Today at 22:34
The Department of Counterintelligence Operations of the FSB reports personally to the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, about the surveillance of foreigners. This was reported by The Wall Street Journal, whose journalists spoke with diplomats from the United States and Europe, as well as Americans who were imprisoned in Russia and Russian journalists. According to the publication, it was the employees of this department who detained The Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Hershkovich, and were also involved in other arrests of foreigners in Russia, FREEDOM reports.
Thus, The Wall Street Journal said, citing its sources, that for years a secret unit of the Federal Security Service tracked high-ranking Americans in Russia and infiltrated diplomats’ residences to set up wiretapping. They became aware of the existence of the Department of Counterintelligence Operations of the FSB — one of the “underground” units of the Russian special service.
“It is impossible to know for sure whether the Department of Counterintelligence Operations is behind every such incident. But U.S. officials and close allies have said that law enforcement agencies often want their targets to know that their homes are under surveillance and that their movements are being monitored. Operatives regularly leave a calling card: a burnt cigarette on the toilet lid. According to the people interviewed, law enforcement officers also left unwashed feces in the toilets of diplomats’ homes,” according to The Wall Street Journal article.
Journalists found out that employees of the Department of Counterintelligence Operations of the FSB have a whole arsenal of similar methods of intimidating foreign diplomats. Officials say that while they are on trips, bookcases are moved in their homes in Russia, and jewelry also goes missing.
In addition to spying on diplomats, Putin has reportedly used the department to monitor Western journalists in Russia since the early years of his presidency.
It was the Department of Counterintelligence Operations that detained the American journalist Evan Hershkovich in March of this year. Putin personally received information about this before and after the detention of the journalist. Western officials and a former employee of the Russian special services told the newspaper about this.
“After all, this is not a new story, it is a remake of the story of 1986. At that time, a correspondent of the United Press International (UPI) agency, U.S. was in Moscow. News & World Report Nikolas Danilov. On September 2, 1986, he was arrested by the KGB and charged with espionage. Danilov insisted on his innocence. After negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union, he was released and left for his homeland, and in exchange the Soviet spy Gennady Zakharov, who was working under the cover of a UN official in New York, was released. Actually, it’s kind of the same story. It’s like journalists, people who don’t have diplomatic immunity are being taken hostage again, in order to exchange, in order to trade,” commented Russian human rights defender Oleksandr Cherkasov.
The FSB accuses Evan Hershkovich of espionage. Allegedly, the journalist was commissioned by the United States to collect secret information about one of the enterprises of the military-industrial complex. In Russia, Hershkovich faces up to 20 years in prison.
The United States recently confirmed that it is in talks with Russia about exchanging the journalist. In a comment to The New York Times, the National Security Adviser to the US President, Jake Sullivan, said that “there were discussions, but these discussions did not lead to a clear way to resolve the issue.”
Today, Russia has become a dangerous place for everyone who is there, both for foreigners and for Russians themselves, experts say.
“Putin showed himself to be a weak, vulnerable person. Prigozhyn’s rebellion very much, I apologize for the expression, “lowered” him, destroyed his rating and showed that Akela is no longer Akela, but such a half-dead wolf who still leads the pack, but simply by inertia. Putin will now try to compensate for his weakness by intensifying internal political repression, massacres, reinforcements, etc. So that even if they don’t respect, they fear,” said Russian opposition politician Gennady Gudkov.
The Kremlin is increasingly labeling those who do not support Putin’s policies as “the enemy”. Not so long ago, Russia decided to close the Finnish Consulate General in St. Petersburg. Finland has increased entry for Russian businessmen, students and property owners. In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs called such actions an “anti-Russian” policy.
