The Russia connectionRussia, post-World Cup, plans to intensify aggression against West: U.S., U.K. intel sources

Published 18 July 2018

Sources familiar with intelligence collected by the United Kingdom, the United States, and other allies say that Russian intelligence agencies are about to ramp up operations targeting Western countries. The growing concern about Russia’s plans preceded the meeting earlier this week between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Intelligence officials in the United States and the United Kingdom told CNN that the Russians ordered a relative lull in activity during the month-long soccer tournament, which was hosted by Russia.

Sources familiar with intelligence collected by the United Kingdom, the United States, and other allies say that Russian intelligence agencies are about to ramp up operations targeting Western countries.

The Russian intelligence agencies have paused or slowed down some of their operations, waiting for the World Cup soccer tournament and the Trump-Putin Helsinki summit to be over.

The growing concern about Russia’s plans preceded the meeting earlier this week between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Intelligence officials in the United States and the United Kingdom told CNN’s Shimon Prokupecz and Evan Perez that the Russians ordered a relative lull in activity during the month-long soccer tournament, which was hosted by Russia.

One U.S. intelligence official said that Russian intelligence leaders did not want any high-profile incidents to cast a shadow over the prestige Russia gained for hosting the world’s biggest sporting event. The U.DS. intelligence officials note that the Russian intelligence agencies did the same during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

It is not yet clear what the wave of new Russia anti-Western operations will involve. Experts note that Russia’s intelligence operations typically aim to exploit political turmoil, compromise democratic processes, and destabilize governments in the West.

Russia’s intelligence operatives have helped pro-Kremlin political parties and candidates in the United States, Europe, and Central and Latin America; have been supporting causes and movements which would weaken the West and promote Russian interests; launched disinformation and propaganda operations through social media aimed at deepening division and rancor in Western societies along racial, ethnic, and religious lines; and also followed more traditional KGB-era operations involving harassment and intimidation, and assassination of Putin critics at home and abroad – the most recent being the March 2018 novichok poisoning in Salisbury, England, of Sergei Skripal, a former Russian spy.

The March 2018 poisoning has increased intelligence gathering by British, U.S., and allied services. U.K. officials have warned that similar Russian attacks are likely to be carried out in other countries.

CNN reports that, quietly, U.S. and British intelligence officials have been coordinating efforts to track the growing Russian aggression against the West — and respond to it.

This spring, in the response to the Skripal poisoning, the United States expelled dozens of Russian intelligence operatives masquerading as diplomats. Among them were spies which U.S. law enforcement believed were tracking Russian dissidents and defectors in the United States.