“We provide instructions in Russian on how to communicate securely with the CIA – through our Dark Web site or a trusted VPN – for those who feel compelled to contact us because of the Russian government’s unjust war,” an official told CBS News. of the CIA. “Our global mission requires individuals to be able to communicate with us securely from anywhere.”
The agency on Monday published instructions in Russian only on many of its social networking channels, such as YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, to access its obscure website – which has shown value in securing information from individuals in the whole world since then. released for the first time in 2019.
Access to the site requires a browser called Tor, or “the onion router”, which protects a user’s identity by encrypting their web traffic. The CIA hopes to help interested civilians in Russia — as well as Russian troops in Ukraine — communicate with the intelligence service.
Western estimates usually indicate that Russian troops in Ukraine are suffering from low morale, with occasional reports of soldiers refusing to carry out orders or sabotaging their own equipment.
And while opinion polls in Russia show – through a Kremlin-controlled narrative – that there is widespread public support for the Kremlin invasion, US officials are also watching closely for possible rifts among Russian elites, some of whom have seen their fate to be erased with punitive sanctions and they have publicly expressed their opposition to the war.
Both Facebook and Instagram have been banned in Russia since the beginning of the invasion, although individuals have found solutions to gain access to censored websites using premium, paid VPNs. Recent reports indicate that demand for VPNs in Russia has skyrocketed since the Kremlin imposed the ban.
A CIA spokesman declined to comment on the extent of the involvement, which Russia had seen through its obscure website, or how its analysts had verified the identities or information after the contact.
