MOSCOW - The recent spate of embarrassing emails and other records stolen by Russian hackers is President Vladimir Putin's splashy response to years of what he sees as U.S. efforts to weaken and embarrass him on the world stage and with his own people, according to Russia experts here and in the U.S. intelligence world and academia.
Putin is seeking revenge and respect, and trying to reassert Russia’s lost superpower status at a time of waning economic clout and an upcoming Russian election, according to interviews with specialists here and, in Washington, with a senior U.S. intelligence official, recently retired CIA operations officers in charge of Russia and the last three national intelligence officers for Russia and Eurasia analysis in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
