Wisconsin man pleads guilty to smuggling lab equipment to Russian companies
Federal prosecutors charged Andrew Pogosyan, a 68-year-old Russian-born U.S. citizen who lives in Madison, in June in a four-count information with conspiracy to defraud the United States and smuggling goods out of the country.
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Newsweek
28 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Ukrainian Mole Helped Russia Target Airfields With F-16, Mirage Jets: Kyiv
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A flight instructor for Ukraine's Air Force gathered information for Russia to help it prepare strikes on Ukrainian airfields, according to Kyiv. Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) said the unnamed major was arrested for passing on information to Russia to be used for strikes on sites hosting Western-supplied F-16 Mirage 2000 aircraft as well as Soviet-era Sukhoi-24 planes. He has been charged with treason and Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry for comment. Ukrainian SU-27 fighters escort an SU-24 front-line bomber during an air force exercises at the Starokostyantyniv military airbase on October 12, 2018. Ukrainian SU-27 fighters escort an SU-24 front-line bomber during an air force exercises at the Starokostyantyniv military airbase on October 12, It Matters The arrest follows the detention in June of a 42-year-old conscript in Kharkiv who had been serving in a National Guard assault brigade and working for the Russians. The delivery of Western aircraft from Ukraine's allies took years of negotiations and the prospect that they could have been destroyed due to Russian espionage highlights the danger posed by Moscow's moles to Kyiv's fight against President Vladimir Putin's aggression. What To Know Ukraine's military counterintelligence said it had uncovered an agent from Russia's military intelligence (GRU) who had infiltrated Ukraine's forces. The statement said he had been acting as a pilot instructor in an unnamed air brigade that performs combat missions to shoot down enemy missiles. He was discovered to have passed on information to Moscow to prepare new Russian missile and drone attacks on air force facilities, including airfields where the F-16, Mirage 2000 and Su-24 aircraft were based. It is not immediately clear where the airbases were located. The agent collected aircraft coordinates and schedules, and prepared and provided information to Moscow about how to strike these targets while bypassing Ukrainian defenses. 🇺🇦💠 SBU detained another Russian 'mole' in the Ukrainian Air Force: he was preparing strikes by the Russians on airfields hosting F-16 and Mirage 2000 Military counterintelligence of the Security Service, with the assistance of the Commander-in-Chief of the — Tracey SBU Fella 🇬🇧🇺🇦 #NAFO (@trajaykay) July 30, 2025 Using an anonymous email channel and messenger services, he also passed on data about Ukrainian pilots and tactics of Kyiv's combat missions. He was caught when he tried to gather further information and has been charged with high treason, which could see him face life imprisonment and confiscation of his property. The Russian infiltration comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said ending Moscow's influence in two anti-corruption bodies was behind a law that sought to end their independence. This sparked protests, although he signed legislation Thursday that reversed course on the policy. What People Are Saying Ukraine's Security Service, in a statement: "The mole turned out to be a flight instructor, a major of one of the Ukrainian Air Force brigades. "The unit where this officer served performs combat missions to intercept enemy missiles and drones and covers Ukrainian forces with strikes on ground targets during operations." What Happens Next The pre-trial investigation is being conducted by Ukraine's SBU in the western Ivano-Frankivsk region under the prosecutor's office in the Field of Defense of the Western Region. No date has been announced for the trial.
New York Post
29 minutes ago
- New York Post
Hillary Clinton approved plan hatched by campaign aides to ‘smear' Trump with Russia collusion: declassified docs
WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton approved a plan hatched by a campaign adviser to 'smear' then-candidate Donald Trump with false claims of Russian collusion and distract from her own mounting emails scandal during the 2016 election, according to explosive intelligence files declassified Thursday. The plan included 'raising the theme of 'Putin's support for Trump'' and 'subsequently steering public opinion toward the notion that it needs to equate' the Russian leader's political influence campaign with actual interference in election infrastructure. 3 Hillary Clinton approved a plan to 'smear' Trump with Russia collusion, according to declassified docs. Getty Images Advertisement 3 Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in Washington. AP 'Clinton approved a plan proposed by one of her foreign policy advisors, Julianne Smith, to 'smear Donald Trump by magnifying the scandal tied to the intrusion by the Russian special services in the pre-election process to benefit the Republican candidate,'' one of the declassified memos read. Special counsel John Durham uncovered the information during a multi-year probe into intelligence activities during the 2016 election. Advertisement Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and other members of the US Intelligence Community declassified the files from Durham's probe at the request of Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa.). 'Based on the Durham annex, the Obama FBI failed to adequately review and investigate intelligence reports showing the Clinton campaign may have been ginning up the fake Trump-Russia narrative for Clinton's political gain, which was ultimately done through the Steele Dossier and other means,' Grassley said in a statement. 'These intelligence reports and related records, whether true or false, were buried for years. History will show that the Obama and Biden administration's law enforcement and intelligence agencies were weaponized against President Trump,' he added. 3 AP Advertisement 'This political weaponization has caused critical damage to our institutions and is one of the biggest political scandals and cover-ups in American history. The new Trump administration has a tremendous responsibility to the American people to fix the damage done and do so with maximum speed and transparency.' The Post reached out to reps for Clinton and Smith for comment.
Fox News
43 minutes ago
- Fox News
Soros' alleged ties to Russiagate exposed in declassified annex of Durham report
The credible foreign sources indicating the FBI and the Obama administration would play a role in spreading the salacious Trump-Russia narrative — before the bureau ever launched its probe — were tied to George Soros' Open Society Foundation, according to an explosive document declassified Thursday morning. The appendix to former Special Counsel John Durham's report released by the Senate Judiciary Committee sheds stunning light on what Chairman Chuck Grassley describes as "one of the biggest political scandals and cover-ups in American history." CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, FBI Director Kash Patel, and Attorney General Pam Bondi worked in coordination to declassify the information. Before its official release, sources exclusively briefed Fox News Digital on some of the contents of the appendix— including that the U.S. intelligence community had credible foreign sources indicating that the FBI would play a role in spreading the salacious Trump–Russia collusion narrative — before the bureau ever launched its controversial Crossfire Hurricane probe. A source familiar with the contents of the classified appendix told Fox News Digital that while it may not have been exactly clear in the moment what the intelligence collection meant, with the benefit of hindsight, it predicted the FBI's next move "with alarming specificity." The appendix reveals that the foreign sources were allegedly tied to George Soros' Open Society Foundations. The appendix said that Russian government actors in 2016 hacked emails from the Open Society Foundations, formerly known as the Soros Foundation. "Two of the apparently hacked emails appear to have originated from the Open Society Foundations," the appendix states, noting that the purported author of these emails was Leonard Bernardo, who was the regional director for Eurasia at the Open Society Foundations. "During the first stage of the campaign, due to lack of direct evidence, it was decided to disseminate the necessary information through the FBI-affiliated…technical structures… in particular, the Crowdstrike and ThreatConnect companies, from where the information would then be disseminated through leading U.S. publications," Bernardo reportedly wrote in an email, per the appendix. "The media analysis on the DNC hacking appears solid…. Julie (Clinton Campaign Advisor) says it will be a long-term affair to demonize Putin and Trump. Now it is good for a post-convention bounce," Bernardo wrote, per the appendix. "Later the FBI will put more oil into the fire." Another email reportedly from Bernardo states: "HRC (Hillary Rodham Clinton) approved Julie's idea about Trump and Russian hackers hampering U.S. elections." "This should distract people from her own missing email, especially if the affair goes to the Olympic level," Bernardo continues. "The point is making the Russian play a U.S. domestic issue. Say something like a critical infrastructure threat for the election to feel manic since both POTUS and VPOTUS have acknowledge the fact IC would speed up searching for evidence that is regrettably still unavailable." Crossfire Hurricane, the FBI's Trump–Russia investigation, was opened just several days later, on July 31, 2016. The appendix reveals that Durham's team interviewed numerous FBI personnel involved in the Crossfire Hurricane probe. Durham said those he interviewed believed the Bernardo emails to be "likely authentic." Durham's appendix states that the Clinton campaign "might have wanted or expected the FBI or other agencies to aid that effort ("put more oil into the fire") by commencing a formal investigation of the DNC hack." Communications the Durham team reviewed additionally supported that the Clinton campaign was allegedly engaged in a plan to tie Trump to Russia, and that the campaign wanted or expected the office of the vice president, the FBI or other parts of the intelligence community, such as the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), to aid that effort. "The Office's best assessment is that the … emails that purport to be from Benardo were ultimately a composite of several emails that were obtained through Russian intelligence hacking of the U.S.-based Think Tanks, including the Open Society Foundations, the Carnegie Endowment, and others," the Durham annex states. "It is a logical deduction (redacted) (Julianne) Smith was, at minimum, playing a role in the Clinton campaign's efforts to tie Trump to Russia," Durham writes, also noting that the communications reviewed "certainly lends at least some credence that such a plan existed." In 2020, Fox News Digital exclusively reported that former CIA Director John Brennan, in the summer of 2016, briefed former President Barack Obama and administration officials on intelligence that then-Democratic nominee former Secretary of State Clinton was stirring up a plan to tie Trump to Russia. Ratcliffe, as director of national intelligence, declassified Brennan's handwritten notes memorializing that meeting, which were exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital in October 2020. On July 28, 2016, Brennan briefed Obama on a plan from one of Clinton's campaign foreign policy advisors "to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service." Comey, then-Vice President Joe Biden, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper were at the Brennan–Obama briefing. After that briefing, the CIA properly forwarded that information through a Counterintelligence Operational Lead (CIOL) to Comey and then-Deputy Assistant Director of Counterintelligence Peter Strzok, with the subject line: "Crossfire Hurricane." Fox News Digital exclusively obtained and reported on the CIOL in October 2020, which stated: "The following information is provided for the exclusive use of your bureau for background investigative action or lead purposes as appropriate." "Per FBI verbal request, CIA provides the below examples of information the CROSSFIRE HURRICANE fusion cell has gleaned to date," the memo continued. "An exchange (REDACTED) discussing US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's approval of a plan concerning US presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russian hackers hampering US elections as a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server." The FBI on July 31, 2016, opened a counterintelligence investigation into whether candidate Trump and members of his campaign were colluding or coordinating with Russia to influence the 2016 campaign. That investigation was referred to inside the bureau as "Crossfire Hurricane." The declassification and release of the classified annex was done with close coordination between Ratcliffe, FBI Director Kash Patel, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and acting National Security Agency Director William Hartman— along with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, who ultimately released the document to the public. Meanwhile, while Ratcliffe was director of National Intelligence in 2020, he provided intelligence to Durham as part of a larger trove of more than 1,000 documents. A former senior Trump official told Fox News Digital that Ratcliffe advocated for releasing the intelligence publicly then, but that Durham, who, at the time, was expected to release an interim report prior to the 2020 election, declined on the basis that it could negatively impact his investigation, which had not yet reached a determination on potential prosecutions. "Durham said he wanted to preserve his investigation but was going to release an interim report," the former official told Fox News Digital. "Then he said he was afraid he'd get accused of politicization and disappeared." The source added: "Thankfully the real politicization is all coming to light now." Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller was appointed to take over the FBI's original "Crossfire Hurricane" investigation. After nearly two years, Mueller's investigation, which concluded in March 2019, yielded no evidence of criminal conspiracy or coordination between the Trump campaign and Russian officials during the 2016 presidential election. Shortly after, John Durham was appointed as special counsel to investigate the origins of the "Crossfire Hurricane" probe. Durham found that the FBI "failed to act" on a "clear warning sign" that the bureau was the "target" of a Clinton-led effort to "manipulate or influence the law enforcement process for political purposes" ahead of the 2016 presidential election. "The aforementioned facts reflect a rather startling and inexplicable failure to adequately consider and incorporate the Clinton Plan intelligence into the FBI's investigative decision-making in the Crossfire Hurricane investigation," Durham's report states. "Indeed, had the FBI opened the Crossfire Hurricane investigation as an assessment and, in turn, gathered and analyzed data in concert with the information from the Clinton Plan intelligence, it is likely that the information received would have been examined, at a minimum, with a more critical eye," the report continued. Durham, in his report, said the FBI "failed to act on what should have been—when combined with other incontrovertible facts — a clear warning sign that the FBI might then be the target of an effort to manipulate or influence the law enforcement process for political purposes during the 2016 presidential election." Fox News Digitial reached out to Soros for comment and has yet to recieve a reply.
