What you need to know: According to Moscow, Ukrainian intelligence attempted to sabotage Russia’s only aircraft carrier. Admiral Kuznetsovin March by recruiting a crew member to plant incendiaries on board. However, the plot failed when the crewman reported the attempt to the Russian FSB, who then turned him into a double agent and gathered intelligence on Ukrainian operations.
-The incident underlines the symbolic importance of the decrepit people Kuznetsov for Russia, despite its outdated status, causing Ukraine to target the airline.
-Russia later adopted the Kuznetsov‘s crew to the Ukrainian front, although the ship itself remains in drydock, probably far from real operational capacity.
Ukraine tried to sabotage Russia’s only aircraft carrier
Russia’s only aircraft carrier, the old Admiral Kuznetsovhas been languishing in the harbor for years. But even before it finally drifted into the safety of its home port, the Admiral K was a global laughing stock; a terrible sign to the world that after the collapse of the Soviet Union and its defeat in the Cold War by the United States, Russia was no longer a great power.
Despite the fact that the Admiral Kuznetsov is an eternal reminder of the bad old days in Russia’s recent history, Moscow keeps the boat afloat. However, due to its symbolic importance, it recently became a target of Ukrainian intelligence.
The intelligence operation: a comedy of errors
According to Facing the public arm of Russia’s shadowy intelligence service, the FSB, Russian security services foiled a plot by Ukrainian military intelligence to attack Admiral Kuznetsov while he was in port. The FSB Public Relations Center claimed that Ukrainian intelligence tried to recruit a crew member of the Admiral Kuznetsov as early as March this year.
Under “psychological pressure” and financial incentives, Admiral K’s lowly crewman was promised rapid exfiltration from Russia through Ukraine to Finland if that crewman detonated incendiary devices aboard the derelict Russian boat.
The crew member apparently alerted Russian security services as soon as this person was contacted with the offer from Ukrainian intelligence. Once again, according to Russian government sources, the FSB then turned Admiral Kuznetsov’s intended crew member into a double agent, pretending to work for Ukrainian intelligence while absorbing all information about other Russian-based Ukrainian agents and operations.
Ultimately, this Admiral Kuznetsov crew member, who worked for the FSB, is said to have learned from his Ukrainian handler that the “entire operation was personally supervised by the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.”Kyrylo Budanov.”
Needless to say, the attack did not take place as Ukraine had planned. But this incident highlights two things: first, despite being a global shameAdmiral Kuznetsov remains a symbol of Russian power projection, which is why the Ukrainians have wasted so much precious time and resources trying to sabotage the glorified garbage dump.
Second, Ukraine continues to prove that it is both desperate to attack Russian symbols of power and that in its desperation it is making big mistakes. Who knows what other, more important intelligence the Russians could learn from this complex FSB operation.
Anyway, the operation from the Ukrainian perspective was one failure.
An end of an era
Even though Admiral Kuznetsov’s crew members alerted Russian security services as soon as he was contacted by the Ukrainian intelligence agent, Moscow continued to decided to send the ship’s crew to the front lines in Ukraine shortly after that incident. The intelligence operation ended around July this year.
And the Admiral Kuznetsov has been transferred from his port to a dry dock. The Russian government insists that Admiral K will be returned to full operational status and returned to the leech Mazut fuel next year across the high seas of the world.
That’s doubtful. What is not in doubt, however, is the special place Admiral K occupies in the hearts of the Russian leadership. That symbolic importance makes it a target, even if it is kept far away from the world’s hotspots. It seems this horrible wearer brings out the worst in everyone.
Ultimately, Moscow will have to put an end to the existence of this miserable ship.
About the author
Brandon J. Weicherta national security of national importance analystis a former congressional staffer and geopolitical analyst who contributes to The Washington Times, the Asia Times and The-Pipeline. He is the author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His next book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine, is available wherever books are sold. Weichert can be followed on Twitter @WeTheBrandon.
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