MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin has ordered Russia’s top counterintelligence agency to redouble its efforts to address what he described as Western attempts to destabilize the country. Speaking at a meeting of top Federal Security Service officials, Putin pointed Wednesday at the “so-called policy of containment of Russia.” He charged that it includes efforts to “derail our development, slow it down, create problems alongside our borders, provoke internal instability and undermine the values that unite the Russian society.” The United States and its NATO allies have rejected similar previous claims by the Kremlin that they were seeking to undermine Russia. Putin said the Russian security service unmasked 72 foreign intelligence officers and 423 of their informants.
