Russia uses Mexico as center for spying on US - NBC News
Photo: Russian spies have become more active in Mexico (photo from open sources)
Russian intelligence agencies are increasing their presence in Mexico to conduct espionage operations against the United States, echoing practices from the Cold War era, according to NBC News.
According to NBC News, over the past few years, Russia has bolstered its embassy staff in Mexico City by dozens of employees, despite having only limited trade ties with the country. US officials express concern over this trend, believing the significant staff increase aims to enhance the Kremlin's intelligence operations targeting the US and its propaganda efforts to undermine relations between Washington and Ukraine.
The Biden administration raised this issue with the Mexican government. "Russia has really invested in Mexico in terms of seeking to extend their presence," an American official stated in an interview with NBC News.
The US is concerned and monitoring closely
CIA Director William Burns previously indicated that his agency and the US government are sharply focused on the growing Russian presence in Mexico. He attributed part of this situation to the expulsion of Russian spies from foreign capitals following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
"Part of this is a function of the fact that so many Russian intelligence officers have been kicked out of Europe. … So they’re looking for places to go and looking for places in which they can operate. But we’re very sharply focused on that," Burns said in London this month when asked about suspected Russian spying out of Mexico.
Russia's actions in Mexico reflect a more aggressive posture of its intelligence services across various fronts, as the Kremlin seeks to silence critics abroad, undermine support for Ukraine, and weaken Western democracies, former intelligence officers suggest. According to American and European officials, this approach includes sabotage and attempted sabotage in Europe, assassination plots, relentless cyberattacks, and extensive global disinformation campaigns.
“They’re willing to take much higher risks now than maybe they would have in the immediate post-Cold War,” said Paul Kolbe, who worked for 25 years as an operations officer in the CIA, with postings in Russia, the Balkans, and elsewhere.
US Air Force General Glen VanHerck, head of US Northern Command, stated in March 2022 before the Senate Armed Services Committee that Russian military intelligence (GRU) has a significant presence in Mexico.
"I would point out that the largest portion of GRU members in the world is in Mexico right now. Those are Russian intelligence personnel, and they keep an eye very closely on their opportunities to have influence on US opportunities and access," VanHerck said.
Following the general's remarks, which came shortly after the onset of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia continued to expand its embassy presence in Mexico City, receiving accreditation from Mexican authorities.
In response to the general's comments, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador stated that he had no information on the matter and emphasized that Mexico is a free, independent, sovereign country.
Despite having established extensive trade ties with the United States over the decades, Mexico has traditionally sought to avoid full alignment with Washington's foreign policy and maintains friendly relations with Russia and Cuba.
Trotsky and the ice ax
NBC News highlighted that Russian spies and their American informants have a long history in Mexico.
In 1940, the Kremlin hunted one of its revolutionary leaders and communist ideologists, Leon Trotsky, who had been ousted from power following a conflict with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Trotsky, who was expected to succeed Vladimir Lenin as the leader of the Soviet Union, hid while moving from country to country until he settled in Mexico.
However, on August 20, 1940, Trotsky allowed a Spanish communist, whom he believed to be a friend, into his private study. The visitor, Ramón Mercader, concealed a shortened ice pick under his suit jacket, which he used to attack Trotsky, who succumbed to his injuries the following day.
Base for espionage
John Sipher, who worked in the CIA’s clandestine service for 28 years, noted that Russia has long advised Americans seeking to spy for Moscow to travel to Mexico.
"For decades, if Americans reached out and volunteered to spy for Moscow, they would be told to travel to Mexico City. The environment for Russian intelligence in the US is difficult," Sipher said.
In the 1970s, Christopher Boyce, a college student working at the TRW aerospace company in the affluent suburbs of Los Angeles, and his high school friend Andrew Daulton Lee were convicted of passing American satellite secrets to the Soviet Union. Over two years, Lee traveled to Mexico to deliver classified information to Soviet embassy agents and to collect money for himself and Boyce. Their case inspired a book and a major Hollywood film The Falcon and the Snowman.
Harold “Jim” Nicholson, a high-ranking CIA officer convicted in 1997 of passing secrets to Moscow, was serving time for espionage when he attempted to use his son to secure pension payments from Russian agents in Mexico. His son was arrested and convicted in 2010, while his father faced additional sentencing.
Two years ago, prominent Mexican scholar Héctor Cabrera Fuentes pleaded guilty to being recruited by Russian agents to surveil the US government informant living in Miami. Fuentes led a double life with two families on two continents, which Russian spies exploited to entice him into cooperation.
Benign environment
Unlike the US, where Russian intelligence is under close FBI scrutiny and consulates are closed, Mexico, according to former intelligence officers, offers Moscow a convenient and less risky environment to monitor agents in the US and conduct other operations.
"It’s a very benign environment for the Russians to operate in. It makes a lot of sense, and it’s why the Russians are there in such big numbers," said Douglas London, a retired senior CIA operations officer and the author of a memoir The Recruiter.
According to him, Russians are likely to utilize Mexico's proximity but relative safety from US law enforcement to support both American agents and Russian officers working under deep cover in the US.
Former CIA officers emphasize that an American agent working for Russian intelligence could travel back and forth across the US-Mexico border to meet with Russian handlers for payments, reports, replenishments, and training in communication methods or other espionage technologies.
They also point out that Russian intelligence may leverage Mexico's proximity to reach out to political adversaries of Putin in the US.
Legal work, risks, and information diversions
London noted that Russians are unlikely to want their operatives to attempt illegal crossings of the southern border with migrants. "They want any travel to be aboveboard, look clean, to be unnoticeable," he said.
Conversely, other former intelligence personnel believe that Russian intelligence would have the capability to work with transnational criminal networks if it suited a specific mission and if they were willing to accept significantly higher risks.
Part of the GRU's mandate includes preparing for possible sabotage operations in the event of war with the US, and Mexico could serve as a practical base for such contingency plans, former intelligence officers assert.
The perception of a major Russian espionage bastion in Mexico also serves as a propaganda tool to exaggerate Moscow's capabilities and fuel the narrative of an allegedly uncontrollable border, Kolbe stated.
American officials are also concerned about Russia's attempts to manipulate the information landscape in Mexico, seeking not only to undermine international support for Ukraine but also to sow social discord. Russia has expanded the presence of its state media RT in Mexico and launched a significant advertising campaign for the channel.
In April, the Russian ambassador to Mexico published a false statement from Russian state media alleging that the US was recruiting members of drug cartels from Mexico and Colombia to fight in Ukraine. This baseless claim was picked up by some Mexican media outlets.
Putin's invitation
The Russian President Vladimir Putin stated he had no time for such a trip, although he likely fears the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court.
Previously, Mexico had refused to arrest Putin should he enter the country.
