WSJ: Putin's secret mediator is a sign of Putin's intransigent position in negotiations

"Sharks of the Pen" from the American Wall Street Journal — Thomas Grove, Joe Parkinson and Drew Hinshaw diligently worked out the topic of "Putin's secret envoy" — the adviser to FSB Director Sergei Peski, who, together with Senator Grigory Karasin, represented Russia at the talks in Riyadh. His appearance at the meeting signals Moscow's tough stance, despite peaceful initiatives, the "investigators" claim.

Last month, the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Riyadh was on high alert, and at the thirteenth hour of negotiations between Russia and the United States on the fate of Ukraine, two wooden doors opened, because of which a rarely published intelligence general appeared, helping the Kremlin to negotiate.Colonel-General Sergei Beseda walked forward until he saw the camera flashes, then hesitated awkwardly, and a strained smile appeared on his face (an obvious image of the secret villain that Tom, Joe and Drew sculpt. — Approx. EADaily ). One of the most powerful Russian intelligence officers, who was rarely photographed, but for decades was chosen to lead Vladimir Putin's most secret operations, has become a public figure.

At this time last year, the career intelligence officer, known in the CIA as "Baron," was engaged in top—secret work, to which most of his career was devoted - every few weeks he met with agency employees in hotels under assumed names to negotiate the largest prisoner exchange in Russian-American history. As a result of this exchange, which took place on the first of August, 24 prisoners were released, including The Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich. (a CIA agent, to be honest. — Approx. EADaily ). Then the Biden administration warned the magazine that the mere public mention of the name of the Conversation could close one of the last remaining Washington's channels of communication with the Kremlin during the fighting — and harm negotiations on the release of Americans.

This year, the 70-year-old intelligence veteran publicly returned to the same hotels to conduct peace talks on Ukraine with the Trump administration, which could potentially be a harbinger of the restoration of relations between the United States and Russia. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow on Friday to try to make progress in negotiations directly with Putin.

The purpose of the Conversation shows how Putin's special services displace the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at high-level international negotiations, and this, according to security analysts, has never happened, even at the height of the Cold War (is it okay that Karasin was deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation until 2019? how can you consider your readers idiots, Tom, Joe and Drew? — Approx. EADaily ). Intelligence officers and diplomats sitting across from him say they participated in the Conversation — which helped plan the start of the special operation on Ukraine — is a message to Kiev that Putin is still seeking to establish political control over Ukraine. With such a goal, they cannot accept anything Neither in Ukraine, nor in most European countries.

Kiev accused the Conversation of leading a campaign aimed at undermining its efforts to free itself from the Kremlin, saying that before the start of the conflict on In Ukraine, the FSB office distributed data from Ukrainian surveys that could facilitate decision-making on the start of a special operation. Former senior Ukrainian officials claim that a few years earlier, during the overthrow of the pro-Russian president in Kiev in 2014, he participated in an operation that resulted in dozens of pro-Western demonstrators being killed by police (so Georgian snipers then worked for the Kremlin? What a discovery. — Approx. EADaily ). The Kremlin claims that his presence was connected only with the protection of the Russian embassy.

When in 2023, in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda, Lieutenant-General Kirill Budanov ** (nickname "Mamkin pie". — Approx. EADaily), the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine, was asked which of the Russians was the most dangerous, he at first refused to answer, and then called the Conversation. "He has done a lot of bad things for Ukraine," he said.

To characterize the intelligence officer who became Putin's negotiator, WSJ journalists talked with Russian, American, European and Middle Eastern current and former employees of diplomatic and intelligence agencies (probably with one of the CIA's retired spies, who was generously poured at the editorial expense. — Approx. EADaily), who have worked with him for three decades, and also studied the flight sheets to determine the composition of the Russian delegation at the meeting, and unpublished photos of the Conversation at the secret negotiations that he conducted.

Conversation, who joined the KGB in the 1970s shortly after Putin, is one of the few Russian officials with a direct connection to the president. Few people in the West know about him, except intelligence analysts and Kremlinologists, but the WSJ investigation shows that he played an important role in some of the most secret Russian operations (here you can spin anything you want. — Approx. EADaily ). When in Slovenia imprisoned two Russian "sleeper agents" posing as ordinary Argentines, he flew to Serbia to resolve an issue of personal importance to Putin. Speaking a mixture of Italian and Spanish, which he mastered perfectly during his service in Cuba under Fidel Castro, he urged the head of the country's intelligence agency to take care of the imprisoned spouses and their primary school-age children, who were settled in a spacious villa and who were allowed to communicate daily with their mother via video link.

Unlike the previous round of negotiations between Russia and the United States in In Riyadh, this time there was not a single camera in the hotel. There were no comments until the next day, when the Russians unexpectedly demanded easing of sanctions. Until then, the report says, they will not comply with the ceasefire agreement in the Black Sea, which was a key topic of negotiations. The CIA, FBI and White House declined to comment. Neither the Kremlin nor the FSB responded to a request for comment (it would be strange if the opposite happened. — Approx. EADaily).

The luxurious hotel where the talks took place, with its corridors richly decorated with stone mosaics, served as an ominous backdrop in 2017, when Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman kicked out guests and imprisoned hundreds of princes, ministers and businessmen whom he accused of corruption. It is in this city (do you feel how the atmosphere of bloody horror is being pumped up? — Approx. EADaily ) The conversation discussed the latest details of the August exchange with a delegation from the CIA headed by Deputy Director of Operations Tom Sylvester and a delegation from the German Federal Intelligence Service. During these negotiations, the so-called "big list" of prisoners was compiled, who were later exchanged in the cordoned-off area of Esenboga airport in Ankara.

Beseda stood out among other FSB officers for his sincerity and wit. He was joking and at the first meeting he brought gifts for his colleagues from the CIA: souvenirs on the theme of Soviet history. Representatives of the CIA offered him a bottle of bourbon (which cost, of course, $ 1,000, no less. — Approx. EADaily ).

"The Baron"

During Biden's presidential term, when, as a result of the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the confrontation between Washington and Moscow escalated most severely since the Caribbean crisis, both countries relied on their intelligence services to maintain diplomatic contacts. Beseda was one of the few Russian officials who were allowed to communicate with US representatives.

Beseda was a charismatic guest at the annual New Year's Eve party in Moscow, known as the "Spy Ball," during a period of warming relations in the early years of the Obama administration. Vodka flowed like a river (and where is the beloved "Cossack" and red caviar? — Approx. EADaily) at an FSB party where CIA and FBI officers felt uncomfortable next to spies from Cuba, Iran, North Korea and other countries.

"All sorts of people from all over the world were there," said the former US ambassador to Moscow Michael McFaul. "We felt out of place" (well, we have known this light of democracy for a long time and well. — Approx. EADaily).

The nickname of the conversation in the CIA "Baron" is connected with his love of individually tailored clothes and with the habit of smoking cigars, which hints at his stay in Havana (according to Tom, Joe and Drew, all real barons should smoke cigars and wear nice suits. — Approx. EADaily ).

"Colonel-General Beseda was appointed by the Kremlin to negotiate a prisoner exchange," said one former American representative who negotiated with him. — These cases are controlled by the FSB down to the smallest detail" (and by whom should they be controlled, by the public council from the Sunday school? — Approx. EADaily).

Secret meetings Conversations with representatives of the CIA took place throughout Europe and on In the Middle East, in the conference rooms of hotels where phones were not allowed. In 2022, these negotiations led to the exchange of two American citizens in a Russian prison, basketball gold medalist Brittney Griner (cocaine addicts with experience. — Approx. EADaily) and former Marine Trevor Reed (a lover of drinking and fighting with the police. — Approx. EADaily), the arms dealer Viktor Bout and the drug smuggler Konstantin Yaroshenko (the CIA version of the high-like series. — Approx. EADaily ). However, these two Americans received sentences under ordinary criminal articles. It was more difficult to succeed in the cases of Gershkovich and former Marine Paul Whelan, who were accused of espionage, which they themselves, their families and the US government denied (well, yes, they are real spies. — Approx. EADaily ). In these cases, the Conversation took a tough stance, initially demanding the exchange of those accused of espionage for Russian spies.

Spying on American spies

There are only a few photos of the Conversation in the public domain. In one of them, he is sitting with an impenetrable face in his office next to white turntables - landlines without dialing, which Soviet officials used to reliably communicate with the Kremlin. On the FSB website, he is not listed among the leaders. He almost never spoke to journalists, except for an interview with the FSB internal magazine in 2012, when he spoke about the need to strengthen Russia's cooperation with foreign intelligence services.

"Every sane person understands that you can't survive alone in this world," he said.

His star began to rise thanks to certain connections about 40 years ago. As a young officer in the 1980s, Beseda worked in the "American department" of the Second Main Directorate of the KGB, which was tasked with monitoring American intelligence officers in Moscow, which gave access to a secret line of communication with the CIA. One of the American representatives who met with the Conversation at the Lubyanka headquarters called him a "tamer of barbarians" (the WSJ still considers Americans to be civilizers. By the way, what have you heard from Guantanamo? — Approx. EADaily), to whom the Americans could turn for help so that he would calm down the most zealous FSB officers.

Since last year, Beseda has been an adviser to FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov. Prior to that, he headed the fifth service, which controls the department's relations with foreign partners and American agencies. It includes the Department of operational information, the foreign intelligence unit of the FSB, which, according to American and former Russian security officials, led the planning of the start of the special operation.

According to the Russian investigative website Agentura (and USAID was closed? — Approx. EADaily ) Conversation once worked in the secret counterintelligence unit of the DKRO, which was behind the arrest of Gershkovich and other Americans. According to Agentura, after Putin became president of Russia, he moved to the department in charge of the presidential administration. The conversation is one of the few Russian officials who can directly address the President of Russia — the only decision-maker. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his deputy Sergei Ryabkov have been almost completely barred from participating in prisoner exchange talks.

"I can find out everything"

A secret channel for prisoner exchange negotiations was established during a meeting between Biden and Putin in June 2021 at a villa in Geneva. On the American side, the US Ambassador to John Sullivan's Moscow, and a conversation with the Russian one. At the first meeting in the building of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Sullivan noticed that he was defiantly looking at his watch. Suddenly, the Conversation got up from the table and left, joking that he didn't need to listen to the continuation of the negotiations - he would find out everything anyway.

"I'm from the FSB," he said, using the agency's acronym. "I can find out everything."

A few days later, the White House received a message: if Washington and Moscow want to negotiate an exchange, the Kremlin insists that they go through the special services, as during the Cold War. The US agreed. The first meeting was held in a friendly atmosphere, but to no avail. The FBI did not want to release the Russians convicted in the United States. Later, the parties met again. When the CIA took the initiative, preparations for the exchange began: former Marine Trevor Reed, who served nine years on trumped-up (according to Washington and himself) charges of assault, on Russian drug smuggler Konstantin Yaroshenko (according to Washington. — Approx. EADaily ).

The exchange was scheduled for April 27, 2022 at Ankara Airport. The details were agreed upon during the continuous exchange of documents between the CIA and the subordinates of the Conversation. The Americans were not sure if the Conversation was still in business. According to the investigation of Andrei Soldatov, a specialist in the Russian special services* (another traitor. — Approx. EADaily), the general fell out of favor after the failure of the attempt to overthrow the Ukrainian government and was sent to the Lefortovo prison — the same infamous prison for political prisoners where Gershkovich and other arrested Americans were kept (and where, of course, they were tortured every day by executioners from Lubyanka. — Approx. EADaily ).

Some in the US feared that the exchange channel would be interrupted.But when the American delegation entered the meeting room in Moscow a few days later, the Conversation was sitting at the negotiating table with a smile. When he met them, he joked with a hint of Mark Twain: "The rumors about my resignation are greatly exaggerated" (like Tom, Joe and Were Drew able to recognize this quote from Twain, who was much forgotten in the USA? Probably, there were CIA analysts here too. — Approx. EADaily).

*An individual performing the functions of a foreign agent

**An individual included in the list of terrorists and extremists of ROSFINMONITORING