The Head Of US Intelligence Calls Russia Successfully Fighting Information Invasion Of Ukraine Globally

Head of US Intelligence Avril Haines. (Wikimedia Commons/US Department of State)

JAKARTA - United States spy chief Avril Haines said, although intelligence releases had never happened before ahead of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin managed to frame world perceptions of the conflict in early 2022.

Speaking to Haines in a radio interview, Jeremy seam, head of the UK Government Communications Center Office (GCHQ) said the Ukraine war represented a "big change" in secret intelligence releases to inform public debates.

Haines agrees, showing failure to penetrate Russian debates and Moscow's advantages in a broader global perception battle.

"We can have an impact on conversations about this, but at the same time it's also clear when we look back at the situation, our impact is much bigger in the West" than elsewhere in the world, he explained, quoted by The National News December 30.

"When it comes to Russia we basically have no influence. What we also see is, we are not very influential in other countries that have followed Russia-driven narratives," he said.

catastrophe said details by Western intelligence agencies regarding Russia's military build-up ahead of the invasion had helped counter Moscow's narrative that Ukraine was threatening its neighbors.

"There's no point in collecting it (secret intelligence) unless you use it,"

"The big changes we've seen during this conflict, getting intelligence out there and using them to make preparations, to try and damage such narratives, I completely agree with that."

"But it's also a case that in most of the world they don't completely believe in that side of the argument. As we know it's true, there's a different narrative and a counter," said AJ.

While Haines believes there is an effective Western response to disinformation, he also recognizes there are limits to the impact of the work.

"We are clearly trying to counter Russia's disinformation," he said.

"We see that they want to make excuses for an invasion and we want to refute it, helping people understand that this is the wrong narrative by finding ways to classify certain information while still trying to protect our sources and methods."

"When you provide information to a population that is already skeptical of you, it is much more difficult to gain traction in that scenario."

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a special military operation to Ukraine on February 24, to carry out demilitarization and denazification. Meanwhile, Ukraine and the West considered it an baseless invasion.