According to news that circulated the Russian-language segment of the Internet in late May - early June 2023, a new mark on a memorial plaque in the United States may be associated with the death of an American intelligence officer in Ukraine. We checked if this is true.
Shortly after appearing at the end of May unconfirmed information about a Russian missile attack on the headquarters of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine (GUR) in Kyiv and death there, a photograph of a memorial wall with an American flag went viral on the Internet for an unknown number of NATO officers. It was reported that this was a plaque of honor for fallen CIA employees, to which a new star had just been added, the 140th in a row. Some Russian-language resources have suggested (and others are even sure) that it is dedicated to a certain American who died as a result of a Russian strike. It was often emphasized that the name of a person marked in this way was not officially named, and this only increased suspicion.
Information resources such as: NTV, "Constantinople", "NIA-Krasnoyarsk", Pravda.ru, "Power block", "Notebook", "Military Review" And forpost.sevastopol.ru. Among the Telegram channels that disseminated information, one can highlight “Alexander Semchenko» (93,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), “Military affairs"(92,000), "Militarist" (83,000) "Petya the First» (72,000) and Rogandar News (54,000).
At the end of May, Russian media reported, that on the morning of the 29th, a strike from a hypersonic missile system "Dagger“The underground shelter of the power steering on Rybalsky Island in Kyiv was hit. The building allegedly housed up to one hundred officers, including those representing NATO countries. On May 30, the fact of the attack on the Ukrainian intelligence headquarters was confirmed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, although having saidthat it happened “two or three days ago.” The GUR denied the rumors, calling their “fakes of war criminals and old senile people.” The American side did not confirm the death or injury of its citizens in Kyiv. At the same time, Washington does not comment on all messages from the combat zone in this way - for example, on May 16, sources of several media outlets in US intelligence recognized, that the Patriot air defense system in the Ukrainian capital was damaged as a result of a strike from the same “Dagger”.
According to the official website United States Central Intelligence Agency, the memorial in question is located on the north wall of the lobby of the First Building of the organization's headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Each star engraved on it represents a tribute to a service member who died in the line of duty overseas or within the United States. It is emphasized that “the death must be inspiring or heroic in nature, occurring as a result of an act of terrorism or a deliberate act of violence directed against an employee and motivated solely by the employee's affiliation with the CIA, while serving in combat zones or other particularly dangerous conditions.” The procedure for approving a candidacy also has its own peculiarities: it is nominated by the Council for Merit Awards, and approved by the Director of the CIA. Next, the department’s protocol service is responsible for placing the star on the wall.
As of June 8, 2023, the memorial page on the CIA website actually reported about 140 stars, whereas on the version archived on May 30 it was about o 139. However, new marks on the wall at CIA headquarters do not appear promptly after the death of an employee - they are unveiled once a year during a solemn ceremony, which traditionally takes place in the second half of May. This was the case in 2021 year, when the department immortalized the memory of four employees and thereby increased the number of stars to 137, and in 2022 year, when there were already 139 of them.
The last honor to date for a fallen CIA employee took place May 23, 2023. Contrary to information widespread in the Russian-language media, this time the name of the employee to whom the star was dedicated was known and mentioned in the press release. The CIA immortalized the memory of doctor John Evans, who died in a plane crash in Southeast Asia back in 1969.
Thus, the 140th star on the CIA memorial wall has nothing to do with the events in Ukraine and is dedicated to a man who died more than half a century ago. In addition, it appeared before the supposed attack on the bunker in Kyiv. The total number of stars mentioned on the page about the wall on the CIA website was updated with some delay, although the agency’s press release on May 23 directly stated that it had increased to 140. It is noteworthy that conspiracy theorists, who in words so closely monitored the number of stars, did not bother to count it in the photographs they distributed: in the news we see entirely old photographs of 137 And 139 stars. Moreover: even on the CIA website as of June 8, hung photo with 139 stars, although there is a new photo on the agency’s official Facebook page posted back on May 24th.
Cover photo: social networks
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