This audacious act has been blamed for significantly degrading the relationship between Washington and the Russian Federation.
The attempted assassination of the Russian defector, identified as Aleksandr Poteyev, took place in Miami, his new hometown, in early 2020, according to The New York Times, citing three former high-ranking U.S. officials. Poteyev's defection to the U.S. had previously triggered a counterintelligence investigation that resulted in the unmasking and expulsion of nearly a dozen spies on the U.S. eastern seaboard, demonstrating the significant importance of this individual.
The agents of the Russian Federation orchestrated the alleged plot under the leadership of Vladimir Putin, the former chief of the country's feared intelligence agency, the FSB. Putin's regime has been previously accused of executing revenge plots against Russian defectors living overseas.
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Renowned author Calder Walton is set to provide a detailed account of this incident in his upcoming book titled "Spies."
June 20, 2023
The New York Times has further detailed the involvement of a Mexican scientist, Hector Alejandro Cabrera Fuentes, in this cloak-and-dagger operation. As per the report, Fuentes was manipulated into participating in the assassination attempt after his family members were barred from leaving Russia. Fuentes allegedly rented an apartment near Poteyev's residence to surveil the former Russian agent.
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Under the directives of his Russian handlers, Fuentes began trailing Poteyev. The operation reached a dramatic climax when Fuentes and his wife were detected by security cameras photographing Poteyev's license plate, leading them to flee the scene. Their subsequent attempt to cross the U.S... border into Mexico resulted in their arrest.
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June 20, 2023
A former U.S... official has suggested that Fuentes was likely unaware of the ultimate objectives of the operation, and his role was primarily to gather initial intelligence regarding Poteyev's location.
Despite the government's silence, The Times reports that this event was instrumental in the U.S.'s.. decision to expel nearly a dozen Russian diplomats, including a senior official from Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), in April 2021.
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Mr. Fuentes, who is serving a four-year federal prison term for failing to register as a Russian agent, refused to comment on his alleged role in the plot. His involvement was described by the Department of Justice (DoJ) officials as acting "as a Russian agent," charged with photographing Mr Poteyev's car. In the public documents related to Fuentes's case, Poteyev was referred to as a "U.S. person," and the identity of Fuentes's wife was kept confidential.
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In a public statement, the DoJ elucidated, "The manner in which Fuentes communicated with the Russian government official and his undertakings in this case are consistent with the tactics of the Russian intelligence services for spotting, assessing, recruiting and handling intelligence assets and sources."
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The Russian Federation has been repeatedly accused of perpetrating assassinations on foreign soil. Among the most notorious cases, the killing of FSB whistleblower Alexander Litvinenko using the nuclear isotope polonium-210 in London in 2007 and the attempted murder of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in England in 2018 using the nerve agent Novichok are the most prominent. The Skripal incident led to the unfortunate death of Dawn Sturgess, who came into contact with the poison smuggled in a perfume bottle.
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Several other high-profile cases have involved exiled Russians. In 2007, London police detained a suspected hitman believed to have been tasked with assassinating exiled businessman Boris Berezovsky. The latter was found dead in suspicious circumstances in 2013 in a case that was ruled a suicide. Similarly, the mysterious demise of Russian whistleblower Alexander Perepilichny in Britain in 2012, who was found dead while jogging, has been enveloped in allegations of poisoning.
In a more recent case from 2019, former Chechen rebel commander Zelimkhan Khangoshvili was assassinated while cycling through Berlin's Tiergarten Park. A Russian citizen, Vadim Krasikov, was later found guilty of his murder, resulting in the expulsion of two Russian diplomats from Germany.
This series of international incidents, culminating in the attempted assassination of Aleksandr Poteyev, paint a chilling portrait of the lengths to which the Russian intelligence services are allegedly willing to go to exact vengeance on defectors. The involvement of Hector Alejandro Cabrera Fuentes, who has been sentenced for his role as a Russian agent without apparent knowledge of the intended assassination, underscores the complexity and brutality of these operations.
The consequences of these actions have strained diplomatic relations between the U.S... and Russia, with expulsions of diplomats on both sides. Poteyev's current whereabouts remain unknown, as does the full extent of Russia's alleged campaign against defectors living abroad.
While the government's official stance on the 2020 assassination attempt remains muted, the details emerging from former officials and pending publications like Walton's "Spies" suggest a dark undercurrent of international intrigue and espionage. It remains to be seen how this will further impact the already tense relationship between Russia and the West.
Fuentes, now serving his prison term, remains an unwitting symbol of the entanglement between personal circumstances and international espionage. His case is a grim reminder of the stakes in the shadowy world of international spy games.
For now, Poteyev's attempted assassination is another chapter in a narrative of alleged Russian assassinations on foreign soil, adding to a catalog of incidents that have made global headlines over the years. The world continues to watch these stories of espionage and retribution unfold, often resulting in a tragic loss of life and a continuous erosion of trust in international relations.
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