Welcome to Six Secrets, where knowledge is power. To be an intelligence analyst, your mind must work like a computer, gathering large amounts of information, synthesizing it into actionable intelligence, and quickly handing it to the operations team. SPYSCAPE has pulled together a dossier on Russia’s leader along with intel from former spies and a few cultural references. The clock’s ticking. How would you brief the US President?
Inside Putin's mind
Vladimir Putin sat down for an almost unbelievable 24 hours of interviews with journalists which were later published in an extraordinary book, First Person (2000). Here are the most fascinating revelations about how Putin’s mind works as seen through the eyes of the Russian leader, journalists, analysts, and the psychiatrists who spend their lives analyzing Putin’s mind.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny released a film in 2021 that sent shockwaves worldwide. Part exposé, part psychological portrait, his investigation claimed to reveal a culture of corruption within the Kremlin - with President Putin at its heart. The Kremlin and Putin deny everything.
Moscow and Kyiv have a long, dark past including an incredible period during the 1950s and ‘60s when KGB assassin Bogdan Stashinsky admitted targeting former Ukrainian government leader Lev Rebet and Ukrainian resistance leader Stepan Bandera. Stashinsky was part of the Moscow hit team known as The 13th Department, but Ukraine wasn’t the only focus. Hollywood was also high up on the KGB’s hit list.
Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich and two Ukrainian officials apparently suffered poisoning symptoms in Kyiv in early March after peace talks with Russia. But is it all just media hype and hysteria or something much more dangerous? SPYSCAPE examines the links between Russia, Novichok and a growing list of complainants.
Janosh Neumann joined Russia’s internal security service, the FSB, in 1996 when he was just 17. He was a loyal officer, devoted to his job and country. That changed in 2008, when Neumann started thinking the CIA might help him fight international money laundering, syndicates, and organized crime. What actually happened is a very different story.
Spies absorb intelligence through many mediums including movies, music, and art, so it is useful to pay attention to foreign films and TV series like Moscow’s Spies (2013). SPYSCAPE rounds up the must-stream Russian movies and shows to help you stay on top of your brief.
