Former colonel of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service dies in the US
A former colonel of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), Alexander Poteyev, who escaped from Russia in 2010, died in the US. This information was reported by the Russian Interfax news agency, citing informed sources. "According to some reports, Poteyev died in the US. Currently, this information is being verified," the agency wrote.
According to Interfax, this information has been obtained from abroad, but it is possible that "it may be disinformation created to ensure that the ‘traitor’ will be forgotten." Russia accused Poteyev of exposing a ring of Russian spies who were illegally in the United States. Poteyev would have been 64 now.
On June 27, 2011, the Moscow District Military Court found the former deputy head of the SVR guilty of treason and desertion. He was tried and sentenced in absentia to 25 years in prison and stripped of his military rank and state awards.
The year before, on June 27, 2010, ten Russian citizens were arrested by the U.S. authorities. Most of them lived under American names. In the court of New York, they all admitted that they were engaged in espionage for Russia. Later, they were exchanged for four Russians convicted in Russia for spying for foreign intelligence services.
The most famous among the group of disclosed Russian agents was Anna Chapman. In Moscow, during Poteyev’s trial, she said that the ex-colonel of the SVR was responsible for the failure of the Russian intelligence network in the United States because he was one of the few who knew about their activities.