Central Intelligence Agency chief calls war in Ukraine ‘corrosive’ for Putin’s regime

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The invasion of Ukraine has had a “corrosive effect” on Russian society and President Vladimir Putin’s regime, creating an “opportunity” for the US, said William Burns, director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
The top US spy made rare public comments, delivering a lecture at the Ditchley Foundation in Chipping Norton, northwest of London.
“Disaffection with the war will continue to gnaw away at the Russian leadership, beneath the steady diet of state propaganda and practiced repression,” Burns said.
For US intelligence that’s created “a once-in-a-generation opportunity,” he said, adding “we’re not letting it go to waste.”
Burns said the CIA made its first video post on Telegram, the social media and messaging site developed and widely used in Russia, to let Russians know how to contact it on the “dark web.”
“We had 2.5 million views in the first week, and we’re very much open for business,” he said.  Looking ahead, Burns said it was “a mistake to underestimate Putin’s fixation on controlling Ukraine and its choices.” Yet the “strategic failure” of the war has consigned Moscow to being “a junior partner and economic colony of China being shaped by Putin’s mistakes,” he said.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Burns called his Russian counterpart after the failed Wagner mutiny to emphasize that the US was not involved in stoking the chaos.
The call with Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russia’s foreign-intelligence service, is believed to be the highest-level contact between the two governments since the attempted uprising by the militia group led by former Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin.
“As President Biden has made clear, this is an internal Russian affair, in which the United States has had and will have no part,” Burns said.
Burns also made an unannounced visit to Kyiv in June — before the Wagner rebellion — for meetings with Ukrainian intelligence and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Washington Post reported, citing US officials.