Russian government confirms US spy was working in Kremlin
Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed the reports that a US intelligence agent had been operating in the Russian Presidential Administration.
Oleg Smolenkov, who is linked to a recent US-Russia espionage scandal, actually worked in the Russian Presidential Administration, but at a low level.
According to Peskov, Smolenkov “was fired several years ago, his position did not fall under the category of senior officials, the so-called decree positions, however he was fired around two or three years ago”.
Peskov could not confirm whether or not Smolenkov had been a CIA agent
“No, I can’t confirm it, because I don’t know whether or not he was an agent,” he said.
The spokesperson said that the Kremlin has no information on Smolenkov’s current whereabouts.
CNN initially reported that one of the US’s most valuable agents had worked in the Russian government, but was exfiltrated in a special operation in 2017. The name of the mole was not specified. The Russian newspaper Kommersant reported that this could have been Oleg Smolenkov, a presidential administration employee who went missing in 2017 after going on vacation to Montenegro with his family. According to the reports, Smolenkov also worked at the Russian embassy in Washington, at the time when Putin’s advisor Yuri Ushakov was the ambassador. The New York Times reported that Smolenko had been recruited by the CIA several decades ago.
On June 14, 2017, Smolenkov flew from Russia to Montenegro on a holiday with his family, after which he went missing. His wife Antonina had also worked in the Russian government apparatus.
The Washington Post recently reported that the Smolenkovs had bought a nearly $1 million house in Stafford, Virginia.