I got played by Russian intelligence
by
Tom Rogan
| May 18, 2018 10:59 AM
I got played by Russian intelligence.
Yesterday, after dealing with the Twitter explosion that followed
my piece on the Kerch Strait Bridge between Crimea and Ukraine (my follow-up piece
here standing by my original piece), I received an email from a Ukr.net address purporting to be from a staff assistant to Ukraine’s foreign minister, Pavlo Klimkin. The email said that the minister wanted to thank me for my piece and support for Ukraine’s sovereignty in a short phone call.
I now believe this was arranged by Vovan and Lexus, two radio hosts who operate under Kremlin order and direction. By Kremlin standards they are journalists, by the standards of reality they are intelligence officers. On that note, I had assumed, going in, that the Russians were monitoring the call — they would target the Ukrainian foreign minister's phone lines — but not that it was actually the Russians I was speaking to.
I agreed and we arranged a time. I received the call and began speaking with who I assumed was Klimkin. Our conversation was rather interesting, Vovan or Lexus thanked me for the piece and repeatedly emphasized that Ukrainians, including the president, enjoyed it. He asked me a series of rather odd questions, such as what I thought Ukraine should bomb next. I said artillery positions in southeastern Ukraine. He asked me if Ukraine could give me a press award. I said, yes. He asked if I could state my support on Twitter for Ukraine’s arrest of a Russian journalist in Kiev who has been engaged in agent provocateur actions. I did not.
I asked for an editorial board interview with the fake Klimkin on his next visit to Washington, Vovan or Lexus said yes.
We talked a little bit about the threat facing Ukraine’s sovereignty in the context of aggressive Russian operations on its soil. I stated that when it comes to countering Russian intelligence operations you have to stick them in the belly. I stand by that belief.
Anyway, while I’m sure you’ll be able to listen to the conversation in the next couple of days, I think the key takeaway here is to be wary of the Russian intelligence machine. It is both hyperaggressive and, on occasion, highly creative.