Aleksandr Poteyev

Colonel Aleksandr Nikolayevich Poteyev (Александр Николаевич Потеев) is the former Deputy Head of Directorate "S" of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) from 2000–2010.

Aleksandr Poteyev
Born
Aleksandr Nikolayevich Poteyev

(1952-03-07) March 7, 1952
Brest Region, Belarus
OccupationFormer Deputy Head of Directorate "S"
SpouseMarina
Children2

Beginning around 1999, he began working secretly with the CIA, helping to reveal a hidden network of Russian spies operating within the United States, known as the Illegals Program.

In late June 2010, the CIA led a successful operation to extract Poteyev from Russia.

He is reported to be living in the United States under an assumed identity.[1][2]

Early life

Poteyev was born in the Brest Region of the Republic of Belarus.

His father, Nikolai Pavlovich Poteyev, had been declared a Hero of the USSR in 1944 for having destroyed nine enemy tanks.[3][4]

Career

1970s

Poteyev enlisted in the army during the 1970s.

Afterward, he entered the service of the KGB, working primarily in Minsk, and then later in Afghanistan as part of "Zenith", an elite special forces unit.[3]

1980s

In 1981, Poteyev was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for his participation in hostilities in Kabul as part of the special forces unit "Cascade".

After returning from Afghanistan, Poteyev graduated from the Academy of Foreign Intelligence, and then went on to work for the First Chief Directorate of the USSR.[5][6]

1990s

Working under official cover as a representative from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Poteyev took around a dozen short trips to several western countries during the 1990s, including Mexico, Chile, and New York City in the United States.[3][5]

According to a Russian court, Poteyev had begun passing information to the CIA since around 1999.[4][7][8][9][10]

2000s

In 2000, Poteyev was appointed to Deputy Head of Directorate "S" of the SVR, where he was tasked with overseeing a network of spies living inside the United States.[3][9][11]

Around 2001, Poteyev reportedly "cashed in" on a contract with the CIA worth somewhere between $2 and $5 million.[12]

On January 25, 2003, Poteyev's wife, Marina, filed a police report claiming that three individuals disguised as law enforcement had broken into the Poteyevs' apartment in Moscow. Once inside, the individuals reportedly robbed and attacked members of the Poteyev family.[3][4]

2010s

In May 2010, Poteyev reportedly requested leave to visit a pregnant mistress of his in Odesa, but was denied by his superiors.[7][13]

In June 2010, aware that lie detector tests were being prepared to find a suspected high-ranking mole in the SVR, Poteyev instructed his son to leave for the United States, where Poteyev's wife and daughter were living.[3]

On June 24, 2010, without informing his superiors, Poteyev purchased a rail ticket from Moscow to Minsk. From there, he moved to obtain a false passport in Ivano-Frankivsk, then headed to Frankfurt, before finally arriving at CIA headquarters in the United States on June 26, 2010.[7][14][15] On the following day, the FBI had begun arresting the Russian spy ring.[16][17]

Post-career

On November 11, 2010, Kommersant reported that the person who had given the names of the Russian spies to U.S. authorities was Colonel Shcherbakov of the SVR. Four days later, RIA Novosti reported that it was not Shcherbakov, but Poteyev.[7][18][19][20]

On June 27, 2011, a Russian court found Poteyev guilty of high treason, sentencing him in absentia to 25 years in prison.[21]

In July 2013, Der Spiegel reported that Poteyev had been responsible for the October 2011 arrest of a German-based Russian spy couple who had been living under the names of Andreas and Heidrun Anschlag.[22][23]

Life in America

Around late 2013 or early 2014, a suspected Russian hit man on a valid U.S. visa had reportedly approached Poteyev's home in Florida, as well as the city of one of Poteyev's relatives.[24][25]

On July 7, 2016, the Russian news agency Interfax reported an unconfirmed rumor that Poteyev had died in the United States.[26]

In March 2017, journalists for BuzzFeed News reportedly found a person matching Poteyev's biography living in an apartment complex in Florida.[11][27][28]

In 2020, Russia attempted unsuccessfully to assassinate Poteyev.[29] In 2019, Russia hired a Mexican-Singaporean microbiologist, Hector Alejandro Cabrera Fuentes, to find Poteyev's whereabouts. Fuentes was told to rent out a property in Miami, where Poteyev was residing. On February 14, 2020, Fuentes traveled to Miami from Mexico City. The next day, Fuentes was instructed to find Poteyev's license plate. Fuentes was expelled from the apartment complex by security, so he instructed his wife to take a picture of the plate. Two days later, while trying to leave the US through Miami International Airport, US Customs found a picture of Poteyev's license plate in Fuentes's travel companion's "recently deleted" folder. When questioned, "Fuentes admitted to law enforcement officers that he was directed by a Russian government official to conduct this operation.[30][31]

References
  1. Barry, Ellen (October 1, 2018). "Spy Poisoned in Britain Fed MI6 Agents Secrets on a Putin Ally, New Book Claims". The New York Times.
  2. Bergman, Ronen; Goldman, Adam; Barnes, Julian E. (June 19, 2023). "Russia Sought to Kill Defector in Florida". The New York Times. Retrieved 2023-06-19.
  3. Alexandrov, German (May 16, 2011). "Defector of the SVR Poteyev continues to betray Russia". Rosbalt.
  4. Moshkin, Mikhail; Baltacheva, Marina (July 7, 2016). "A Traitor Poteyev Could Go Deep Underground". RusNext.
  5. Osborn, Andrew (November 18, 2010). "Ex-KGB soldier named as double agent who exposed Anna Chapman spy ring". The Daily Telegraph.
  6. "Information is being verified. In the US, the defector who "surrendered" Anna Chapman died?". Argumenty i Fakty. July 7, 2016.
  7. Weiss, Michael (July 9, 2016). "Is This American Spy Dead? Or Was He Ever Real?". The Daily Beast.
  8. Alexandrov, German (June 27, 2011). "SVR defector: I'm starting a new life". Rosbalt.
  9. Isachenkov, Vladimir (June 27, 2011). "Alexander Poteyev, Russian Intelligence Officer, Convicted Of Betraying U.S. Spy Ring Including Anna Chapman". HuffPost. Archived from the original on June 30, 2011.
  10. Urban, Mark (October 2, 2018). "The Skripal Files" (PDF). Secret Wars. p. 145. Retrieved June 8, 2019.
  11. Campbell, Alex; Leopold, Jason; Blake, Heidi (October 3, 2018). "This Russian Double-Agent Is A Lot Less Dead Than He Seemed". BuzzFeed News.
  12. Russo, Gus; Dezenhall, Eric (October 2, 2018). Best of Enemies: The Last Great Spy Story of the Cold War. New York, NY: Hachette Book Group, Inc. p. 233. ISBN 978-1-5387-6131-1. LCCN 2017056747.
  13. "Of all the scouts, Anna Chapman was the first to feel the end". Moskovskij Komsomolets. June 27, 2011.
  14. Loiko, Sergei (June 28, 2011). "Former Russian spymaster convicted of treason". Los Angeles Times.
  15. Walter, Pincus (July 6, 2022). "The Unraveling of Russian Spies".
  16. "Ten Alleged Secret Agents Arrested in the United States". United States Department of Justice. June 28, 2010.
  17. "FBI: 10 Russian Spies Arrested in U.S." CBS. June 28, 2010.
  18. Soloviev, Vladimir; Trifonov, Vladislav (November 11, 2010). "Fresh Betrayal". Kommersant.
  19. "The culprit of the "spy scandal" was Colonel Poteyev". RIA Novosti. November 15, 2010.
  20. Rawnsley, Adam (November 19, 2010). "Did One of These Russian Colonels Sell Out The Sexy Spy?". Wired.
  21. Parfitt, tom (June 27, 2011). "Russian double agent sentenced in absentia to 25 years in prison". The Guardian.
  22. Connolly, Kate (January 15, 2013). "Married pair alleged to be Russian 'cold war' type spies on trial in Germany". The Guardian.
  23. "Moscow allegedly wants to bring spies back from Germany". Der Spiegel. July 15, 2013.
  24. "More of Kremlin's Opponents Are Ending Up Dead". The New York Times. September 13, 2018.
  25. "The attempted assassination of a Russian spy defector". Newsnight. October 2, 2018 – via YouTube.
  26. "Russian Foreign Intelligence Service not commenting on Poteyev's possible death in U.S (Part 2)". Interfax. July 7, 2016. Archived from the original on June 8, 2019.
  27. Korelina, Olga (October 4, 2018). "The agent who handed over Anna Chapman and other illegal immigrants to the Americans was declared dead two years ago. He actually lives in the US: Buzzfeed". Meduza.
  28. @textifire (June 5, 2017). ""Aleksandr" is 'dead', born 3 March 1952 (says Google); but FL guy is "Alexander", born 7 March 1952, living in Trump Tower III. Curious" (Tweet). Archived from the original on March 1, 2020 – via Twitter.
  29. "Russia Sought to Kill Defector in Florida". New York Times. June 19, 2023.
  30. "Individual Arrested for Acting Within the U.S. on Behalf of the Russian Government Without Notifying the Attorney General". United States Department of Justice. February 18, 2020.
  31. "Man Who Acted as Russian Agent Sentenced to Federal Prison Term". United States Department of Justice. June 22, 2022.
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