Main Intelligence Directorate
The Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) is the foreign military intelligence agency of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. Subordinate to the Chief of the General Staff, it is responsible for strategic intelligence collection and special operations abroad. The GRU gained international prominence during the Cold War and remains one of the principal Russian intelligence services alongside the SVR and FSB.
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Budanov reveals years of back-channel contacts with Russia's GRU chief and Prigozhin, advises Zelensky against Donbas concessions
Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov said in an interview with The New York Times published on 4 September that he maintained long-running contacts with Russian military intelligence chief Admiral Igor Kostyukov and the late Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin. He advised President Volodymyr Zelensky not to accept any compromise on Donbas that would give Russia formal control over territory its military failed to seize on the battlefield.