Russia mocks exposed C.I.A. spy

The Kremlin’s propaganda machine kicked into high gear to counter reports that a Russian informant helped the C.I.A. uncover President Vladimir Putin’s interference in the 2016 U.S. election.

Russian officials and state-controlled media outlets named the informant as Oleg B. Smolenkov, and dismissed him as a boozy nobody who had no contact with President Vladimir Putin.

That picture contrasts sharply with what U.S. intelligence officials have said about the spy, who has been extracted from Russia: that he saw Mr. Putin regularly and became “one of the C.I.A.’s most valuable assets.”

The C.I.A. declined to comment, and The New York Times was not able to independently confirm that Mr. Smolenkov was the spy extracted by the United States.