No, Mr. Putin, the Bungled Spying Won’t Blow Over
The string of embarrassing failures is ruining the image of omnipotence the Russian leader spent years trying to build.
He can flly.
Photographer: Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images
The latest failures of Russia’s military intelligence service, commonly known as the GRU, expose a major flaw in President Vladimir Putin’s habitual way of dealing with public fiascos: He mistakenly believes the uproar will blow over.
The Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, and his British counterpart, Theresa May, said Thursday that the GRU had tried to hack the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in the Hague, which was testing the substance used to poison ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the U.K. in March. The Russian agents allegedly were caught trying to disrupt the OPCW computer network using equipment hidden in a car trunk. They also are said to have been caught with diplomatic passports. The Netherlands expelled them.