For example, in America Bill Clinton had a relationship with Monica Lewinsky, and it caused considerable outrage. But if Boris Yeltsin had a similar romance with one of his assistants, it would have only increased his popularity in Russia. For each person and for each situation, kompromat can either be embarrassing or completely neutral. It depends on the situation, on the personality, and on the circumstances.
If they have it, how would the Kremlin use the alleged Trump kompromat?
Theyre not going to use it now because the Kremlin is very happy about Trumps victory. But I think these are illusions, wishful thinking that Trump is ours. Trump is not ours. It is clear that first of all Trump is a pro-American politician, and I think he might end up being tougher to deal with than Clinton or Obama. Nevertheless, in Russia there is a lot of euphoria that he won.
The victory of Trump is seen as our great success.
And it is clear that none of materials against Trump if they exist will be used. But that does not mean that if the situation changes, if the relations change or some kind of conflict begins, these materials wont be used again, if they exist.
As an ex-member of Russias secret services, does the dossier look genuine to you?
Fake news often looks more genuine than the truth. It is a difficult one to decipher. All we can do is check this information using different sources. It they confirm it, then its probably true. If they dont, then its a well-composed fake.
Because Trump is quite independent in his views, opinions, and actions, some of the report could be true. But it can also be a cleverly shaped provocation aimed to make Trump offer excuses to the whole American nation.
It is hard to say, almost impossible.
What methods of kompromat collection do Russian secret services use?
Secret services obtain new means to collect kompromat every day. Everyone is dependent on their gadgets these days, everyone carries a few radio markers and video cameras that allow services to track their locations, listen to their conversations and even take photos, etc. People dont see how they could live without all these electronic applications that can be controlled from outside organizations.
The main task of our secret services is control of the internet and IP telephones, and they have been successful in that area. Vkontakte and other [Russian] social networks are under control, and other social media applications like Twitter and Telegram have been put under serious pressure.
Unfortunately, because many Western businessmen prefer income to principles, they submit their codes to the governmental organizations in Russia, including secret services.
If these alleged Trump tapes exist, what organizations participated in the surveillance operation?
Speaking about who could gather information on Trump, the main organization would be the Federal Security Service (FSB). Im sure the Foreign Intelligence Agency (SVR) was also assigned to watch Trump. Im sure they also used the former 16th department of the KGB, now a part of Federal Guard Service, whose main task is to gather all kinds of information in Russia and around the world.
Its important to understand that there is a lot of open-source information in the United States. Trump was not a government official, just a businessman, so there must be a lot information on him all over the media and other open sources in the U.S.
Our secret services can easily gain access to all this data. Im positive that Russian secret services have a lot of information on him, his family, his business partners, connections, etc. Every secret service, every major country does this sort of work. American secret services, for example, dont waste a chance to collect data on their friends and enemies, just in case they will need it later.
Given all that, is it possible Russian secret services bugged his hotel room in Moscow?
Back in the day, hotels that received foreigners all had so-called plus rooms. Thats agency slang. These rooms were marked with a plus sign on the KGB lists, which meant the room was equipped with stationary surveillance equipment. Rooms like that still exist in some hotels, especially the ones that are frequented by foreign officials, secret carriers, politicians, and public figures. There are less plus rooms today, mainly because nowadays you can bring all you need into the room. Back then, one needed to install stationary equipment, drill walls, insert wires, hide equipment under mirrors, windows, and whatnot. Now they can set up everything within minutes.
But plus rooms still exist. Its possible that Trump stayed in a presidential suite that was a plus room. Its exceptionally hard to spot [surveillance] equipment these days; its microscopic. Surveillance equipment is so tiny, its nearly impossible to protect yourself against it.
these are dark times.