Russian intelligence needed a safety school
Not every target can go to SAIS
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ALEX’S WEEKLY RANT
Russia cares about students. Not theirs, of course. But ours.
As I ranted a few weeks back, Russian intelligence thinks the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins is the best international relations program around. But even Russian intelligence needs a safety school, in case their efforts to recruit from the best of the best don’t succeed.
Enter Natalia Burlinova, the head of a Russian non-governmental organization called Public Initiative ‘Creative Diplomacy,’ or PICREADI, which, according to its web site, is “committed to developing and supporting civil initiatives in public diplomacy and foreign affairs.” The organization “is fully independent in its research and related activities.”
Burlinova, through PICREADI, organized events at Tufts’ Fletcher School, George Washington University, MIT, and Harvard (full disclosure: I was once asked to speak at Harvard and am now required by law to mention that regularly).
There’s just one problem: PICREADI isn’t actually “independent” or “non-governmental,” nor was this particular type of diplomacy “public” (allegedly).
Because after these events, Burlinova, according to an FBI indictment, was allegedly compiling dossiers on participants to determine who might make a good target for recruitment by Russia’s intelligence services. After events, she would send photographs of attendees, their resumes, details of their conversations, and more to her handler with Russia’s Federal Security Service, the FSB, which (allegedly) covertly funded Burlinova’s activities and tasked her to carry out certain activities.
One of the programs at PICREADI that Burlinova organized was called “Meeting Russia.” The program hosted Western students, journalists, thinkers, and activists in Moscow for cultural exchanges. Meeting Russia covered all accommodation and food costs, and even covered travel costs for some participants. The purpose, according to the FBI, was “to influence the opinions of future leaders in the United States on behalf of the Russian government… The FSB subsequently monitored the career developments of these U.S. citizen participants with an aim that some would become influential public figures.”
Yeah, Russia plays the long game.
How does it feel to find out you were targeted by Russian intelligence?
Apparently, it doesn’t feel great. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFERL) contacted a number of people who had participated in PICREADI’s programs. Many were “stunned” they might have been involved in a Russian intelligence operation.
Some participants learned they had been duped when the FBI came knocking on their door. Others learned when the indictment dropped.
One participant told RFERL, "What [the event] was at its core was a just series of meetings. [It] didn't seem like it was intended to quote-unquote recruit anyone."
But that’s precisely the point. As I cover in Class 1: Spying 101 of my Foreign Influence Operations course, any target goes through an assessment and developmental period, during which the intelligence officer gauges the person’s willingness to act in a manner that the intelligence officer wants.
But others were more clear-eyed, particularly considering that the bulk of Burlinova’s alleged activity took place after most people were aware that Russia was up to some shady shit. "If you really thought that you could go to Russia in 2018 and thought something like that could not happen to you, you're really super naive," a European participant told RFERL. Amen to that.
Mariia Butina Part Two
Burlinova insists the charges are politically motivated. In a response to the FBI indictment posted on PICREADI’s web site, she writes, “I, Natalia Burlinova, plead not guilty and regard the situation as an attempt to tar my reputation. The charges against me are just another episode of the U.S.-run information campaign, another news hook in the context of U.S. interior politics and the electoral cycle. The whole story of the alleged ‘conspiracy to commit offense or defraud the United States’ by myself or Meeting Russia was made up for mass media in the tideway of Russophobia accompanying the plummeted Russian-American relations.”
The entire letter is a master class in disinformation techniques. (These techniques are covered in Class 5: Information Operations: How Disinformation Works; seriously, sign up, the world will make much more sense).
To pronounce her innocence, Burlinova also posted on social media a photograph of her with convicted Russian agent Mariia Butina, who was given an 18-month prison sentence for her role carrying out Russian influence operations against the Republican party and the National Rifle Association. Burlinova told RFERL that the FBI’s indictment is "just an attempt to create a Butina Part II."
Comparing yourself to a convicted Russian agent when you are charged as a Russian agent: Quite the flex, Burlinova!
THE WEEK’S LINKS
A roundup of stories you should be reading
(Note: I reserve the right to rant in depth about any of these at a future date)
RUSSIA
Inside Russia’s environmental influence operation targeting the Baltic Sea (Yahoo! News)
Putin’s plans to keep the Baltics in check (Yahoo! News)
Murder, ‘alcohol and prostitutes’: Wagner convicts pardoned by Putin return to terrorise home towns (The Guardian)
RUSSIA AND GERMANY
Kremlin attempts to build antiwar coalition of extremists in Germany (The Washington Post)
YOUR FEEL-GOOD STORY OF THE WEEK
Arkansas woman feeds meth to fawns hoping they will grow up to attack hunters (3bmedianews.com) PLEASE BE SURE TO READ THIS ONE TO THE END. YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.
Alex Finley is a former officer of the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, where she served in West Africa and Europe. She writes and teaches about terrorism, disinformation / covert influence, and oligarch yachts. Her writing has appeared in Slate, Reductress, Funny or Die, POLITICO, The Center for Public Integrity, and other publications. She has spoken to the BBC, MSNBC, CNN, C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, France24, and numerous other media outlets. She was also invited once to speak at Harvard, which she now tells everyone within the first ten seconds of meeting them. She is the author of the Victor Caro series, satirical novels about the CIA. Before joining the CIA, Alex was a journalist, covering Capitol Hill, the Pentagon, and the Department of Energy. She reported on issues related to national security, intelligence, and homeland security. Did she mention she was invited to speak at Harvard?
