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| Russia plotted to kill defector in Florida: Report |
| 2023-06-20 |
| [NYT Via Aljazeera] Russia sought to kill a defector living in the United States in 2020, enlisting a Mexican scientist to help in the plot, according to a report by the New York Times. While the scheme to kill Aleksandr Poteyev failed, its aftermath "spiraled into tit-for-tat retaliation by the United States and Russia", the newspaper reported on Monday. Citing three former senior US officials, the New York Times said it had independently verified the assassination attempt, which will be chronicled in an upcoming book by Harvard scholar Calder Walton. Poteyev, a former Russian intelligence officer, had previously served as an informant to the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). His tips led the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to ensnare 11 Russian spies living on the US East Coast in 2010. Poteyev had escaped Russia via Belarus before he could face punishment for his disclosures. Once in the US, Poteyev was resettled in Miami, Florida, under a secret CIA programme to protect spies, according to Monday’s report. In 2011, a Moscow court sentenced him to 25 years in prison for treason, despite his absence from the country. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |