Report: Russia Plotted to Kill CIA Informant

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Facts

  • According to a New York Times report published Monday, Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin attempted to assassinate a high-ranking intelligence officer turned CIA informant in Miami in 2020.1
  • Aleksandr Poteyev, a former Kremlin agent, had defected to the US, and his tips led the FBI to trap 11 Russian spies living undercover on the East Coast in 2010.2
  • Poteyev reportedly escaped Russia and resettled in Miami under the US intelligence agency's protection. In 2011, a Moscow court sentenced him to 25 years in prison for treason in absentia.3
  • The report claims Putin enlisted Mexican scientist Hector Alejandro Cabrera Fuentes, to find and eliminate Poteyev for his betrayal. However, US investigators arrested Fuentes after the operation was unsuccessful.4
  • While the assassination attempt failed, it reportedly led Washington to impose a series of sanctions and expel 10 Russian diplomats, including the SVR's chief of station. In retaliation, Moscow expatriated 10 American diplomats, including the CIA's station chief.2
  • Putin, a former KGB agent, is often accused of assassinating defectors on foreign soil. It is alleged Moscow may have been behind the high-profile 2007 murder of FSB whistleblower and prominent Putin critic Alexander Litvinenko in London.1

Sources: 1Independent, 2New York Times, 3Al Jazeera, and 4Daily Mail.

Narratives

  • Anti-Russia narrative, as provided by Washington Post. The rate at which Kremlin critics meet grisly ends isn't a coincidence; Putin persecutes free speech by directing the murder of his opponents. The Kremlin portrays Putin's critics as traitors to justify their assassination, but the real traitors to Russia are the autocrat's followers, who are destroying the country's well-being, reputation, and future in their attempts to cling on to power.
  • Pro-Russia narrative, as provided by The Moscow Times. Putin doesn't hate critics; he hates the country's traitors and defectors. Russia cannot allow the West to interfere in its domestic matters with impunity. The Russian intelligence services have the right to act against anyone indulging in anti-Russian campaigns, whether on its own or on foreign soil.

Predictions