Russia Attempted To Assassinate CIA Informant In Miami In 2020

Russian agents tried to assassinate a CIA informant on U.S. soil in 2020.

The goal was to kill a former Russian agent who had defected to the U.S., which led to a counterintelligence review that resulted in the capture of around 10 spies along the East Coast of the United States.

The former agent’s attempted assassination is the latest uncovered retaliation by Vladimir Putin against Russian defectors living outside the country.

Three former U.S. officials spoke to The New York Times about how Russian agents had targeted Aleksandr Poteyev and tracked him around his new residence in Miami, Florida.

Hector Alejandro Cabrera Fuentes, a Mexican scientist who was allegedly forced to cooperate after his family was prevented from leaving Russia, rented an apartment near Poteyev to spy on him. Fuentes and his wife were later recorded by security cameras taking pictures of Poteyev’s license plate. Believing they had given themselves away, they tried to run away to Mexico but were arrested at the U.S. border. Fuentes was sentenced to four years in federal prison in 2022 for acting “as a Russian agent.”

The U.S. Department of Justice stated, “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.”

It later added that Fuentes did not notify the U.S. Attorney General that he was acting as a Russian agent, as legally required.

This is not the first time Russia has been blamed for attempted assassinations in different countries. Russia was allegedly involved in the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, a whistleblower in their intelligence service. Agents used the nuclear isotope polonium-210 to kill Litvinenko in London in 2007. In 2019, Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, a former Chechen commander, was shot dead while riding a bike in Berlin. A Russian citizen, Vadim Krasikov, was convicted of the murder and two Russian diplomats were removed from Germany.