Aleksandr Poteyev

Colonel Aleksandr Nikolayevich Poteyev^[a] is the former Deputy Head of Directorate "S" of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) from 2000–2010.

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]}

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]

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, Poteyev, aware that lie detector tests were being prepared to find a suspected high-ranking mole in the SVR, 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]

Poteyev was reportedly first approached for recruitment by the Internal Revenue Service on allegations of underpayment of taxes.^[18]

On November 11, 2010, Kommersant erroneously 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][19][20][21]}

On June 27, 2011, a Russian court found Poteyev guilty of high treason, sentencing him in absentia to 25 years in prison.^[22]

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.^[23][24]

Poteyev is reportedly on Russia's international wanted list.^[25]

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.^[26][27]

On July 7, 2016, the Russian news agency Interfax reported an unconfirmed rumor that Poteyev had died in the United States.^[28]

In March 2017, journalists for BuzzFeed News reportedly found a person matching Poteyev's biography living in a Donald Trump-licensed apartment complex in Florida.^[11][29][30]

In 2020, Russia attempted unsuccessfully to assassinate Poteyev.^[31] 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.^[32][33]