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Edited by: TJVNews.com
In an audacious move, Russian President Vladimir V. Putin has shown a willingness to cross previously uncrossed lines by ordering the assassination of a valuable informant for the U.S. government on American soil, as was reported by the New York Times. This brazen operation not only expands Putin’s campaign of targeted assassinations but also signals a dangerous low point in the strained history between intelligence services.
The failed assassination attempt targeted Aleksandr Poteyev, a former high-ranking Russian intelligence official who had become a CIA informant in Miami more than a decade ago, as was reported by the NYT. Poteyev’s disclosure of information led to a lengthy FBI investigation in 2010, which resulted in the arrest and expulsion of 11 Russian spies operating under deep cover along the East Coast of the United States.
To ease tensions, a deal was reached between the Obama administration and Russia, resulting in the release of four Russian prisoners, including Sergei V. Skripal, a former military intelligence officer convicted of selling secrets to Britain. However, the NYT reported that Putin remained determined to punish Poteyev and, before he could be apprehended, Poteyev fled to the United States under the protection of a highly secretive CIA program.
Despite efforts to vanish into obscurity, Poteyev was located by Russian operatives residing in the Miami area. According to the NYT report, in a bid to find him, the Russians used a Mexican scientist, Hector Alejandro Cabrera Fuentes, who had studied in Russia. Leveraging the fact that Fuentes had family members stuck in Russia, the Russian intelligence official pressured Fuentes to assist in their operation, the report indicated.
In February 2020, Fuentes traveled to Moscow, where he received instructions to locate Poteyev’s vehicle without taking incriminating photographs. However, the NYT reported that Fuentes’s attempt was thwarted when he attracted security attention while trying to bypass an entry gate. Subsequently, he and his wife were questioned and asked to leave the premises, but their actions were captured by security cameras. The NYT reported that Fuentes was later arrested when U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers discovered a photograph of Poteyev’s vehicle on his phone.
Following his arrest, Fuentes cooperated with American investigators, revealing details of the plot. He believed the Russian official he had been meeting with worked for Russia’s internal security service, the FSB, according to the NYT report. It is important to note that covert operations of this nature are typically handled by the S.V.R. or the G.R.U., Russia’s military intelligence agency.
In response to this plot and other Russian activities, the U.S. government imposed sanctions and expelled 10 Russian diplomats, including the chief of the S.V.R.’s Washington-based station. The NYT reported that this retaliatory action disrupted intelligence operations, leading U.S. officials to anticipate reprisals against their American counterparts in Moscow.
President Biden, in announcing the penalties, emphasized the need to prevent foreign powers from interfering in the democratic process without consequences. However, he did not explicitly mention the plot involving Fuentes.
As the tensions between the United States and Russia continue to escalate, the brazen attempt to assassinate a CIA informant on American soil highlights the increasingly aggressive tactics employed by President Putin’s intelligence operatives, the NYT report said. The incident serves as a stark reminder of the lengths to which Russia is willing to go to eliminate its perceived enemies and underscores the critical need for robust security measures to protect valuable informants and intelligence assets.
