> However, the substance was at least a step up from earlier Russian tracking devices like radioactive nails hammered into the tires of U.S. diplomatic vehicles, allowing Russian surveillance vehicles to hang back unseen and follow along by using special equipment to track targets’ tire residue.
The method of identifying moles is ingenious too.
America has great intelligence capabilities as well, but in general you tend to think of it as more of a "brute force", or "diplomacy" type of nation, while Russia's strategies tend to be more asymmetric.
It's cheap. You need a few people and clever ideas rather than enormous capital. Russia has people and education.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okhrana
During the Cold War, the USSR stepped up the size and sophistication of its covert operations and intel apparatus dramatically. But the Russians have always believed in espionage as an effective, asymmetrical advantage.
And chapter III:
> It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles;