The CIA is now trying
to recruit Russian spies pretty openly.
The agency dropping an emotional
two minute long video just last night
targeting disgruntled Russians
Their goal,
persuade them
to share any secrets
or sensitive information they may have.
That could help the CIA.
CNN senior
national security correspondent
Alex Marquardt is joining us
live from Washington.
Alex, you got an exclusive interview
with CIA officials about these efforts.
What exactly is it
that they're doing here?
That's right, Caitlin.
And we also got an early
look at this video.
Now, the CIA officials
I sat down with,
they told me that they see
Russia's war in Ukraine
as a rare,
even historic opportunity
to recruit more Russian spies.
Now they're taking their efforts
up a notch
with this new recruitment video
trying to communicate to Russians
who have sensitive information.
We know what you're going through
and what you have is valuable.
Caitlin
they're even quoting Tolstoy
and Dostoyevsky
to try to convince them
to get in touch with the CIA.
At the television
factory in Eastern
Ghouta, raising
questions, being asked in Russian
in a new dramatic video by the CIA
just released to try to recruit
more Russian spies
by appealing to Russians
patriotism, frustrations
and the oppression
they face under the Putin regime.
CIA officials told CNN
in an exclusive interview
that the war in Ukraine has created
an unprecedented opportunity
that they want to capitalize
on to recruit new Russian assets.
Disaffection with the war
will continue
to gnaw away at the Russian leadership
beneath the steady diet of state
propaganda and practiced repression
In the past year of the war.
The CIA has been encouraging Russians
with valuable information
to contact them
quietly, securely and anonymously.
Through a portal on the dark web.
We're looking around the world
for Russians
who are is disgusted with that is we are
because we're open for business
instructions have been posted
on the CIA's social media accounts.
And this new video
after making an emotional pitch
to Russian viewers.
Details how to do that
using the dark web browser called Tor.
You're not powerless.
It says Contact us in a safe way.
The CIA recruitment video
was first posted
Monday evening on Telegram.
The social media app
that is highly popular among Russians
who can't easily access unfiltered news
or other social media sites.
I call it hanging out the shingle
and spreading the word
far and wide that
us in counterintelligence
is open for business.
And we have deep pockets
and we want to strike
back against this man.
You hate Vladimir Putin.
You have an opportunity now to do it
safely.
CIA officials told CNN they hope
the video will resonate
beyond intelligence
and security officials
with people
who may not realize
that they have sensitive information
to share,
working, for example,
in cyber tech, finance and other fields.
They may think contacting the CIA
is too difficult or too dangerous.
The CIA telling CNN
they want to demystify that.
We need people
all through the Russian economy
to cooperate with us.
We need to know what's going on
in this adversary country.
There is no direct mention
of Putin or Ukraine.
Nor CIA officials insist.
Is it meant to fuel unrest in Russia?
Rather, they tell CNN
these are timeless themes
that they hope
will drive Russians
into the arms of the CIA
at the CW, get money out of Syria.
Every state
in every state
can read this, doing that.
Look at that in my eastern
And the CIA says that their campaign
so far
during this war to recruit
new spies, disaffected
Russians, has been successful.
They won't say to what degree
or how many people they have recruited.
But one CIA official told me,
in his words,
there's contact coming in
and they say they wouldn't
be rolling out
this new recruitment video
if they hadn't already had some success.
Caitlin, huh? Fascinating.
That was the most fascinating thing
in the morning. Alex, thank you.
OUTFRONT now, Elina Polyakov,
she is a Russian foreign affairs
expert and the president
and ceo of the Center
for European Policy Analysis.
So, Elina,
as you hear these recruitment videos,
which just to be clear
are going out on telegram
as Alex is reporting.
That is a place
where Russians spend a lot of time.
That is the social media,
the predominant social media in Russia.
So what do you hear
when you hear these videos
and the appeal
that they're making
to retain your dignity, to
take care of your family?
I mean, hearing
the Russian language
as being spoken in these videos just now,
I think is absolutely brilliant.
Honestly,
there are so many Russians
that we will never, ever hear from
who are disappointed with the future
they see ahead of them,
which is a very, very bleak future
under President Putin.
And we'll never hear them
talk about this publicly
because people in Russia
are really deeply afraid
of the kind of punishment
that might come with saying
anything in public.
You know, let's remember,
this is a country
that will throw you in jail
for holding up a white sheet of paper
with no words on it.
So I think this is an absolutely
brilliant ploy by the CIA
to see if we can get some informants,
average people
to cooperate with the United States.
Now, Olena,
you heard what Alex is reporting.
He's saying the CIA knows that in a sense
that they were on investment,
that they're doing this
because they
and they are having contacts already
coming in.
Do you think to this point
about the risks
that the Russians are speaking to
or inside Russia who may see this
that this dark Web browser
that going to tour, that
this is something that
the people would take any enough people,
I guess, would take a risk on
Well, it's very hard
to strike the right tone.
You know, the kind of message
that we just heard in
the segment
is not going to appeal to everyone.
Some people are going to laugh it off
but presumably
they get things out of cooperating
with the intelligence service this year.
They might get some payments.
They might get security.
You know,
these are things that Russians
many Russians
are really craving right now.
So there is a certain appeal there.
Is it
going to reach a large number of people?
We don't know.
But I think the CIA is
probably counting on the fact that
even if it reaches
a few dozen
who take the necessary steps
and who feel comfortable doing that,
that's already a win.
And Lina, one further question.
Alex was talking about the FBI
trying to recruit
people come
and going from the Russian embassy.
And it does make you realize
there are a lot of people
who who do find ways to come and go from
Russia in and out of the United States
that are here completely legally
that are able to do that.
There are Russians
also come
and go from other places
in large numbers.
Maybe, you know,
places in the United Arab
Emirates, for example.
Do you think that there's been success
in recruiting among that group?
Again, it's hard to know.
We don't know what
the intelligence agencies are doing.
They're not going to share
that kind of information with us.
But, of course,
there are many,
many Russians
who are still coming
to the United States as tourists.
It's not easy to get a tourist visa.
Of course, for most Russians,
but those who have the
the money and the wealth
to travel
to go to a different country
besides Russia to get their visas,
basically impossible
to get a visa to the United States
in Russia today.
But look, you
if you have a visa
to go to Germany or Estonia, it's
probably not that hard for you
if you're willing to to wait it out.
So I think certainly there's huge
opportunities here.
We know
that many, many Russians
especially those that are more well-off
who are in the middle
class, you know,
who want a different kind of life
for themselves,
you know, are going to come to the US
and they want to live like Westerners.
They don't want to live
in an oppressive society
with a bleak future.
All right, Alina, thank you very much.
I appreciate it.
Thank you.