The CIA has "many" bases in Ukraine, the head of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) Aleksandr Bortnikov told Russian television on Thursday, when asked about a New York Times report on the spy network.
The US newspaper described a decade-long record of cooperation between the American spy agency and Ukrainian special services.
According to the article, which was published last Sunday, the CIA has 12 secret bases on Ukrainian soil which are actively working against Russia. The paper wrote that over the past eight years, the CIA has trained and equipped Kiev's intelligence officers in underground bunkers, some of which are nestled deep in the forests of Ukraine.
Bortnikov told Channel 1:
"They [US intelligence] had entered there a long time ago and are using this resource to do the dirty work, on their own and with the hands of the Ukrainian special services."He said "work is ongoing," when asked whether Russia can get to the CIA sites.
Comment: That New York Times piece was propaganda - based on some actual reporting - to help promote the passage of the $100 billion foreign aid bill, of which $60 billion is earmarked 'for Ukraine'.