A Georgia man is giving us insight into the war in Ukraine because he understands the Russian mentality.
That’s because he was once part of the KGB, the Russian equivalent of the CIA.
During the 1980s, Jack Barsky, 72, was a Soviet spy, helping to spot Americans who might be willing to work for the Soviets.
In an exclusive interview, Barsky told Channel 2′s Dave Huddleston that he never met Russian President Vladimir Putin, but he knows a lot about how they operate and why he thinks Putin miscalculated starting a war in Ukraine.
“What is not a surprise to me is that the Ukrainians would fight like hell,” Barsky said. “I don’t think that anyone expected the Russian army to be as incompetent as they are.”
He said despite the atrocities we’ve seen in the war so far, he doesn’t think there will be a coup against Putin.
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“The espionage organizations, there are three of them, they are afraid of Vladimir,” Barsky said.
But he doesn’t think Putin will win the war either.
“Do you think this Ukrainian war could be the end of Putin?” Huddleston asked Barsky.
“Yes,” Barsky said. “You cannot win that one. And now the hatred, if it was strong to begin with, it’s even worse because he is killing women and children. It’s the end of his career if he survives.”
No longer a spy and now helping the FBI — for almost 30 years, Barsky has lived like an American.
Barsky never worked in U.S. national security, so he didn’t have government secrets to give to the Soviets. He thinks that fact, plus working with the FBI, helped keep him out of prison.
He said the most he ever gave the Russians was computer software information from a private company he worked for.
Barsky gives us an inside look at his life as a spy and how he used to scout and turn Americans to work for the Soviets, on WSB Tonight at 11 p.m. on Channel 2.
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