US security services try to recruit Russian diplomats in UN: Diplomat
3 Min Read
The Russian Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN says Russian diplomats receive calls on social networks to cooperate with the FBI.
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A Russian flag flies next to the US embassy building in Moscow, on March 18, 2021 (AFP)
Russian Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Maria Zabolotskaya, revealed at a committee meeting that the United States security services are trying to recruit Russian diplomats working in Russia's Permanent Mission to the United Nations.
"The updated information presented by us indicates that the US keeps purposefully applying an entire range of measures and restrictions to our Permanent Mission and its employees aimed at reducing the effectiveness of our interaction with the UN, but moreover, at the provision of psychological pressure on Russian diplomats," Zabolotskaya pointed out.
"How else to explain more and more intrusive recruiting approaches by local security services who approach employees on the street and at the airport," she added.
Zabolotskaya indicated that contextual advertising is used in social networks, search engines, and video hosting sites, such as YouTube, to demonstrate calls to cooperate with the FBI.
"It’s not just about the Internet. Propaganda leaflets of similar content are regularly put up outside the permanent mission’s building and its residential compound, as well as along our diplomats’ way to work," the Russian diplomat added.
In early June, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) announced that it had exposed a purported operation by the US National Security Agency (NSA) involving the use of undisclosed malware to exploit specific backdoor vulnerabilities in Apple smartphones.
The FSB stated that several thousand Apple phones, including those owned by Russian nationals, had been infected as a result of this operation.
According to the Russian intelligence agency, the targets of this scheme extended beyond domestic subscribers, encompassing the mobile devices of foreign diplomats stationed in Russia and former Soviet Union territories.
Similarly, in mid-May, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) sent a Russian-speaking video on Telegram, asking people to leak information about the Russian economy and top leadership.
The short video depicts a Russian bureaucrat and a woman at home with a child, both troubled in their lives, asking if it is what they dreamed of.
It depicts an illusion tricking people into believing that by providing information to the US intelligence agency, they can make things better.
Почему я пошел на контакт с ЦРУ: мое решениеhttps://t.co/mhQbzet5X2 pic.twitter.com/1Uj4POAOmm
— CIA (@CIA) May 15, 2023
The video and an accompanying text provide instructions on how to do so, using a Tor browser to access the dark web and encryption tools the CIA says will ensure their protection.
"The CIA wants to know the truth about Russia, and we are looking for reliable people who can tell us this truth," the agency writes.
"Your information may be more valuable than you think."
The CIA said it was hoping to contact people from intelligence, diplomatic, science, and technology, as well as other fields, and was interested in all kinds of information, including political and economic
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