 |
Alexandr PoteevFormer Colonel of the Foreign Intelligence Service
Date of Birth: 03.03.1952
Country:  USA |
Content:
Alexander Poteev Biography
Alexander Poteev, a former colonel of the Foreign Intelligence Service, is known for his involvement in the case of illegal spies and his subsequent emigration to the United States. He was born on March 3, 1952, into a family with a military background. His father, Lieutenant Colonel Nikolai Pavlovich Poteev, was a Soviet tank commander and a Hero of the Soviet Union who fought in the Great Patriotic War and passed away in 1972.
Early Career
Poteev began his career in the ranks of the USSR KGB in Minsk. In 1979, he was sent to Afghanistan as part of the KGB "Zenith" special forces group and later joined the "Cascade-2" special forces group in Kabul in 1981. After completing his service in Afghanistan, he graduated from the Krasnoznamenny Institute and worked in the Main Intelligence Directorate of the KGB and later in the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR). For his participation in combat operations, he was awarded an order.
Emigration to the United States
In 2003, two unknown individuals in camouflage and masks broke into Poteev's apartment in Moscow, beat him and his son, and stole several thousand dollars and 30,000 rubles. The attackers were never found. According to sources, this attack was one of the stages of the recruitment process by American intelligence agencies, which aimed to demonstrate that despite his high-ranking position, he was not protected.
Poteev eventually became the deputy head of the "C" Department (illegal intelligence) at the SVR and fled from Russia to the United States a few days before Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to Washington in June. It is claimed that his "departure" was orchestrated by the American side, fearing his exposure. It was later discovered that Poteev's daughter, Margarita, had been living in the United States for a long time, and his wife had also resided there. Approximately a year before the arrest of the Russian spies, Poteev was offered a promotion, which he declined, possibly due to concerns about a mandatory lie detector test. Shortly before the arrest of the spies, Poteev's son, who worked in the State Narcotics Control Service, hastily moved to the United States. The Americans feared that the SVR would suspect betrayal after Poteev's escape and start withdrawing their operatives from the United States, prompting the US authorities to arrest the spies. Among the information provided by Poteev was the personal file of a valuable illegal employee of General Mikhail Vasenkov, which was an unprecedented case in the history of Russian intelligence.
Accusations and Trial
According to two unnamed sources of the "Novaya Gazeta," Colonel Poteev was involved in money laundering for Russian officials and businessmen in the United States. In Moscow, on May 16, 2011, he began an in absentia trial for charges of state treason (Article 275 of the Russian Criminal Code) and desertion. His wife's name is Marina.
His daughter, Margarita Alexandrovna Poteeva, born in 1979, was invited to work at the Moscow office of the "American Councils for International Education" while studying at the International University in Moscow in 2001. Soon after, she was offered a job in the United States, where she was likely persuaded to cooperate with American intelligence agencies. His son, Vladimir Alexandrovich Poteev, born in 1982, also moved to the United States.
