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.
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