Changes

In October 2023 ''[[The Washington Post]]'' revealed how the CIA had used the Ukrainian intelligence services to initiate war with Russia since 2014.<ref>[https://archive.ph/RMFzQ#selection-1881.181-1881.377 Ukrainian spies with deep ties to CIA wage shadow war against Russia], By Greg Miller and Isabelle Khurshudyan, ''Washington Post'', October 23, 2023</ref> With the US-backed [[Maidan coup]], the CIA spent tens of millions of dollars to transform Ukraine’s Soviet-formed services into allies against Moscow. The agency provided Ukraine with advanced surveillance systems, trained recruits at sites in Ukraine and the United States, built new headquarters for departments in Ukraine’s military intelligence agency. Given concerns that Ukraine’s services were still heavily penetrated by the [[FSB]] — the Russian agency that is the main successor to the [[KGB]], the CIA worked with the [[SBU]] to create an entirely new directorate that would focus on so-called “active measures” operations against Russia and be insulated from other SBU departments. The new unit was dubbed the “Fifth Directorate” to distinguish it from the four long-standing units of the SBU. A sixth directorate has since been added to work with the [[UK]]'s [[MI6]] spy agency.

In October 2023 ''[[The Washington Post]]'' revealed how the CIA had used the Ukrainian intelligence services to initiate war with Russia since 2014.<ref>[https://archive.ph/RMFzQ#selection-1881.181-1881.377 Ukrainian spies with deep ties to CIA wage shadow war against Russia], By Greg Miller and Isabelle Khurshudyan, ''Washington Post'', October 23, 2023</ref> With the US-backed [[Maidan coup]], the CIA spent tens of millions of dollars to transform Ukraine’s Soviet-formed services into allies against Moscow. The agency provided Ukraine with advanced surveillance systems, trained recruits at sites in Ukraine and the United States, built new headquarters for departments in Ukraine’s military intelligence agency. Given concerns that Ukraine’s services were still heavily penetrated by the [[FSB]] — the Russian agency that is the main successor to the [[KGB]], the CIA worked with the [[SBU]] to create an entirely new directorate that would focus on so-called “active measures” operations against Russia and be insulated from other SBU departments. The new unit was dubbed the “Fifth Directorate” to distinguish it from the four long-standing units of the SBU. A sixth directorate has since been added to work with the [[UK]]'s [[MI6]] spy agency.

The SBU and its military counterpart, the GUR, have carried out dozens of assassinations against Russian officials, alleged Ukrainian collaborators, military officers behind the front lines and civilians inside Russia.  Training sites were located outside Kyiv where handpicked recruits were instructed by CIA personnel to form units capable of operating as covert groups. The SBU began mounting sabotage operations and missions to capture separatist leaders and collaborators, some of whom were taken to secret detention sites. Over a three-year period, at least half a dozen Russian operatives, high-ranking separatist commanders or collaborators were killed in violence that was often attributed to internal disputes but in reality was the work of the SBU. Among those killed was Yevgeny Zhilin who was gunned down in 2016 in a [[Moscow]] restaurant. In 2017 a rebel commander known as ‘Givi’ was killed in [[Donetsk]].  In July 2023, a former Russian submarine commander, Stanislav Rzhitsky, a former Russian submarine commander was killed while jogging in a park in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar. A popular war correspondent and blogger was killed in a cafe in [[St. Petersburg]].

The SBU and its military counterpart, the GUR, have carried out dozens of assassinations against Russian officials, alleged Ukrainian collaborators, military officers behind the front lines and civilians inside Russia.  Training sites were located outside Kyiv where handpicked recruits were instructed by CIA personnel to form units capable of operating as covert groups. The SBU began mounting sabotage operations and missions to capture separatist leaders and collaborators, some of whom were taken to secret detention sites. Over a three-year period, at least half a dozen Russian operatives, high-ranking separatist commanders or collaborators were killed in violence that was often attributed to internal disputes but in reality was the work of the SBU. Among those killed was Yevgeny Zhilin who was gunned down in 2016 in a [[Moscow]] restaurant. In 2017 a rebel commander known as ‘Givi’ was killed in [[Donetsk]].  In July 2023, a former Russian submarine commander, Stanislav Rzhitsky, was killed while jogging in a park in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar. A popular war correspondent and blogger was killed in a cafe in [[St. Petersburg]].

While building the SBU’s new directorate, the CIA embarked on a far more ambitious project with Ukraine’s military intelligence service. From 2015 on, the CIA embarked on an extensive transformation of the GUR. With fewer than 5,000 employees, the GUR was a fraction of the size of the SBU and had a narrower focus on espionage and active measures operations against Russia. It also had a younger workforce with fewer holdovers from [[Soviet]] times, while the SBU was still perceived as penetrated by Russian intelligence. Some of the GUR’s new recruits were transfers from the SBU. Among them was Vasyl Burba, who had managed SBU Fifth Directorate operations before joining the GUR and serving as agency director from 2016 to 2020. Burba became such a close ally of the CIA that the CIA provided him an armored vehicle.

While building the SBU’s new directorate, the CIA embarked on a far more ambitious project with Ukraine’s military intelligence service. From 2015 on, the CIA embarked on an extensive transformation of the GUR. With fewer than 5,000 employees, the GUR was a fraction of the size of the SBU and had a narrower focus on espionage and active measures operations against Russia. It also had a younger workforce with fewer holdovers from [[Soviet]] times, while the SBU was still perceived as penetrated by Russian intelligence. Some of the GUR’s new recruits were transfers from the SBU. Among them was Vasyl Burba, who had managed SBU Fifth Directorate operations before joining the GUR and serving as agency director from 2016 to 2020. Burba became such a close ally of the CIA that the CIA provided him an armored vehicle.