Russia Says It’s Aware of US Support for Ukraine’s Intelligence Agencies

The Kremlin said Tuesday that Russian intelligence agencies are aware of the support Ukrainian intelligence receives from the US and Britain.

The comments came in response to a report published by The Washington Post on Monday that detailed how the CIA has funded and built up Ukrainian intelligence services that are now conducting attacks inside Russia, including targeted assassinations.

The support included tens of millions of dollars in funding since 2015 and the creation of a new directorate within the Security Service of Ukraine, known as the SBU. The report said another directorate was added to work with Britain’s MI6 spy agency.

“Let’s not forget what we said a long time ago: Our intel agencies have repeatedly pointed to the evidence that we have of Ukrainian intelligence being closely supervised by the intelligence services of the United States, and the United Kingdom, one might add,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

“Our intelligence agencies have long been quite well informed about this, and we have duly taken it into account,” Peskov added. Russian officials have often said Ukraine could not conduct attacks inside Russian territory without intelligence support from the West.

The CIA-backed forces were responsible for the August 2022 killing of Darya Dugina, daughter of Russian philosopher Alexander Dugin. Dugina was a civilian, but Ukrainian officials justified her killing because she supported the war in Ukraine. The Post’s sources insisted the CIA was not involved in the assassination but did not withdraw support because of it or other targeted killings.