This is right out of a spy novel….
The scary part is that American’s intelligence people did the extration because of a President who seemed to be more interested in dancing with the Russians than his own intelligence community…
Who would every think this could happen?
Decades ago, the C.I.A. recruited and carefully cultivated a midlevel Russian official who began rapidly advancing through the governmental ranks. Eventually, American spies struck gold: The longtime source landed an influential position that came with access to the highest level of the Kremlin.
As American officials began to realize that Russia was trying to sabotage the 2016 presidential election, the informant became one of the C.I.A.’s most important — and highly protected — assets. But when intelligence officials revealed the severity of Russia’s election interference with unusual detail later that year, the news media picked up on details about the C.I.A.’s Kremlin sources.
C.I.A. officials worried about safety made the arduous decision in late 2016 to offer to extract the source from Russia. The situation grew more tense when the informant at first refused, citing family concerns — prompting consternation at C.I.A. headquarters and sowing doubts among some American counterintelligence officials about the informant’s trustworthiness. But the C.I.A. pressed again months later after more media inquiries. This time, the informant agreed.
The move brought to an end the career of one of the C.I.A.’s most important sources. It also effectively blinded American intelligence officials to the view from inside Russia as they sought clues about Kremlin interference in the 2018 midterm elections and next year’s presidential contest.
More details have emerged of an alleged high-level spy the US reportedly extracted from Russia amid fears his cover was about to be blown.
Russian media named him as Oleg Smolenkov, who worked for a key aide to President Vladimir Putin.
Mr Smolenkov was not senior, had been fired years ago and the extraction reports were fiction, the Kremlin said.
A CNN report said the CIA had feared President Trump’s “mishandling” of intelligence could put the spy at risk.
CNN said the extraction came after the president met senior Russian officials, including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in the White House in May 2017 and had unexpectedly shared classified US intelligence.
More details have emerged of an alleged high-level spy the US reportedly extracted from Russia amid fears his cover was about to be blown.
Russian media named him as Oleg Smolenkov, who worked for a key aide to President Vladimir Putin.
Mr Smolenkov was not senior, had been fired years ago and the extraction reports were fiction, the Kremlin said.
A CNN report said the CIA had feared President Trump’s “mishandling” of intelligence could put the spy at risk.
CNN said the extraction came after the president met senior Russian officials, including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in the White House in May 2017 and had unexpectedly shared classified US intelligence.
The CIA said CNN’s reporting of the extraction was “misguided” and “simply false”….
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49651576
On the spy story?
Who is telling the truth?
And u KNOW the Russians KNEW who the guy was