The CIA helped create a network of secret spy bases on the territory of Ukraine and a Ukrainian intelligence network in countries where Russian intelligence services are active.

According to The New York Times, American intelligence has maintained a secret partnership with Ukrainian intelligence services for 10 years, exchanging intercepted information with Ukrainian colleagues.

With the support of the CIA and MI-6, the SBU created the paramilitary Fifth Directorate to conduct operations behind Russian lines. It was staffed by employees born after the collapse of the USSR and with no ties to Russia, the newspaper notes.

In 2014, the CIA delivered secure communications equipment to Ukraine for the first time and trained members of the Fifth Directorate and two other elite Ukrainian intelligence units.

The CIA also oversaw a training program for Ukrainian intelligence officers, which took place in two European cities. Among other things, Ukrainians were taught to work undercover. This is how a new generation of Ukrainian intelligence officers appeared who worked in Russia, throughout Europe, in Cuba, and other places of Russian presence.

With the help of the American department, Ukrainian intelligence has created 12 forward operating bases along the Russian border, the newspaper writes. From these centers, Ukrainian officers managed a network of agents who collected intelligence inside the Russian Federation. The bases were equipped with equipment for collecting intelligence information. After the start of a full-scale war, two more secret bases were built to intercept Russian communications. They are almost entirely financed and partially equipped by the CIA.