According to the Russian daily Kommersant, it would be a certain Oleg Smolenkov, missing in Montenegro with his family in 2017 and that Russia has a time died death before learning that he was alive abroad.
A man of the name has "worked for the presidential administration but was sacked a few years ago" to "2016 or 2017," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters."His position was not one of those at the highest level (…) and did not foresee any contact with the president" Putin, he added, describing the information disseminated by the US media as "novel to feel ".
According to the CNN television channel and the New York Times, which revealed the case Monday, this mole was recruited by Americans several decades ago.
A man of the same name worked at the Russian embassy in Washington, according to internal documents consulted by AFP.
After climbing the ladder of power, he had according to both US media gained direct access to President Putin and had become one of the major US sources in Moscow.
According to CNN, the spy had even sent the Americans documents secretly photographed on the desk of the Russian president.
Based on this position, according to the Times, it could confirm that the Kremlin master had himself orchestrated the Russian campaign to promote the candidate Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.
Russian neighbors
According to the New York daily, the informant also directly implicated Mr. Putin in the hacking of emails in the Democratic camp, whose publication had embarrassed the candidate Hillary Clinton.
The CIA had suggested to his spy to get him out of Russia in 2016 when rumors about the existence of a mole in the Kremlin had begun to surface, the newspaper added.
He had refused, citing family reasons, and the US secret service had feared a double agent. But their worries dissipated when he agreed in 2017 to be exfiltrated.
He would then have settled in the United States. On-line real estate transaction reports show that Oleg Smolenkov bought a beautiful home in Virginia, southwest of Washington, in 2018.
On the spot, a neighbor confirmed to AFP that the owners were Russian and indicated that they left Monday night.
"victory or loss?"
CNN said the CIA had exfiltrated him for fear that Donald Trump or his entourage would betray him, but the central intelligence agency vehemently denied the point.
"The unfortunate allegations that the president's handling of the most sensitive information in our nation – to which he has every day access – would have led to a supposed exfiltration is inaccurate," the CIA director of public affairs told CNN. Brittany Bramell.
However, it has neither confirmed nor denied the other revelations of the media.
"If this information is accurate, it represents an incredible CIA victory," said one of his former agents and New America think tank member, Ned Price, on the MSNBC channel.
"You have to realize how difficult it is (…) to recruit a source in Russia, where almost everything is tapped and the intelligence services have full freedom of action," he added.
At the same time, said the expert, "if the exfiltration is a tactical victory since it has been sheltered from danger, it is a long-term strategic loss".
According to the New York Times, his departure from Russia effectively prevented US intelligence from knowing about the Kremlin's activities during the mid-term elections in the United States in 2018, and during preparations for the 2020 presidential election.
10/09/2019 20:00:13 –
Washington (AFP) –
© 2019 AFP
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