Ignatius: West catching and exposing Russia's GRU hackers
One of the most satisfying moments in any spy thriller is when the bad guy — the black-hat operative who has been killing and tormenting his adversaries — does something dumb and gets caught. That’s essentially what’s been happening recently with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s pet spy agency, the GRU.
What’s fascinating about the GRU revelations is that they seem to reflect an aggressive pushback after several years in which Putin (chiefly through the GRU) launched recklessly aggressive covert actions against the West. The West is retaliating (at least in part) public information that blows GRU covers and operating methods and, frankly, makes them look clumsy and incompetent.
These disclosures are the latest in a string of disasters for the GRU, a military spy service known for its panache and daring. Now, we should add sloppiness to that list of operational trademarks. The GRU’s spycraft occasionally looks closer to TV’s Maxwell Smart than John le Carre’s vaunted fictional spymaster, Karla.
The latest expose of the GRU’s not-so-secret tradecraft came Tuesday, when a British investigative group shredded a layer of the lies surrounding Russia’s attempt to poison former agent Sergei Skripal in March. It was the equivalent of the tough guy in the trench coat getting caught with his undershorts around his ankles.
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