The United States commented on materials about, that American intelligence agencies are allegedly having difficulty obtaining data from informants in Russia. Recall, that such material was published in The New York Times, where it was also suggested that, that “Russian whistleblowers lay low in connection with the Skripal case”.
Commented on this post by Executive Director of the US National Interest Council, former CIA officer Philip Giraldi. According to him, application only, allegedly made on behalf of representatives of the American intelligence services about the presence of high-ranking informants in Russia, is in the nature of information stuffing. Giraldi notes, that CIA or NSA personnel would never pass information to the media about the presence of informants in a particular country, especially about "high-ranking informants".
Giraldi notes, that the main point of the entire publication in the NYT is related to the mention of the Skripal case and “interference in the American elections”. The publication became a kind of prologue to the introduction of the next package of anti-Russian sanctions and an "explanation" to American citizens, Why are these sanctions being introduced?.
Recall, what is in the next package of anti-Russian measures, accepted in the USA, contains restrictions on cooperation with Russian banks with state participation. The Russian Foreign Ministry said, that “Russia is preparing its response to the United States.
Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergei Ryabkov on the air of the program "60 minutes" (TC "Russia 1"):
Do you think, that we will not cope with another or five more waves of sanctions? Yes, you need to prepare for this. We are preparing, the economic bloc is preparing for this, military bloc. We will look for opportunities for normal operation and we will fight back against those, who does not need this normal job, and who sees us as an enemy and tries to suppress us.
