US media said that over the past decade, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has established a network of secret intelligence bases in Ukraine located near the border with Russia.
According to a post in the New York Times on February 25 (US time), Ukraine has at least 12 secret intelligence bases located near the border with Russia “to collect all kinds of information about Russia, as well as coordinate drone strikes (UAVs) and a spy network believed to be operating inside Russia.”
A New York Times reporter had the opportunity to visit one such base located in an underground bunker. This place is used to eavesdrop on military communications, and monitor Ukrainian UAV attacks on Russian territory. According to information provided by Ukrainian Intelligence General Sergey Dvoretsky, the base’s operating budget and equipment come from the CIA.
“The US intelligence agency specifically equipped the base with communication equipment and mainframe computers. In addition, this base was used to penetrate Russian or Belarusian satellites,” Mr. Dvoretsky said.
Illustration. Photo: Reuters
According to the New York Times, the CIA and many other US intelligence agencies also provided Ukraine with information about Russian military movements and missile raids throughout the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Moscow and Kiev.
The newspaper also said that cooperation between US and Ukrainian intelligence agencies began “almost immediately after the events that occurred in Ukraine in 2014, and Kiev has since become one of the most Washington’s most important intelligence partner in dealing with the Kremlin.”
The Ukrainian government at that time actively sought US approval by transferring Russian secrets to Washington, because the US was less interested in information that did not provide any intelligence value about Moscow.
Specifically, the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence agency in 2015, General Valery Kondratiuk, transferred a stack of top secret documents including information about the Russian Navy’s Northern Fleet and many submarine designs. nuclear, at a meeting with the deputy head of the CIA team in Kiev.
In 2016, the CIA began training an elite special forces force for Ukraine called Unit 2245. General Kirill Budanov, the current head of Ukrainian military intelligence, is also a former member of Unit 2245. trained by the CIA.
General Kirill Budanov. Photo: New York Times
US intelligence agents also played a role in Ukraine’s response before Russia began its special military operation in February 2022. CIA agents remained at a certain location in western Ukraine, while the US evacuated personnel from the country ahead of the conflict.
“Without them, we would have no way to deal with Russia,” Ivan Bakanov, a former head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), told The New York Times.
Russia has repeatedly pointed out threats to its national security from increased US activities on Ukrainian territory, and Kiev’s ambitions for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). . Russia also cited the need to ensure its security as one of the reasons why Moscow launched a special military campaign in Ukraine two years ago, while Kiev asserted that Russia’s actions were “completely without cause”.
