Alexander does not claim to be Russia's brightest spy. Born in Ukraine but loyal to Russia, and struggling to get by on his shifts at McDonald's, he accepted a piecework spying job from two Russian operatives who approached him in France. Their target was compromising material on a Western government official.
Some of the work was real field espionage, he said, such as finding where the official lived. Much of it was Google searches. "I had a pair of black sunglasses, but I rarely wore them. Only when the sun was shining," he said.
His work changed when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. He joined a Facebook group for foreigners enlisting in the Ukrainian army and gained the trust of other members. On trips to Ukraine, he reported to Russia the locations of Ukrainian forces, their planned assault operations and their personal information. His actions, he said, led to soldiers' deaths.
The report says Alexander was caught by a simple mistake, though the available text does not describe it. The article notes that old-fashioned human spying still plays a role in a war increasingly defined by robotic eyes in the sky. The interview was published as Ukraine backed a ceasefire after the United States declared a surprise deal was done, according to a related report.