“Do you have information about the economy or the top leadership of the Russian Federation? Get in touch with us.”
That’s the message the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is sending to Russians who would be willing to spy for the U.S.
In a Russian-language video published on its Telegram channel — created for the occasion — overnight, the U.S. foreign intelligence service targets those who are fed up with life in President Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
“Is this the life I dreamed of?” the video says, showing a man and a woman, both bureaucrats with piles of paper on their desks, disillusioned by life at home and at work, with emotional music playing in the background.
The clip ends with both of them contacting the CIA on their smartphones.
“The CIA wants to know the truth about #Russia, and we are looking for reliable people who know and can tell us that truth,” the agency said in a statement published with the video, urging Russians to “safely contact the CIA” through a link on the encrypted Tor browser — which also allows access to the Dark Web.
The U.S. intelligence service is looking for people from various backgrounds, working in the military, intelligence, diplomacy, science or tech sectors.
According to an unnamed CIA official, quoted by French newswire AFP, the social media campaign is focused on Telegram as it is the main tool used by Russians to share information on a range of topics, including politics but also the war in Ukraine.