USA; According to a Friday report by Fox News, the FBI has started a social media campaign to persuade Russian citizens to divulge sensitive information regarding the actions of the government in their home country. It has allegedly appeared on Twitter, Facebook, and Google since it was first posted in February.
Are you interested in altering your future? In the video posted online, Alan Kohler, Assistant Director of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division, is heard speaking. The FBI respects you. The FBI can assist you. However, the initiative must come from you alone.
Although the Bureau has previously run advertisements targeting Russians, Fox News cited a source who claimed that this year it decided that "a video was more effective."
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The FBI website urges Russians with information to contact the agency by calling the hotline, sending an online message, or visiting the bureau's headquarters in Washington, DC.
Since Moscow and Washington have been embroiled in a diplomatic dispute over Ukraine, the US has increased its efforts to recruit informants. The Bureau published a number of Facebook ads urging Russians to report crimes in 2019, but this message was written in Russian and had grammatical errors.
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Images of popular Soviet singer and actor Vladimir Vysotsky, who is known for playing a police detective on screen, were featured in the FBI's online campaign in 2020 that was aimed at potential Russian informants. In the meantime, the CIA has been posting job openings for Russian-speaking candidates.
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