a "more aggressive counterintelligence" practiced by Russian security agencies.

Since the Sergei Skripal incident, Moscow has stepped up its attempts to locate spies operating inside Russia. According to The Times, Western whistleblowers operating in Russia have decided to remain silent for their own safety, since it is too dangerous to pass information now.

This situation, however, has left the CIA and other US spy agencies without the intentions of Russian President Vladimir Putin, just now that America is approaching the mid-term elections.

The lack of information was compounded by the expulsion of dozens of American diplomats from Russia in March of this year. Moscow has announced expulsions in response to the West's actions on the case of former Russian spy Skripal.

Many of the diplomats expelled from Russia were in reality secret services operating under diplomatic cover. Few of these are now left on Russian soil and, according to the Times, "are under strict surveillance" by Russian counter-espionage agencies.

Russian CIA whistleblowers have "disappeared"

| INTELLIGENCE |