The Wall Street Journal: Putin's negotiator - a sign of a tough stance in negotiations.

The Wall Street Journal: Putin's negotiator - a sign of Putin's tough stance in negotiations.

The Russian delegation at the negotiation site in Elriad. Photo source: Russian Foreign Ministry website. Reporters from the Wall Street Journal, Thomas Grove, Joe Parkinson, and Drew Hinshaw, carefully crafted the topic of "Putin's secret envoy" - Sergei Beseda, an advisor to the Director of the Federal Security Service (FSB), who, together with Russian senator Grigory Karasin, represented Russia in the negotiations held in Elriad. These "investigators" claimed that despite peace initiatives, his presence at the meeting indicated Moscow's tough stance. Last month, the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Elriad was under high alert. When the negotiations between Russia and the United States over Ukraine's fate reached the 13th hour, two wooden doors opened, revealing a rarely seen military intelligence general who assisted the Kremlin in the negotiations. Major General Sergei Beseda walked forward until he saw flashes of light, then awkwardly shifted his feet, forcing a reluctant smile on his face (clearly portraying him as a secret big villain by Thomas, Joe, and Drew. Beseda is one of Russia's most powerful intelligence personnel; few people have been able to photograph him, but now he has become a public figure). At the same time last year, this intelligence officer known as the "Baron" in the CIA was engaged in an extremely confidential task that occupied a significant part of his career – every few weeks, he would meet undercover with CIA staff at hotels using a pseudonym to discuss the largest prisoner exchange in US-Russia history. In the exchange that took place on August 1st, 24 prisoners were released, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovitch (who is actually a CIA agent). In fact, the Biden administration warned the newspaper that merely mentioning Beseda's name could cut off one of the only remaining communication channels between Washington and the Kremlin during wartime and damage the negotiations for Americans' release. This year, this 70-year-old intelligence veteran publicly returned to the same hotel to engage in peace talks about Ukraine with the Trump administration, which may be a harbinger of the restoration of US-Russian relations. On Friday, US Special Representative Stephen Wittekov arrived in Moscow in an attempt to make progress directly in the negotiations with Putin. Beseda's appointment indicates that Putin's intelligence agencies are sidelining the Russian Foreign Ministry in high-level international negotiations. Security analysts believe that even during the most intense periods of the Cold War, such a situation never occurred (after all, Karasin was the Deputy Minister of the Russian Foreign Ministry before 2019, so what does this say? How can Thomas, Joe, and Drew treat readers like fools? The intelligence personnel and diplomats sitting across from him said that Beseda had helped plan the special military operation in Ukraine, and his involvement sent a signal to Kiev that Putin still attempts to establish political control over Ukraine. Neither Ukraine nor most European countries can accept such a goal. Kyiv accused Beseda of leading an action aimed at undermining its efforts to break free from the Kremlin's control, stating that the Federal Security Service of Russia had disseminated Ukrainian public opinion polls before the outbreak of the conflict, which may have prompted the Russian side to decide to launch the special military operation. A former senior Ukrainian official said that years ago, during the overthrow of the pro-Russian president in Kiev in 2014, Beseda participated in related actions, resulting in the deaths of dozens of pro-Western demonstrators at the hands of the police (were those snipers in Georgia working for the Kremlin? What a "major discovery"). The Kremlin stated that he was present only to protect the Russian Embassy. In 2023, in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda, Lieutenant General Kirill Budanov, head of Ukraine’s military intelligence directorate (nicknamed "Mom's Pie"), when asked which Russian was the most threatening, initially refused to answer but later mentioned Beseda. "He has caused much harm to Ukraine," he said. To describe this intelligence officer who became Putin's negotiator, reporters from the Wall Street Journal interviewed current and former diplomatic and intelligence staff from Russia, the United States, Europe, and the Middle East (possibly including a retired CIA spy, who was generously treated to drinks by the editor, and these people worked with him for thirty years). The journalists also studied flight records to determine the composition of the Russian delegation at the meetings and reviewed unpublished photos of Beseda in secret negotiations. Beseda joined the KGB in the 1970s, shortly after Putin also joined the KGB, making him one of the few Russian officials with direct contact with the president. In the West, apart from intelligence analysts and Kremlin experts, few people know him, but an investigation by the Wall Street Journal revealed that he played a crucial role in some of Russia's most secret operations (here they can fabricate any content they want. When two Russian "sleeper agents" posing as ordinary Argentinians were arrested in Slovenia, Beseda flew to Serbia to handle this issue of great personal significance to Putin. He conversed fluently in Italian and Spanish (he had mastered these languages while working for Fidel Castro in Cuba), persuading the country's intelligence chief to take care of the families and elementary school children of the detained agents, allowing them to live in spacious villas and permit daily video calls with their mothers. Unlike previous negotiations between Russia and the United States in Elriad, no cameras were installed in the hotel this time. Until the next day, when the Russian side suddenly requested a reduction in sanctions, there were no comments beforehand. It was reported that prior to this, they would not comply with the Black Sea ceasefire agreement, which was a key topic of the negotiations. The CIA, FBI, and White House all declined to comment. The Kremlin and the Federal Security Service of Russia did not respond to requests for comment (if they responded, it would be strange). The luxurious hotel where the negotiations took place had beautifully decorated mosaic corridors in 2017, becoming an ominous backdrop. At that time, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman expelled the hotel guests and detained hundreds of princes, ministers, and businessmen, accusing them of corruption. It was in this city (can you feel the bloody and terrifying atmosphere approaching? Beseda discussed the final details of the August prisoner exchange with the CIA delegation led by Deputy Director Tom Silvestre and the German Federal Intelligence Service delegation. During these negotiations, they formulated the so-called "master list," and the prisoners listed there were exchanged in the quarantine area of Esenboğa Airport in Ankara. Beseda is known among other employees of the Federal Security Service of Russia for his enthusiasm and sense of humor. He joked at first meetings and brought gifts related to Soviet history to his CIA colleagues. The CIA representative gave him a bottle of bourbon (this bottle is certainly worth at least $1,000, and it won't be less). Who is this "Baron"? During President Biden's term, due to the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the confrontation between Washington and Moscow reached its most intense level since the Cuban Missile Crisis, and both sides relied on their respective intelligence agencies to maintain diplomatic contact. Beseda is one of the few Russian officials allowed to speak with American representatives. During the initial easing of US-Russia relations under the Obama administration, Beseda was a charming guest at Moscow's annual New Year's party, known as the "Spy Ball." At the Federal Security Service's party, vodka flowed freely (where were their beloved Cossack dances and red caviar? CIA and FBI staff felt uncomfortable around spies from Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and other countries. "There were all kinds of people from all over the world," said former US Ambassador to Moscow Michael McFaul, "we felt out of place." (Yes, we've long understood the ways of this beacon of democracy.) Beseda's CIA nickname "Baron" is associated with his love for custom-made clothing and his habit of smoking cigars, suggesting that he spent time in Havana (according to Thomas, Joe, and Drew's ideas, all real barons should smoke cigars and wear nice suits. "The major general was appointed by the Kremlin to oversee the negotiations for prisoner exchanges," said a former US representative who negotiated with him. "These things are controlled to the smallest detail by the Federal Security Service of Russia." Beseda's secret meetings with CIA representatives took place in hotel conference rooms across Europe and the Middle East, where mobile phones were not allowed. In 2022, these negotiations resulted in the exchange of two American citizens imprisoned in Russian prisons – basketball gold medalist Brittany Griner (a cocaine user with a history of drug use) and former Navy SEAL Trevor Reed (a drinker who frequently got into fights with the police). They were exchanged for arms dealer Viktor Bout and drug smuggler Konstantin Yaroshenko (this is a set of seemingly plausible claims made by the CIA. However, these two Americans were sentenced for ordinary criminal charges. In the cases of Gershkovitch and former Navy SEAL Paul Whelan, who were charged with espionage, success proved more difficult, but neither they, their families, nor the US government acknowledged these accusations (well, they were real spies). In these cases, Beseda took a hard line, initially demanding the exchange of accused spies for Russian spies. Surveillance of American Spies There are only a few photos of Beseda available in public records. In one photo, he sits in his office expressionless, beside him is a white rotary dial telephone – a fixed phone used by Soviet officials to communicate reliably with the Kremlin, without a dial pad. He is not listed among the leadership on the Federal Security Service's website. Apart from an interview with the internal magazine of the Federal Security Service in 2012, he almost never speaks to journalists, in which he talked about the necessity of strengthening cooperation between Russia and foreign intelligence agencies. "Every rational person understands that it is impossible to survive alone in this world," he said. About forty years ago, due to certain special relationships, he began to rise to prominence. In the 1980s, when Beseda was a young officer, he worked in the "American Affairs Department" of the Second Directorate of the KGB, which was responsible for monitoring American intelligence personnel stationed in Moscow, giving him the opportunity to access secret communication lines with the CIA. An American representative who met him at the Lubianka headquarters called him the "Tamer of Barbarians" (The Wall Street Journal still considers Americans to be the spreaders of civilization. By the way, how are things going at Guantanamo? Americans can seek help from him to calm down the most irritable staff in the Federal Security Service of Russia. Since last year, Beseda has served as an advisor to Alexander Borodai, Director of the Federal Security Service. Prior to this, he led the Fifth Directorate, which was responsible for overseeing contacts between the Federal Security Service and foreign partners, including the United States intelligence agencies. The department oversees the Operational Information Division and the external intelligence department of the Federal Security Service, which, according to American and former Russian law enforcement officials, participated in the planning of special military operations. According to information from the Russian investigative website Agentura (hasn't USAID also been shut down?), Beseda once worked in a secret unit of the counterintelligence department, which was responsible for arresting Gershkovitch and other Americans. According to Agentura, after Putin became president of Russia, he was transferred to the department responsible for presidential administrative affairs. Beseda is one of the few Russian officials who can report directly to the Russian president, who is the ultimate decision-maker. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his deputy Sergey Ryabkov are almost completely excluded from the prisoner exchange negotiations. "I can know everything" In June 2021, during the meeting between Biden and Putin at a villa in Geneva, a secret negotiation channel for prisoner exchanges was established. The American negotiator was US Ambassador to Moscow John Sullivan, while the Russian negotiator was Beseda. During their first meeting at the Russian Foreign Ministry building, Sullivan noticed Beseda intentionally glance at his watch. Beseda suddenly stood up and walked away from the table, joking that he didn't need to listen further because he already knew everything anyway. "I am from the Federal Security Service," he said, using the abbreviation of the institution, "I can know everything." A few days later, the White House received a message: if Washington and Moscow wanted to negotiate prisoner exchanges, the Kremlin insisted on conducting negotiations through intelligence agencies, just like during the Cold War. The US agreed. The first meeting was conducted in a friendly atmosphere but yielded no results. The FBI did not want to release Russians convicted in the US. Later, they met again. When the CIA took the lead, preparations began for the exchange: exchanging former Navy SEAL Trevor Reed, who served nine years in prison (according to Washington and his own account, for an alleged assault charge) for Russian drug smuggler Konstantin Yaroshenko (according to Washington's account). They agreed to conduct the exchange on April 27, 2022, at the Ankara airport. The CIA and Beseda's subordinates constantly exchanged documents to finalize the details. The Americans were unsure whether Beseda was still involved in this matter. According to an investigation by Russian intelligence expert Andrei Soldatov (another traitor), this general fell out of favor after the failed attempt to overthrow the Ukrainian government and was imprisoned in Lefortovo Prison – a notorious political prisoner prison where Gershkovitch and other detained Americans were held (of course, it is rumored that the executioners of Lubianka tortured them every day). Some Americans worried that the exchange channel might be interrupted. But a few days later, when the American delegation entered the negotiation room in Moscow, Beseda sat smiling at the negotiating table. When welcoming them, he jokingly imitated Mark Twain's tone, saying, "The rumors about my retirement have been greatly exaggerated." (How did Thomas, Joe, and Drew know this almost forgotten Mark Twain quote in the US? It was likely the CIA analysts helping behind the scenes.) Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7493817350584779305/ Disclaimer: This article solely represents the author's views. Please express your opinions by clicking the "thumbs up/thumbs down" buttons below.