While he clarified that he did not advocate for the same level of punishment as seen in the poisoning of former GRU officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, Putin maintained that traitors must face consequences.
Recently, news emerged about another failed Russian plot, this time taking place in 2020. The Russians had orchestrated a covert operation to eliminate a high-ranking Russian intelligence official, Aleksandr Poteyev, who had defected to the United States.
Poteyev had provided crucial information about 11 deep-cover Russian agents operating in the U.S. under the guise of ordinary Americans.
The operation to kill Poteyev, ordered by Putin himself, was foiled when a Mexican scientist, Hector Alejandro Cabrera Fuentes, who had been coerced by the Russians to track down Poteyev, raised suspicion with security.
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Fuentes, lacking proper training in operational tradecraft, attempted to enter Poteyev's apartment building in Miami Beach by tailgating another vehicle and was subsequently arrested.
This incident is not an isolated event, as the Russian government has a history of targeting individuals who have crossed the Kremlin, even on foreign soil.
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The practice of "Wet Deeds," or the spilling of blood, has been employed by leaders such as Lenin, Stalin, and now Putin to eliminate perceived threats to the regime.
Putin formalized this practice by approving a federal law in 2002, known as "On Countering Extreme Activity," which was later updated in 2006 to authorize targeted assassinations for "extremist activity." This broad definition includes crimes such as "diminishing national dignity" and making false accusations against Russian government officials.
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Such operations are carried out by Russian military intelligence operatives and encompass various acts of intimidation and murder, including killings, kidnappings, poisonings, and staged accidents. Methods such as throwing victims out of windows, staging car explosions, and making victims jump are commonly employed.
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Prior to 2020, there were two instances of the Russian government targeting Kremlin critics on U.S. soil. In 2007, former CIA officer Paul Joyal survived a brutal attack near his Maryland home after implicating Putin and the Kremlin in the death of Aleksandr Litvinenko, a former FSB officer and vocal critic of Putin, in the United Kingdom.
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Despite the involvement of the FBI, the perpetrators of this likely murder attempt remained unidentified five years later.
In 2015, Mikhail Lesin, a former Russian media executive and Putin adviser, was found dead in a Washington, D.C., hotel. Lesin's death occurred just before he was scheduled to be interviewed by the U.S. Justice Department regarding the Kremlin-funded media company, RT, which he had founded.
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While the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Metropolitan Police Department ruled his death as accidental, an official at the Chief Medical Examiner's office revealed that Lesin's neck bone was fractured in a manner consistent with hanging or manual strangulation.
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Within Russia, the Kremlin's hit men operate with impunity. In 2004, Paul Klebnikov, a Russian-American journalist and chief editor of the Russian edition of Forbes magazine, was gunned down in Moscow. Klebnikov had exposed the corruption of Russian oligarchs through his investigative work.
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The recent failed Russian plot in 2020 suggests that Putin's assassins may not possess the same level of training as those during Stalin's era.
In the past, Russian operatives executed "special tasks" with stealth, leaving no trace of foul play. However, a 1993 CIA document noted that even when the Soviet hand was evident, investigations often yielded only fragmentary information due to the KGB's ability to conceal its involvement.
Some Americans remain skeptical about the authenticity of the recent armed revolt in Russia. To determine whether the Russians orchestrated a false-flag operation or if Putin's regime is on the verge of collapse, they propose a litmus test.
If Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian businessman and alleged traitor, becomes the target of Putin's assassination playbook, it would indicate the legitimacy of the coup.
Alternatively, if Prigozhin and Wagner hitmen launch a second front targeting Ukraine from Belarus, it would suggest that Team Biden has been outmaneuvered by Putin once again.
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