The Ukraine war is having a “corrosive” effect on Vladimir Putin’s leadership of Russia, according to the head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Russian disaffection over the war is providing new opportunities for the CIA to collect intelligence, the agency’s Director William J Burns said.
Prigozhin’s actions were “a vivid reminder of the corrosive effect of Putin’s war on his own society and his own regime”, he said.
The CIA director said the impact not just of Prigozhin’s actions but also his statements – which included an indictment of both the rationale and execution of Russia’s invasion – would play out for some time.
“Disaffection with the war will continue to gnaw away at the Russian leadership,” Mr Burns said in his prepared remarks.
“That disaffection creates a once in a generation opportunity for us at CIA,” referring to the role of the agency in recruiting human agents to provide intelligence.
“We are not letting it go to waste,” he said to laughter from the audience. “We are very much open for business.”
America’s top spy made the comments while delivering the annual lecture at the Ditchley Foundation in the UK.
He was speaking a week after the mutiny by Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Mr Burns said everyone had been “riveted” by the scenes last Saturday of Prigozhin’s “armed challenge” to Moscow, when his Wagner mercenary forces marched towards Russia’s capital.
