Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Sravasti Dasgupta

FBI deploys geo-targeted ads to recruit disgruntled Russians as spies: ‘Speak plainly - we’re ready to listen’

Getty Images

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is reportedly attempting to recruit Russians disgruntled with president Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine through targeted social media ads in Washington DC.

A Washington Post report published Wednesday said that the geographically targeted ads appeared on Facebook, Google and Twitter just outside the embassy but not when one is standing a certain distance away.

The ads quote Mr Putin’s words to Russian intelligence chief, Sergey Naryshkin at a meeting last month, to remind intelligence officials that their boss was publicly humiliated.

“Speak plainly, Sergey Naryshkin,” the ad quotes Mr Putin as saying in Russian to the director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) to correct him on his position on separatist actions in eastern Ukraine.

The ad then uses Mr Putin’s words to say: “Speak plainly . . . We’re ready to listen.”

“The information provided to the FBI by the public is the most effective means of combating threats. If you have information that could help the FBI, please contact us,” says the text running above the ad.

They also include a link to the FBI website to provide details of who to contact in case anyone wants to provide information and encourages people to come “in person” to the FBI field office.

The FBI’s webpage says that the “best intelligence” on foreign spy activity comes “through information provided by the public.”

“The information you provide will be handled in a confidential manner, and our interactions with you will be professional and respectful.”

The ads are meant to encourage Russian officials to become sources of the FBI and are intended to capitalise on any disenchantment among them.

Russia “has long been a counterintelligence threat to the US and the FBI will continue to adapt our investigative and outreach techniques to counter that threat and others”, the FBI said in a statement.

“The FBI would like to speak to anyone who can help us minimise those threats and keep our country safe.”

Peter Lapp, a former longtime FBI spy-hunter who now works as a private consultant, said that it is likely that the Russians are aware of the ads.

“Russian counterintelligence officers are currently in an all-hands-on-deck mode to make sure their folks don’t stray, and that they are keeping an eye on their own officers to make sure that no one goes rogue,” Mr Lapp said.

“This will probably cause those folks to work even harder than they are already working, and they may end up chasing ghosts, things that aren’t there, and spend time doing this. That in and of itself is a counterintelligence success for the FBI.”

In October 2019, the FBI ran similar ads on Facebook to recruit Russian spies, CNN reported.

The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.