Putin ‘mistakes’ giving US ‘once-in-a-generation’ chance to recruit spies – and CIA boss says ‘we’re not letting it go to waste’

Dissatisfaction over Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, underlined by Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin’s armed mutiny, has created a “once-in-a-generation” opportunity for the US to recruit spies, the director of the CIA has said. William Burns said the aborted mutiny was a challenge to the Russian state that showed the corrosive effect of Mr Putin’s war in Ukraine. Speaking at a lecture to the Ditchley Foundation – a charity focused on British-American relations – Mr Burns said dissatisfaction with the war was creating a rare opportunity to recruit spies, which the CIA was capitalising on. Image: William Burns said the mutiny…