U.S. spies caught Russian intelligence officers boasting that they had convinced the oil-rich United Arab Emirates \u201cto work together against US and UK intelligence agencies,\u201d according to a purported American document posted online as part of a major U.S. intelligence breach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
U.S. officials declined to comment on the document, which bore known top-secret markings and was viewed by The Associated Press. The Emirati government on Monday dismissed any accusation that the UAE had deepened ties with Russian intelligence as \u201ccategorically false.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the U.S. has had growing concerns that the UAE was allowing Russia and Russians to thwart sanctions imposed over the invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The document viewed by the AP includes an item citing research from March 9 with the title: \u201cRussia\/UAE: Intelligence Relationship Deepening.\u201d U.S. officials declined to confirm the document\u2019s authenticity, which the AP could not independently do. However, it resembled other documents released as part of the recent leak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Justice Department has opened an investigation into the possible release of Pentagon documents that were posted on several social media sites. They appear to detail U.S. and NATO aid to Ukraine and U.S. intelligence assessments regarding U.S. allies that could strain ties with those nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some of the documents may have been altered or used as part of a misinformation campaign, U.S. officials said. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Monday urged caution, \u201csince we know at least in some cases that information was doctored.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Referring to the main successor agency of the Soviet-era KGB, the document seen by the AP says: \u201cIn mid-January, FSB officials claimed UAE security service officials and Russia had agreed to work together against US and UK Intelligence agencies, according to newly acquired signals intelligence.\u201d Signals intelligence refers to intercepted communications, whether telephone calls or electronic messages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe UAE probably views engagement with Russian intelligence as an opportunity to strengthen growing ties between Abu Dhabi and Moscow and diversify intelligence partnerships amid concerns of US disengagement from the region,\u201d the assessment concluded, referring to the UAE capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s not clear if there was any such agreement as described in the UAE-Russia document, or whether the alleged FSB claims were intentionally or unintentionally misleading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But American officials are speaking out increasingly about a surge in dealings between the UAE and Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.S. Treasury official, Assistant Secretary Elizabeth Rosenberg, in March singled out the UAE as a \u201ccountry of focus.\u201d She said businesses there were helping Russia evade international sanctions to obtain more than $5 million in U.S. semiconductors and other export-controlled parts, including components with battlefield uses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
U.S. intelligence officials in recent years have pointed to possible links between the UAE and the Wagner Group, a Russian paramilitary group closely associated with the Kremlin and active in Ukraine and several African countries. In 2020, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency assessed \u201cthat the United Arab Emirates may provide some financing for the group\u2019s operations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Andreas Krieg, an associate professor at King\u2019s College in London, on Monday called the UAE \u201cthe most important strategic partner for Russia in both the Middle East and Africa.\u201d The head of Russia\u2019s Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergey Naryshkin, held extensive meetings with UAE leaders in Dubai in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russia and the UAE share similar outlooks in some key conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa, and the influx of Russians into the UAE since Russia launched its war in Ukraine also has strengthened ties between the two, said Kristian Ulrichsen, a Middle East expert at Rice University\u2019s Baker Institute. But the reference to teaming up against U.S. and British intelligence agencies is surprising, said Ulrichsen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russian intelligence officials \u201cprobably have an interest in describing something in those terms,\u201d he said. \u201cIf that was the way the UAE was describing it, I\u2019d certainly take it … quite differently.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.S. official separately has told the AP that the United States also was worried about Russian money coming into Dubai\u2019s red-hot real estate market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And in October, federal prosecutors in New York announced charges against two Dubai-based Russian men and others accused of stealing military technology from U.S. companies, smuggling millions of barrels of oil and laundering tens of millions of dollars for the oligarchs surrounding Russian President Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prosecutors in that case quoted one of the Dubai-based Russians as assuring his partners \u201cthere were no worries\u201d about using a UAE financial institution for the transactions. \u201cThis is the (worst) bank in the Emirates,\u201d he was quoted as saying, using an expletive. \u201cThey pay to everything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a statement Monday to the AP about the apparent intelligence document, the United Arab Emirates said UAE officials had not seen the document and claims regarding the FSB were \u201ccategorically false.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe refute any allegation regarding an agreement to deepen cooperation between the UAE and other countries\u2019 security services against another country,\u201d the statement said. \u201cThe UAE has deep and distinguished relations with all countries, reflecting its principles of openness, partnership, building bridges, and working to serve the common interests of countries and peoples to achieve international peace and security.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The leak of the purported document comes as Emirati officials have recalibrated their foreign policy in the Middle East after a series of attacks attributed to Iran. Attacks claimed by Yemen\u2019s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels hit Abu Dhabi in 2022, killing three people and leading locally stationed American forces to respond with Patriot missile fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the time since, and as Emiratis perceived America\u2019s presence waning in the region after its chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, the UAE reached a d\u00e9tente with Iran. That\u2019s even as the United States maintains multiple military bases and stations thousands of troops and weaponry in the region, including at Abu Dhabi\u2019s Al Dhafra Air Base. Dubai\u2019s Jebel Ali Port remains the busiest U.S. Navy port of call outside of the continental U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The UAE also remains one of the few places still running daily, direct flights to Moscow after Russia\u2019s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. That has seen money, megayachts and Russian citizens come into the UAE, an autocratic federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula. However, it hasn\u2019t been a full embrace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Relations between the U.S. and the UAE have seesawed over the past decade, as Abu Dhabi ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan cemented his power. Under the Trump administration, the UAE diplomatically recognized Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the deal\u2019s wake, the UAE sought but has yet to receive advanced American F-35 fighter jets under President Joe Biden. Meanwhile, the Emirates has criticized Israel over the escalating violence between Israel\u2019s hard-right government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Palestinians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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