“[…] After the death-by-plane crash of Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin in August 2023, the Kremlin’s influence operations in Africa have undergone a transformation. In addition to the Africa Corps — a state-run armed formation made up mostly of former Wagner fighters — Russia’s military intelligence agency (GRU) is also active on the ground. However, fresh revelations about a GRU break-in at an African Union facility in Addis Ababa threaten to tarnish relations between the Kremlin and the continent. The news couldn’t come at a worse time for Moscow, which is set to host the third ever Russia-Africa Summit on October 28-29. […]”

I am currently a software engineer with a fortune 50 company. I enjoy the work but am finding it hard to see the purpose in it. I would love to have a job where I feel like I am contributing to something more. I have always thought a career in law enforcement/intelligence would be interesting and fulfilling but I’m not sure exactly what that would be. I have explored the FBI special agent route and that sounds interesting but the relocation would be tough at this part of my life. I figured intelligence would be a good path due to my background in engineering and cs. I am also open to a more active/field position. I am 24 by the way and engaged. Would love you hear any advice, recommendations or stories from people who have made similar career moves. Relocation is not off the table for me. Thanks in advance!

Note: no paywall, it’s a gift link.

Two Russian men secretly working for Ukraine's intelligence services have given rare accounts of operations they claim to have been involved with, that have targeted military assets and personnel inside Russia.

One of the men, whom we are calling Ivan, claims to have played a role from Russia in Ukrainian drone attacks on strategic bombers and munitions factories on his home soil.

He features in a BBC World Service documentary about the shadowy world of Russian saboteurs.

The documentary, by independent Polish journalist Marcin Mamon, also features a man we are calling Foma, a Russian living in exile in Poland.

Foma runs a network of undercover volunteers in Russia, that surveils high-level officers that the GUR - Ukraine's military intelligence service - is considering targeting, he says. He stresses they are never involved in the attacks themselves.

He was also tight-lipped about who they were surveilling, but after Lt Gen Fanil Sarvarov was assassinated in December last year in Moscow, Foma admitted he had provided the Ukrainians with intelligence on him.

Bellingcat:

He played a colonel on Russian TV in 2003. Now, a U.S. federal indictment says he ran a Kremlin assassination network. Including a plot to kill a Russian dissident in DC.

Meet Colonel Combat Yuri.

Follow The Christo Files for more!

Full Indictment: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/media/1461336/dl

The Chinese government pays people to steal technology and one of its prominent tech companies appears to be using the same strategy.

Huawei's Chinese management offered rewards for confidential information collected from other companies. The company even had a competition management group that reviewed all of the collected information.

Interesting to note that Huawei exists as a company because technology was allegedly stolen from the Canadian company Nortel in the 1990s.