MI6 has said it has drawn inspiration from a CIA campaign previously ridiculed by Moscow<\/p>\n
The UK Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6, has launched a portal on the dark web in a bid to attract potential spies in foreign countries, with a particular focus on Russia. Dubbed \u2018Silent Courier\u2019, the initiative is aimed at people with \u201caccess to sensitive information\u201d on terrorism or foreign intelligence activities, according to the British government.
\nThe scheme was officially presented by the agency\u2019s outgoing chief, Sir Richard Moore, in his final public speech, given in Istanbul on Friday. The British government also published a statement on the plan earlier the same day.
\nLondon touted its portal as a \u201csecure messaging platform\u201d that would allow would-be spies and defectors to contact British intelligence through \u201charnessing the anonymity of the dark web.\u201d
\nInstructions on accessing the webpage were published by MI6 on its official YouTube channel alongside a cinematic clip advertising the initiative. The video also notably featured texts in Russian while depicting what MI6 called \u201cfictional brave individuals\u201d that contacted the spy agency via the new portal.
\nRussia was also the only nation mentioned by name in the government statement announcing the UK push to find \u201cpotential new agents.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
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According to the statement, MI6 took inspiration from a similar advertising campaign run by the CIA in 2023, which also had a particular focus on Russia. At the time, the scheme relying on \u201cHollywood-quality\u201d videos sparked incredulity in Moscow and even parody videos created by Russia\u2019s own foreign intelligence agency \u2013 the SVR.
\nKremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also stated last year the CIA was recruiting on the wrong social media platform, since X has been blocked in Russia. In May, the Washington Post reported that the CIA was struggling to recruit new informants and spies abroad.
\nYouTube, which is now used by MI6, has been slowed down or \u2018throttled\u2019 in the country for non-compliance with Russian laws. Moscow has also previously said it has long been aware of MI6 covert operations against Russia, as well as the agency\u2019s involvement in the Ukraine conflict, which was openly admitted by Moore last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MI6 has said it has drawn inspiration from a CIA campaign previously ridiculed by Moscow The UK Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6, has launched a portal on the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18592,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t