Category: Michael Novakhov – SharedNewsLinks℠

Telegram is in a double bind with its CEO and co-founder, Pavel Durov, charged in France for allowing illegal content on the platform. What he decides to do next could go against the company’s core values and shatter its reputation.  

The main charges in France are allegations that Telegram was complicit in storing and distributing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and facilitating drug trafficking, organised fraud, and other illegal transactions.

“Telegram as a company is in a dilemma,” Yevgeniy Golovchenko, assistant professor with the department of political science at the University of Copenhagen, told Euronews Next.

“On one hand, they probably do not want to have this kind of friction in this escalation that we’re seeing right now, so they do have some incentive to comply with French laws,” Golovchenko said.

“On the other hand, if they do, it signals to the world that they are willing to actually increase moderation, and they’ll be going against the core of their product”. 

Anti-government brand

Telegram is marketed as a platform that does not moderate much or deliver user data to states, although it could as the end-to-end encryption is not a default setting, meaning that many users do not know their data is being kept unless they select encryption for each message. 

Launched in 2013 by Durov and his brother Nikolai, Telegram started its life as a messaging app that prioritised speed, security, and a way to avoid government interference. 

The idea came after Durov’s earlier social media venture, Russia’s largest social network VKontakte (VK), faced pressure from Russian authorities to hand over personal data to Russia’s security services, the FSB.

This included a demand to block the account of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

Durov consequently left Russia, later selling VK and then starting Telegram, which as of July 2024, garnered more than 950 million monthly active users worldwide. 

“Telegram’s reputation is [as] a project that goes against cooperation with the state,” said Golovchenko, adding that Durov’s personal story of leaving Russia and withstanding multiple bans across the world underlines this brand.

If Durov does not collaborate with French authorities to tighten content moderation, it could “strengthen this [anti-government] brand for users,” he added.

‘Brazenly ignore regulation’

But Telegram already had a questionable reputation. 

The app has become a popular tool to organise anti-government protests, such as in Iran or Belarus, and a tool of communication in the Ukraine war. But it has similarly been used by Russia’s military and propaganda groups as well as global extremist and criminal organisations. 

“I think [the arrest] already has had an implication on Telegram’s reputation. To me, Telegram was never that virgin-like,” William Echikson from the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) told Euronews Next. 

“I’ve never known a company that so brazenly just ignored the regulators and it doesn’t surprise me they ignored the law,” he added. 

Despite Russia’s attempts to ban Telegram in 2018, public officials are now trying to say the country should help Durov, which “could help the Russian propaganda narrative about the West being authoritarian and not having enough freedom,” Golovchenko said.

As Telegram has played a part in both sides of the war in Ukraine, which has been critical of the app due to national security fears of it not being neutral or secure enough, which side the platform falls on for content moderation could further increase criticism of the app in Ukraine and praise by Russia, or the opposite.  

It is extremely rare for Ilya Yashin, a fierce critic of Vladimir Putin who was recently released from prison, and Margarita Simonyan, a rabid Kremlin propagandist, to find common ground.

But in the hours after the surprise arrest of Pavel Durov, the reclusive founder of the Telegram messaging app, both Yashin and Simonyan – along with thousands of other Russians across the political spectrum – united in demanding his release, underscoring the unique place Telegram holds as Russia’s most popular messaging app.

On Monday evening, prosecutors in France announced that Durov was being held in connection with an investigation into criminal activity on the platform and a lack of cooperation with law enforcement. The Paris prosecutor, Laure Beccuau, said the investigation concerned crimes related to illicit transactions, child sexual abuse, fraud and the refusal to communicate information to authorities.

“I do not consider Pavel Durov to be a criminal and I hope he will be able to prove his innocence in court,” Yashin wrote on X on Monday.

The sentiment was echoed across the opposition, who first came to admire Durov when, as the 27-year-old CEO of the social media platform VKontakte, he received a request from the FSB to take down the pages of opposition groups.

Durov refused and would eventually be forced to sell VKontakte to the state, making him a rare tech mogul to defy the Russian authorities.

His next project, the messaging app Telegram, was built on the principle of user privacy. It also introduced “channels” that allow moderators to quickly disseminate information to large numbers of followers, combining the reach and immediacy of a Twitter/X feed with the focus of an email newsletter – features that have made it a key platform for organising anti-Putin protests.

Despite growing rumours that Durov may have fallen under the Kremlin’s influence, Telegram has remained the primary channel for dissent in Russia, especially after the outbreak of the war, as Putin cracked down on independent media outlets and banned western social media platforms.

Many in the Russian opposition therefore quickly expressed concerns that Durov’s cooperation with French authorities could prompt Moscow to shut down the platform domestically or open the door to similar demands to gain access to Telegram from the Russian government.

For the Kremlin, which has repeatedly clashed with Durov and unsuccessfully tried to ban Telegram, the arrest presented a surprising propaganda coup.

On state talkshows and in print media, Durov’s detention has been portrayed by Russian officials as an example of western hypocrisy over free speech. Kremlin propagandists also quickly put forward unfounded theories suggesting that western intelligence agencies orchestrated Durov’s arrest to gain access to Telegram’s “keys”, including private chats and data of millions of Russians.

“Everyone who is used to using the platform for sensitive conversations should delete those conversations right now and never do it again,” warned Kremlin propagandist Simonyan in a Telegram post.

“Durov has been shut down to get the keys. And he’s going to give them.”

Baza, a Telegram channel affiliated with Russia’s security apparatus, reported that the defence ministry, prominent businessmen, and officers from several security agencies were swiftly instructed to delete work-related messages from the app.

With Durov’s fate in question, so too is the future of Telegram. Analysts believe that the arrest could hinder Telegram’s future fundraising efforts and undermine its financial stability.

There are also growing concerns about the app’s ability to maintain its core privacy protections, particularly after reports from French media that law enforcement agents are trying to access Telegram’s database of private chats.

The potential collapse of Telegram – which by early 2023 handled up to 80% of Russia’s total messenger traffic – could have a far-reaching impact on Russian society.

One group particularly concerned with Durov’s arrest is the Russian military, along with a cohort of pro-war bloggers and reporters who have gained prominence by covering the conflict on Telegram.

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Telegram has served both as a communication tool within the Russian army and as a platform for the Kremlin to convey its narrative of the war to ordinary Russians.

“They practically detained the head of communications for the Russian army,” lamented the popular Russian military blogger channel, Povernutie na Z Voine, in a Telegram post.

Ordinary Ukrainians and the country’s military also use Telegram to raise funds for the army and blog about the war. However, for internal communications, the army is known to primarily rely on the Signal platform.

Rybar, a leading military analyst close to the Russian leadership described Telegram as “perhaps the main means of units’ command and control”.

Rybar added that Durov’s arrest has exposed the weaknesses in Russia’s communication channels and underscored the urgent need to develop state-controlled apps.

“It would be both quite sad and somewhat amusing if Durov’s arrest turned out to be the catalyst for changes in communication within the Russian armed forces,” he concluded.

In the wake of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov’s bombshell arrest in France last weekend and subsequent criminal indictment, much is still uncertain—particularly, how the high-stakes drama will impact Telegram’s massive crypto ambitions. 

This year, Telegram became perhaps the most prominent company to ever jump with both feet into the cryptosphere. The dominant messaging service encouraged the proliferation of an ecosystem of on-chain, in-app games and services powered by Telegram’s blockchain of choice, The Open Network (TON). Those so-called “mini apps” exploded in popularity this spring, largely thanks to their ability to earn users crypto rewards via token airdrops. 

Momentum from mini app activity catapulted Telegram to a record 950 million monthly active users in July, and Telegram has directly embraced TON by using it to pay channel operators a share of advertising revenue, along with launching an in-app currency called Stars that’s linked with TON.

The company’s new path appeared so limitless that some TON developers prophesied the app might soon ride its on-chain mini app model to become the West’s version of China’s “everything app,” WeChat.

But crypto is also, notoriously, a legally risky sandbox to play in. So now that Telegram appears to have awoken the regulatory beast, could the company’s crypto future be in jeopardy?

“How big do they want to get?”

The charges filed against Telegram CEO Pavel Durov on Wednesday do not mention cryptocurrency whatsoever. They focus instead on content related to illegal topics like child pornography and drug sales that Durov allegedly allowed to proliferate on his platform. 

But the timing of the indictment—in the midst of Telegram’s aggressive push to make crypto-backed financial services a central offering—speaks loudly, according to Seth Goertz, a former U.S. Attorney specializing in cryptocurrency and cybersecurity.

“The more they go down that road, the more they’re inviting scrutiny,” Goertz told Decrypt of Telegram’s finance and commerce-related ambitions. “How big do they want to get?”

The former prosecutor specifically pointed to the integration, in April, of the popular stablecoin Tether (USDT) with both TON and the Wallet app on Telegram. While the move was a massive boon for Telegram’s mini apps, allowing users to transact in a dollar-backed currency that doesn’t fluctuate nearly as much as TON’s native token, the stablecoin also has a long track record of fueling illicit activity due to that same attractiveness.  

“If governments are seeing large amounts of Tether being moved through Telegram, it is going to attract tremendous scrutiny, for sure,” Goertz said. “The dollar is a powerful thing.”

Decrypt reached out to numerous TON developers and creators of Telegram mini apps for this story regarding their views on Durov’s arrest, and how it might impact the future of Telegram’s crypto-related ambitions. All declined comment.

Telegram did not respond to multiple requests for comment on this story.

Crypto tech vs. crypto attitude

Not everyone is adamant that the factors that compelled the French government to arrest Durov have anything to do with crypto or any other technology peddled by Telegram—potentially indicating that the company’s “everything app” ambitions may not be the center of the story. 

Despite this week’s uproar on Crypto Twitter—which framed Durov’s arrest as an assault on user rights to privacy—Ben Rubin, the founder of the once-trendy, since-shuttered video chat app Houseparty, believes Telegram didn’t ruffle many feathers with its actual privacy features.

In reality, the app is actually less secure by default than other popular messaging platforms with automatic end-to-end encryption like Signal, iMessage, and even WhatsApp.

Crucially, though, Telegram’s leadership is notoriously standoffish when it comes to dealing with government entities. This created a perfect storm, in Rubin’s opinion, with Telegram sitting on lots of vulnerable data about its users, but refusing to hand it over. 

“My intuition is that this has nothing to do with crypto,” Rubin told Decrypt. “When a platform not only doesn’t protect user privacy—by not introducing end-to-end encryption—but also pisses off the regulators, you get the situation that you’re in now.”

In that sense, Telegram and Durov may now be in trouble less due to crypto tech, and more due to embodying the same kind of anti-establishment attitude that has fueled the crypto industry and made Durov something of a free speech icon.

When French prosecutors announced charges against Durov on Wednesday, they specifically underscored how Telegram’s failure to communicate whatsoever with government entities was a crucial factor that aggravated the entire situation.

“This indictment is the result of a thorough investigation into Telegram’s near-total lack of response to judicial requests, which has been a concern for multiple law enforcement agencies across Europe,” prosecutor Laure Beccuau said.

Rubin, who is currently building Towns, a permissionless app for group chats that runs on Ethereum layer-2 network Base, said such conflict could be easily avoided if Telegram adopted an inverse to its current approach: encrypting all user messages automatically, and letting law enforcement in—when necessary—to parse through other more extraneous data.  

“This is how you actually find a good balance where the regulators don’t have too much access to things, and they cannot abuse the power,” Rubin said. 

“But they actually need to do work,” he added of regulators. “And I think we will be in trouble if, for anyone who builds online communication, regulators come and ask to cooperate and we all give them the finger. That’s not going to work out.”

In recent days, Durov’s arrest has become a rallying cry for tech leaders ranging from Elon Musk to prominent crypto investor and former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan.

Crypto advocates in particular have rushed to the Telegram founder’s defense, framing his prosecution as an existential attack on the foundational pillars of the decentralization movement. 

But was it actually groundbreaking crypto tech that so irked the French government in Durov’s case? Or rather, his defiant and dogmatic personification of the crypto persona?

Edited by Andrew Hayward

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Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram, would have maintained ties with French counterintelligence. He was detained on August 24 but released on bail on August 29.

By Anthony Marcus, correspondent for Eurasia Business News, on August 31, 2024. Article n°1201.

During interrogation in Paris with French police, Pavel Durov said that he maintained ties with French counterintelligence officers and met with them in Dubai, revealed local newspapers. Telegram refused to cooperate with the French authorities, but Durov stressed that it complies with EU laws.

The founder of the Telegram messenger, Pavel Durov, during interrogation in Paris, said that he had maintained ties with representatives of the General Directorate of Internal Security of France (DGSI, counterintelligence), in particular, he met with them in Dubai, the Libération newspaper writes, citing a source.

According to the French newspaper, the Russian-French tech magnate made it clear that “it would be inappropriate for him to disclose information constituting a military secret”. What was discussed, the newspaper did not specify.

The source also said that Durov, in his own words, “as part of the fight against terrorism, has opened an official channel of communication with the DGSI with a hotline and a special email address.“

The exchange of information through these channels made it possible to prevent several terrorist attacks, the source told Liberation.

According to the French newspaper, after his arrest in Paris on August 24 when his private jet landed at Le Bourget airport near Paris, Pavel Durov expressed his readiness to cooperate with French law enforcement agencies and provided them with his mobile phone with an access code to it.

An employee of the French Ministry of Justice told Politico that Telegram refused to cooperate specifically with the French authorities, which caused disappointment in Paris.

Refusal to cooperate with the French authorities is among the charges brought against Pavel Durov in France after his detention. There are six of them in total. Only on charges of complicity in the administration of an online platform for making illegal transactions, the tech magnate faces up to ten years in prison and a fine of € 500,000.

Durov was detained on the evening of August 24 at Paris’ Le Bourget airport, where he flew from Baku on a private jet. Four days later, he was released under judicial supervision and after payment of a € 5 million bail.

In a statement published after Pavel Durov’s detention, Telegram said that the messenger complies with EU laws, and its moderation “meets industry standards and is constantly improving.” The position of the French authorities that the platform or its owner is responsible for abuses in the messenger was called absurd by Telegram.

The Kremlin said it was ready to help Durov, since he still has a Russian passport along with the French one. Consular access to the founder of Telegram was also requested by the UAE, of which he is also a citizen. In addition, Pavel Durov has citizenship of St. Kitts and Nevis.

Arrested at the airport Le Bourget on August 24, at 08:00 PM, the French-Russian businessman himself does not admit guilt, and the French President Emmanuel Macron stated that there is no politics in this investigation.

Pavel Durov’s net worth is currently estimated at $15.5 billion as of August 2024. This makes him the 150th wealthiest person in the world.

The EU authorities are also investigating, who believe that Telegram could underestimate the number of users in the EU in order not to comply with the norms for large IT companies, the Financial Times reports. In its reports, Telegram indicated that the messenger has less than 45 million users in the European Union. 

Read also : Gold : Build Your Wealth and Freedom

“The director of Telegram was detained as part of an ongoing judicial investigation,” French President Emmanuel Macron said, apparently meaning that this case is not a personal case agaisnt Mr. Pavel Durov, but a large investigation of various crimes committed by users of the Telegram messenger.

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© Copyright 2024 – Eurasia Business News. Article no. 1201.

During his interrogation in Paris, the founder of Telegram, Pavel Durov, he allegedly claimed to be in contact with officials from the French Directorate General for Internal Security (DGSI), the Paris-based counter-espionage agency, the French daily newspaper “Liberation” reported, citing sources close to the investigation.

Durov allegedly explained that he had “opened an official communication channel” with the DGSI, as part of operations to counter terrorist activities. Specifically, he had a telephone line and an email address at his disposal from the agency. According to Liberation sources, these communication channels prevented some terrorist attacks. Durov also claimed to have met with officials of the DGSI in Dubai, where he resides.

Durov was arrested at Le Bourget airport in Paris on August 24th. According to the Paris Prosecutor’s Office, he was arrested for lack of moderation on his instant messaging app, as well as for failing to collaborate in the fight against drug trafficking and the dissemination of child pornography content. The arrest took place “as part of a judicial investigation opened on July 8”, explained the Prosecutor’s Office.

According to the first press release issued by the Paris Prosecutor’s Office on August 26, Durov faces 12 charges, six of which have actually been brought against him at the moment. The first concerns the crime of aiding and abetting in relation to the “operation of an online platform to enable an illegal transaction by an organised gang”. The second refers to the “refusal to communicate or provide, at the request of the authorised authorities, the information and documents necessary to carry out and use the wiretaps authorised by law”. The third and fourth charges concern complicity in relation to the “possession of an image of a minor of a child pornography nature” and the “distribution, offering or organised making available of a pornographic image of a minor”. The fifth refers to drug trafficking, while the sixth concerns the transfer “without legitimate reason of equipment, tools, programs or data designed or adapted to compromise or access the functioning of an automatic data processing system”.

The seventh crime of which the founder of Telegram is accused concerns his alleged complicity in an “organized fraud”, while the eighth would see him guilty of “criminal association aimed at committing a crime or an offense punishable by five years in prison ”. The ninth charge concerns the “laundering” of proceeds deriving from crimes committed “by an organized gang”, while the tenth is related to the “provision of cryptology services to guarantee confidentiality without a declaration of conformity”. The last two charges brought by the French judicial authorities against Durov concern the “supply” and “importation” of a “cryptographic instrument that does not exclusively provide authentication or integrity checking functions without prior declaration”.

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The FBI revealed new details from the investigation into the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump in a Wednesday call with media, including that the shooter engaged in “detailed attack planning” well in advance of the rally. But more than six weeks after the attack, investigators still haven’t uncovered a motive.

The FBI has done an extensive analysis of 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks‘ online search history and activity, according to Kevin Rojek, a special agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office who also spoke on the call. That has provided “valuable insight into his mindset, but not a definitive motive,” Rojek said.

Investigators found a search from Crooks’ account in late September of 2023 of Trump’s campaign schedule and upcoming Pennsylvania appearances, according to Rojek.

But Trump doesn’t appear to have been the only potential target.

Rojek said between April and July of 2024, Crooks searched campaign events for both Trump and President Joe Biden, including events that were scheduled to happen in western Pennsylvania. The bureau uncovered searches on July 5 for, “When is the DNC convention,” and “When is the RNC in 2024,” apparent references to the Democratic and Republican National Conventions ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

In the 30 days before the attack, Crooks conducted more than 60 searches related to either Biden or Trump, Rojek said.

‘Detonating cord,’ ‘blasting cap,’ ‘how to make a bomb’: shooter searches since 2019

Crooks’ search history suggests he may have been considering a violent attack for several years.

Rojek said as early as September 2019, and continuing into the summer of 2024, Crooks conducted multiple searches about explosive devices, including “detonating cord,” “blasting cap,” “how to make a bomb from fertilizer,” and “how do remote detonators work.” Crooks also searched for ammonium nitrate, nitromethane, and other materials consistent with manufacturing explosive devices.

Law enforcement found two explosive devices in Crooks’ car.

FBI director Christopher Wray testified a couple of weeks after the shooting that the devices had receivers to enable remote detonation and law enforcement found a transmitter on the roof with Crooks. However, he also said investigators didn’t believe detonation would have worked because the receivers were switched off.

Rojek said Wednesday that components Crooks used to make those devices were legal to buy and readily available online.

‘No definitive ideology associated with our subject, either left-leaning or right-leaning’

Federal investigators have been working to learn who Crooks was and why he tried to kill Trump ever since the Republican presidential nominee took a bullet to the ear at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. Crooks also killed rally attendee and father of two Corey Comperatore, while critically wounding two others.

Robert Wells, executive assistant director of the FBI’s national security branch, said on the call that the FBI not only hasn’t identified a motive but also hasn’t uncovered any co-conspirators or associates of Crooks who had advance knowledge of the attack.

“And I want to be clear, we have not seen any indication to suggest Crooks was directed by a foreign entity to conduct the attack,” Wells added.

Rojek said investigators aren’t even clear whether Crooks had partisan political views. “We’ve seen no definitive ideology associated with our subject, either left-leaning or right-leaning. It’s really been a mixture and something that we’re still attempting to analyze and draw conclusions on.”

Antisemitic posts by the shooter?

Rojek also addressed testimony FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate gave before Congress on July 30 when he said investigators had found “the first real indication” of extremist views and politically violent communications through a social media account they were working to verify belonged to Crooks.

Abbate mentioned more than 700 comments between 2019 and 2020, including antisemitic and anti-immigration messages, in particular.

The FBI’s assessment “is that those statements were associated with accounts associated with the subject, and we continue to work to determine if they were, in fact, attributed to the subject himself,” Rojek said.

‘Where will Trump speak from?’: preparations before attack

On July 4, just nine days before the attack, Crooks searched for details on the Butler campaign event, which took place within easy driving distance of his home. Two days later, Crooks showed an interest in a previous political assassination, searching for how far Lee Harvey Oswald was from John F. Kennedy when Oswald shot him.

Rojek described that search, which has been previously reported, on Wednesday.

He also clarified that Crooks looked into specific details about the set-up for the campaign rally. Crooks entered online searches on July 6 for, “Where will Trump speak from at Butler Farm Show,” “Butler Farm Show podium,” and “Butler Farm Show photos.” Rojek said those were exact quotes, but didn’t clarify what the spelling, punctuation, or capitalization looked like.

Crooks also searched for “ballistic calculator” on July 9 and looked up the weather in Butler on July 10, Rojek said.

Family ‘extremely cooperative,’ have received Crooks’ body

Rojek clarified that the FBI remains in contact with Crooks’ family members, who he said have been “extremely cooperative.”

Law enforcement released Crooks’ body to them after Pennsylvania’s Allegheny County Office of the Medical Examiner conducted an autopsy and the FBI and Pennsylvania State Police both agreed with the Butler County Coroner’s Office’s decision to release the remains.

“I want to stress that it is not standard procedure or practice for the FBI or any law enforcement agency to request that the coroner or medical examiner maintain indefinite custody of a deceased subject’s body once the investigative purposes of our agency and our partner agencies are completed,” he said.

Autopsy and toxicology reports indicated Crooks wasn’t on drugs or alcohol when he died, and that he was killed by a single gunshot wound to the head, Rojek said. Crooks was pronounced dead at 6:25 p.m. EDT on July 13.

Encrypted email accounts accessed, Trump briefed on investigation

Rojek said Crooks had overseas encrypted email accounts, but the level of encryption wasn’t more sophisticated than any standard, widely used email service that’s internet-based. He said the FBI has successfully accessed those accounts and analyzed their contents, although it is continuing to “identify and exploit” Crooks’ accounts more broadly.

At a July congressional hearing, FBI and Secret Service officials said law enforcement identified Crooks as suspicious well before the attack and shared a photograph of him nearly an hour before he opened fire at about 6:11 p.m. EDT. A local officer radioed seeing Crooks on the roof from which he opened fire with “a long gun” about 30 seconds in advance.

Investigators previously revealed Crooks used an ‘AR-style 556’ rifle in the attack. That weapon was and is operational, Rojek said Wednesday. He confirmed the FBI successfully test-fired it and also matched the casings found on the roof to the rifle.

During a standard victim interview with Trump, the FBI and the Pennsylvania State Police provided the Republican presidential nominee “with an in-depth briefing on the investigation” and answered his questions, Rojek said.

Since the assassination attempt, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned under intense pressure over the failure to protect Trump at the campaign event. Members of Congress and the wider public have continued to press the service about how Crooks was able to obtain a line of fire on Trump.

Investigators have conducted nearly 1,000 interviews in total, in addition to issuing dozens of subpoenas and analyzing hundreds of hours of video footage, according to Rojek.

CIA Director Burns Exposes Putin’s Grand Plan: A Threat to the Western World

Let’s
talk about Vladimir Putin, the man who’s made it his life’s mission to threaten
NATO and every democratic Western country out there. No one has a better grasp
on what makes Putin tick than CIA Director William J. Burns. This guy isn’t
just any intelligence chief—he’s someone who’s been up close and personal with
Putin for years, long before the world saw the full extent of Russia’s
aggression.

     Burns knows Putin like few others. He
served as U.S. Ambassador to Russia from 2005 to 2008, then climbed the ranks
as Undersecretary of State and Deputy Secretary of State, before taking the
helm at the CIA. This isn’t just a man reading reports from afar—Burns has sat
across the table from Putin, most recently in November 2021, right before
Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine. He was the last American official to speak
to Putin before the tanks rolled in.

     Burns paints a chilling picture of Putin:
a combustible mix of grievances, ambition, and deep-seated insecurity. This
isn’t just some ordinary leader we’re dealing with—Putin is a former KGB
officer, trained to see the worst in human nature. He’s suspicious of everyone,
always on the lookout for vulnerabilities to exploit.

     Forget about appealing to his better
nature—Putin doesn’t believe in that. He’s all about control, intimidation, and
getting even. Burns doesn’t mince words—he calls Putin an “apostle of payback.”

     What’s more, over the years, Burns has
seen Putin evolve into a leader who’s completely isolated himself from dissent.
Back when Burns was ambassador in Moscow, there were still people in Putin’s
inner circle who dared to disagree with him. That’s all gone now.

     Today, Putin surrounds himself with
yes-men—advisors who either echo his hardline views or have learned the hard
way that questioning his judgment is a career-ending move.

     Burns admits that trying to predict
Putin’s tactical decisions is like trying to crack a code. But one thing is
clear: Putin is driven by a sense of destiny. He’s convinced that it’s his
mission to restore Russia’s status as a great power, and he sees Ukraine as the
linchpin in that plan. For Putin, controlling Ukraine isn’t just a strategic
necessity—it’s a matter of personal entitlement. He’s deluded himself into
believing that Ukraine isn’t a real country, and that it’s Russia’s right to
dominate it.

     This isn’t just about Ukraine, though.
Putin’s ambitions stretch far beyond that. He dreams of reinstating the Soviet
Union, pulling all those breakaway satellite nations back under Moscow’s
control. And he’s not just talking—he’s taking action. I describe these
ambitions in my spy thriller novel, where Putin sends former KGB agents, GRU
spies, and Spetsnaz assassins into the Caribbean to undermine America’s
presence there, reflecting the same tactics he used in Ukraine, sending them in
years before his invasion. That’s the backdrop for Mission
of Vengeance, where Corey Pearson, a seasoned CIA spymaster, goes
toe-to-toe with Putin’s operatives as they try to destabilize the region.

     Putin isn’t just a threat to Ukraine—he’s
a threat to the entire Western world. His obsession with power and control is
pushing us all toward the brink. And as William J. Burns knows all too well,
this is a man who won’t stop until he’s achieved his twisted vision of a
restored Russian empire. The question is: how far will we let him go before we
stop him? 

Robert
Morton is a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO)
and authors the ‘Corey
Pearson- CIA Spymaster’ series. Check out his latest spy thriller, ‘Mission of Vengeance’