Russia plotted assassination of defector on US soil – report

The New Voice of Ukraine
·2 min read
Oleksandr Poteyev disclosed to US intelligence the largest network of illegal intelligence officers, most of whom have been working in the United States since Soviet times
Oleksandr Poteyev disclosed to US intelligence the largest network of illegal intelligence officers, most of whom have been working in the United States since Soviet times

Russian intelligence services located the Miami residence of Aleksandr Poteyev, a former colonel in the Foreign Intelligence Service (FIS) who defected to the United States, and attempted to assassinate him, The New York Times reported on June 19.

Colonel Aleksandr Poteyev fled to the United States just before a 2010 visit to Washington by then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Poteyev revealed to U.S. intelligence the most extensive Russian network of undercover intelligence officers, many of whom had been working in the country since the Soviet era. In response, a Russian court sentenced Poteyev to 25 years in a maximum-security facility and stripped him of his state awards and military rank.

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Despite Russian media reports in 2016 claiming Poteyev had died abroad, The New York Times revealed he was living in Florida under his own name. There, he obtained a fishing license and registered as a Republican voter. In 2018, BuzzFeed released this information, which Poteyev had provided—including his date of birth, mailing address, and phone number—to obtain the license.

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In 2019, Russian intelligence recruited Mexican scientist Hector Alejandro Cabrera Fuentes to rent an apartment near Poteyev's home in Miami Beach. The following year, Cabrera Fuentes and his wife attempted to photograph Poteyev's car's license plate near his residence. However, security noticed the couple, leading to Fuentes' arrest as he tried to fly out of Florida. He was later sentenced to four years in prison.

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These efforts to locate and identify Poteyev sparked a significant expulsion of Russian diplomats and spies from the United States, including the FIS chief of station in Washington.

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