COLUMNS

Signs of a Thwarted Russian Hit in Miami

undefined and VP of Tactical Analysis
Scott Stewart
VP of Tactical Analysis, Stratfor

Feb 25, 2020 | 10:00 GMT

The Miami skyline, photographed on April 29, 2019.

The Miami skyline, photographed on April 29, 2019. Russian intelligence agencies have gotten away with killing the Kremlin's enemies abroad, which may have emboldened them to give assassination a try in the United States.

(DANIEL SLIM/AFP via Getty Images)

Highlights

  • A Mexican citizen allegedly caught conducting surveillance on a "U.S. government source" appears to have been recruited as an agent by Russian intelligence.
  • The fact that the suspect exhibited sloppy tradecraft does not mean this case was innocuous; Russian officers and agents have exhibited sloppy tradecraft in several recent assassinations and assassination attempts.
  • Russian intelligence agencies have killed Kremlin enemies and critics with very few repercussions, which may have emboldened them to attempt to plan an assassination against a target living in Miami.

Since former KGB officer and FSB director Vladimir Putin became Russia's president, the country's intelligence agencies have regained much of their Cold War power. As Putin's power has grown, his intelligence services have grown commensurately bolder. Though the Kremlin invariably will try to deny any role in or knowledge of assassinations and other skulduggery, for the most part, the operations are overt or only very thinly veiled....

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