(Matthew Doarnberger, Headline USA) The New York Times formally acknowledged that the Central Intelligence Agency had established and supported 12 secret bases located, in Ukraine in a recent article titled The Spy War: How the C.I.A. Secretly Helps Ukraine Fight Putin.
The article, which conveniently ran as heated negotiations over Ukraine funding reach a critical juncture in the U.S. House, appeared to dispel some of the narratives suggesting that America’s present military and financial support for the former Soviet territory sprung up organically following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s February 2022 invasion, as part of a mission to defend “democracy” in Europe.
“The partnership is no wartime creation, nor is Ukraine the only beneficiary,” the Times conceded, noting that its true origin may have been with the Obama-era color revolution in 2014 that ousted Ukraine’s Russia-friendly leader and installed one who was equally corrupt but more pliable to U.S. interests.
“It took root a decade ago,” said the Times, adding that “… it has transformed Ukraine, whose intelligence agencies were long seen as thoroughly compromised by Russia, into one of Washington’s most important intelligence partners against the Kremlin today.”
The findings were based on 200 interviews with current and former intelligence officials in Ukraine, Europe and the U.S.
Referring to Ukraine as an “intelligence-gathering hub, the article claimed the purpose for the CIA bases was to aid its government in tracking Russian spy satellites and eavesdroping on conversations between Russian commanders.
However, others have pointed to the presence of bioweapons research facilities near the border between the two countries as another possible reason for fearing Russian control over the region.
“In addition to the bases, CIA proxy, USAID, funded and operated biolabs in Ukraine, as part of project PREDICT, a preemptive pandemic response program, looking for animal viruses in nature, so they could then enhance the functions, and make vaccines for viruses that don’t exist yet, and might never exist,” wrote the investigative blogger Clandestine in a post following the Times article.
“In other words, the CIA were conducting gain of function/directed evolution research on bat coronaviruses in Ukraine, starting in 2014,” Clandestine added.
The presence of biolabs was inadvertently confirmed by U.S. Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland, considered by many to have been the architect of the Kiev’s so-called Orange Revolution, during testimony before Congress a month after the Russian invasion.
“Ukraine has biological research facilities which we are now quite concerned Russian forces may be seeking to gain control of,” she said in response to a question from Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., at the hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The active gaslighting surrounding the CIA’s operations in Ukraine, along with the country’s notorious corruption, has fueled considerable specualtion as to how U.S. funds might actually be getting spent and the American government’s true motives may be.
“Russia tried to go the diplomatic route, and the West just cried ‘Russian disinformation’, while they were the ones pushing disinformation,” noted Clandestine in another blog post.
“The West also went out of their way to censor independent journalists like me who have been telling you this from day one, because if the public knew this detail the entire time, they wouldn’t have supported sending our tax dollars there,” the blogger continued. “This is going to be a tough pill to swallow for many Americans, but Russia are not the bad guys in this scenario. The West are, and it’s not even close.”
With the war between Russia and Ukraine now having lasted over two years, public sentiment on Americas’ prioritization in funding the forever war over domestic priorities has begun to sour.
The Biden administration and its allies—including many Establishment Republicans—have insisted that U.S. funding of Ukraine is especially vital while attempting to pass a $61 billion aid bill through Congress that would largely go toward the war there.
However, enough Republicans have pushed back on the latest funding that serious doubts remain about the bill’s passage. As a result, CIA Director William J. Burns made his 10th visit to Ukraine since the start of the war last Thursday, in order to reassure leaders of the money to come.
When asked in a recent CNN interview about the aid money, Nuland expressed confidence that the bill would pass after members of Congress returned from their districts.
.@UnderSecStateP Victoria Nuland has “strong confidence” Congress will pass Ukraine aid. “This is not just about Ukraine. If we don’t stop Putin… he will keep going… Autocrats & tyrants around the world will take comfort & think they too can chunk off a piece of their neighbor” pic.twitter.com/JTCNpoDAqj
— Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) February 22, 2024
“We will do what we have always done, which is defend democracy and freedom around the world,” Nuland claimed.
Despite her optimism, public opinion seemed to be trending in the other direction.
According to a recent Harris poll, 70% of Americans wanted Ukraine to negotiate peace with Russia as soon as possible. This was a nine-point jump from a previous poll conducted in late 2022.
Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to this report.
