Russia is being “very aggressive” toward the United States, but cooperation on counter-terrorism between Moscow and Washington is “highly active” despite the differences between them, according to the director of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. John Brennan, a longtime CIA career officer, who has led the Agency for nearly three years, spoke on National Public Radio on Wednesday about US-Russian relations, Syria and the Islamic State. He told the Washington-based radio station that Russian President Vladimir Putin sees Russia as a superpower that has to assert its influence beyond its immediate region. Thus, said Brennan, Moscow’s actions in Ukraine could be understood in the context of Russia’s regional-power doctrine; but its “very assertive, very aggressive” support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is part of a wider strategy of geopolitical domination that includes the Middle East.
Brennan said that Russia is losing ground
in Ukraine because its “hybrid war” is “not going as planned” and Putin
“has found that he’s in a bit of a quandary” in the former Soviet
republic. Not only is Putin “not realizing his objectives” in Ukraine,
added the CIA director, but the widening geopolitical confrontation
between Russian and the West is “causing a chill […] even in
intelligence channels”. He added, however that the CIA continues to work
closely with the Russian intelligence community in counter-terrorism
operations directed against Islamist militants. Brennan described the
CIA’s relationship with Russian intelligence operatives as a “very
factual, informative exchange. If we get information about threats to
Russian citizens or diplomats, we will share it with the Russians”, said
the CIA director, adding: “they do the same with us”.
Brennan, a fluent Arabic speaker who
spent many years in Saudi Arabia, used the 2014 Winter Olympics in
Sochi, Russia, as an example of a collaborative project between the CIA
and its Russian counterparts. “We worked very closely with them” during
the Sochi games, said Brennan, in order to “try to prevent terrorist
attacks”. “And we did so very successfully”, concluded the CIA director.
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