Fox News national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin recently reflected on her career, which began in 1997 in Moscow. Her journey has spanned major global shifts, from the rise of Vladimir Putin to the intense violence of the Second Intifada in Jerusalem.
From the 1997 Moscow ruble crash to the rise of Vladimir Putin
Griffin's reporting career began in 1997 in Moscow during a period of intense Russian instability. According to the report, her arrival coincided with a time when President Boris Yeltsin was recovering from heart surgery and the Mir Space Station was experiencing its first international fire... The era was defined by a volatile transition as the Russian mafia and various oligarchs began seizing state assets during a period when the ruble was crashing.
This period also marked the political ascent of Vladimir Putin.. As the source details , Putin moved to Moscow in 1996 and was appointed by Yeltsin as a deputy chief of the Presidential Staff to serve as a Kremlin auditor. This role allowed him to gain proximity to power before eventually taking control of the FSB, the successor to the KGB.
The 1999 NATO bombing and the Belgrade embassy tragedy
During the 1999 NATO bombing campaign in Kosovo, Griffin witnesed the complexities of international air strikes. While stationed at NATO headquarters in Brussels under Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Wesley Clark, she observed the fallout of a U.S. b-2 Spirit bomber dropping satellite-guided bombs on the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade. This specific strike killed three Chinese journalists and injured dozens of others.
The CIA attributed this incident to a miscalculation of coordinates that were intended for a Yugoslav weapons storage facility. Following the campaign, Griffin worked on the ground in Kosovo alongside Greg Palkot, capturing footage of the withdrawal of Serbian soldiers and the arrival of American Apache helicopters in Pristina.
Ariel Sharon’s Temple Mount walk and the Second Intifada
The Second Intifada began in Jerusalem in September 2000, a period Griffin covered while living in the city with her family. The conflict erupted following a visit to the Temple Mount by Ariel Sharon,who was then challenging Bibi Netanyahu for leadership of the Likud Party. The report notes that this visit triggered intense violence at the Al-Aqsa compound, including the use of tear gas and clashes at the Western Wall.
Griffin’s tenure in Jerusalem lasted for the seven-and-a-half-year duration of the Intifada.. During this time, she and her Fox News team responded to numerous suicide bombings and incursions into the West Bank and Gaza, often while wearing flak jackets to navigate Israeli checkpoints in areas like Ramallah.
The unverified allegations of the Russian apartment bombings
One of the most significant unanswered questions from Griffin's early career involves the origins of the apartment bombings in Russia. The source notes that independent critics, intelligence officials, and dissidents have long alleged that Vladimir Putin staged these false flag operations to justify an invasion of Chechnya. However, these claims remain unverified allegations rather than established historical facts.
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