I Spy Something … Fishy

A former foreign intelligence officer in the KGB, Konstantin Preobrazhensky observes:

Today, Russian intelligence can no longer recruit on the basis of political ideals. All KGB operatives share a communist ideology, which dumfounds the West. But, clearly, they can’t go up to a Western liberal and ask him to fight for global communism. That’s why potential agents are asked to fight against America, and many agree to do it. The second pillar of recruitment is a love for Russia. In the West, only Russian immigrants have feelings of filial obedience toward Russia. That’s precisely why [the KGB] works with them so often. A special division [within Russian intelligence] was created just for this purpose. It regularly holds Russian immigrant conferences, which Putin is fond of attending. Now a grandiose operation is underway: the uniting of the Russian Orthodox Church outside Russia with the Moscow Patriarchate, or more precisely, with the Russian state. If this happens, the Orthodox Church here will become a bastion of Russian influence and a center of espionage.