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CIA built a dozen spy bases in Ukraine and provides intelligence for key wartime decisions, NYT reports
By isabelle // 2024-03-06
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The U.S. has had a dozen spy bases in Ukraine since well before the conflict with Russia broke out two years ago and has played a key role in helping Ukraine make wartime decisions, according to a new exposé by the New York Times. The publication reports that the CIA’s program of setting up and financing high-tech “command and control spy centers” was launched ten years ago. It was set up with the aim of modernizing Ukrainian intelligence services, and it has helped the country become a vital intelligence partner for the U.S. against Russia. The network of a dozen secret bases are all situated near the Russian border and are capable of monitoring Russian communications as well as spy satellites. They have been used as launching points for cross-border missile and drone attacks targeting Russia. One of them was described as a “subterranean bunker” accessible via a hidden passageway. Inside, teams of Ukrainian soldiers are hard at work listening in on the conversations of Russian commanders and tracking spy satellites from Russia. Its location was not disclosed, but it was reportedly built to replace a destroyed command center and was fully financed by the CIA, who provided much of its equipment as well. The exposé was based on hundreds of interviews with former and current officials in the U.S., Ukraine and Europe. Among its revelations is that the CIA is secretly training and equipping Ukraine intelligence officers. A former head of the Ukrainian intelligence agency, the SBU, Ivan Bakanov, told the New York Times: "Without them [the CIA and elite commandoes it's trained], there would have been no way for us to resist the Russians, or to beat them." In fact, it turns out that Ukraine has served, as some have suspected, as a "major intelligence gathering hub” for the U.S., but its reach is far more expansive than many envisioned. There were times when it intercepted more Russian communications than it had the capacity to process. However, it is not just intelligence operations that the U.S. has supported; the CIA also set up training programs for an elite Ukraine commando force in 2016. Known as Unit 2245, it was tasked with capturing Russian communications devices and drones. Technicians from the CIA then reverse-engineered them and cracked the encryption systems used by Russian forces. In addition, the CIA helped to train Ukrainian spies operating within Russia, elsewhere in Europe, Cuba and other areas with a significant Russian presence.

Putin cited U.S. intelligence infrastructure in Ukraine as one of the reasons for the invasion

These activities are exactly what Russian President Vladimir Putin was referring to when he said that the U.S. and NATO expanding military and intelligence infrastructure in Ukraine was one of the main reasons he decided to invade Ukraine two years ago. It was also revealed that the director of the CIA, William Burns, recently visited Ukraine in secret ”to try to reassure Ukrainian leaders.” The visit is said to be his tenth since the conflict with Russia erupted. The publication added that when Donald Trump became U.S. president in 2016, the relationship between the CIA and Ukrainian intelligence agencies was further strengthened, particularly because he “put Russia hawks in key positions, including Mike Pompeo as CIA director and John Bolton as national security adviser." While the CIA initially made it clear they would not be willing to help Ukraine conduct any lethal operations against Russia, the boundaries were abandoned after Russia invaded Ukraine. At that time, the Biden administration gave the CIA the green light to supply them with critical intelligence for deadly operations against Russia. Now, however, with the $61 billion aid package for Kiev up in the air, Ukrainian intelligence is said to be concerned that the CIA will “abandon” them, saying that “it happened in Afghanistan before.” Sources for this article include: ZeroHedge.com NYTimes.com News.Yahoo.com
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