He makes an excellent point, and one that Washington investigators should pay attention to - that Manafort had to be cooperating with the CIA in Kiev - that he would never have been allowed to do what he did without working hand-in-glove with them.
Kondrashov is biting and sarcastic in his word choice and style. It doesn't come across in the translation very much, but trust us, it is.
Kondrashov's words are worth paying attention to. The Russians specialize in understanding how US espionage works, and how to counter it. It is most likely that Kondrashov got this from top Russian intelligence figures.
If true, and Kondrashov seems pretty certain it is, it means that the CIA has compromising info on Manafort, if only the info that he is a CIA snitch, hardly the sort of thing a top Washington lobbyist wants publicized.
Western pundits celebrate as if they have proven Russian ties to the Trump campaign.
All they have really done is further demonstrate deep state involvement in the Ukraine and the criminal tactics used therein.
This also shows how well they treat their minions, one can only wonder how they continue to find new recruits.
Full transcript follows below with best parts bolded:
Transcript:
Kondrashov:
Actually, we, Russians, clearly understand the whole story with Manafort. In the 1990s, there were some "Chicago Boys" in Moscow who were made advisers to Russia's top government officials, by liberal economists, and who taught us how to live "properly."
Under Yanukovich, Ukraine looked pretty much like a parody to Russia in the 90s. Just like in Russia, everyone was just eager to earn some money, by any means possible. Manafort belongs to the people who are almost sure to cooperate with intelligence services (i.e. the CIA).
Otherwise, he couldn't have become an American emissary at the court of the President of Ukraine. This allows one to both follow the instructions of Department of State, and to take money from one's subjects. Manafort would take it from Yanukovych.
Then, Yanukovych lost his political positions and was treated like an expendable. American authorities started to pull the strings of the other puppet, Poroshenko, who was made President through a coup. Now, Manafort was thrown away just like an expendable too.
He was betrayed by his own supervisors. Today, the "Ukraine" CIA project is controlled by a new commissioner, Kurt Volker. He serves as another power broker, just like Manafort was. Volker officially works as a consultant at BGR Group, a lobbyist firm, where he previously served as International Managing Director.
Now, this firm is working with Poroshenko under a service contract. According to RT, $300,000 was paid to the firm for those kinds of services. Now that Poroshenko seems burnt out, Volker had to take up a new puppet, Saakashvili.
It's clear where he would have been without American support. They've been playing with two puppets so far.
No one can say, who's going to be thrown away next.
What is clear, is that the whistleblowers, hoping that the Manafort dossier would strike Russia, achieved almost the opposite effect. They hit the corrupted Ukraine and revealed all the mechanisms of American imperial policy.
Comment: Now that Kondrashov puts it like this, it seems almost impossible that things could have been any other way. As the article points out, the irony is that this shows US deep state involvement in Ukraine, rather than 'Russian collusion' with the Trump campaign. But of course, when it comes to propaganda, who in the US will care about details such as the difference between Ukraine and Russia? Lavrov recently complained precisely about this absurdity.
See also: Tucker Carlson: Podesta brothers and Manafort, not Trump, are 'central figures' in Mueller probe (UPDATE)