US concerned about Russian intelligence network in Mexico

Russian intelligence services are building up their presence in Mexico for spy operations targeting the United States.

NBC News sources shared that Russia has added dozens of personnel to its Embassy staff in Mexico City in the past few years.

At the same time, Moscow has only limited trade ties with the country.

U.S. officials say the trend is concerning and believe the extensive buildup is aimed at bolstering the Kremlin’s intelligence operations targeting the U.S.

It is also seen as an attempt to spread propaganda aimed at undermining relations between Washington and Ukraine.

“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.

The Biden administration has raised the issue with the Mexican government, a U.S. official told NBC News.

CIA Director William Burns said earlier this month that his agency and the U.S. government are “sharply focused” on Russia’s expanding footprint in Mexico.

“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,” Burns said.

Air Force Gen. Glen VanHerck, head of U.S. Northern Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee in March 2022 that Russia’s GRU military intelligence service had a massive presence in Mexico.

“I would point out that the largest portion of GRU members in the world is in Mexico right now,” VanHerck said.

Mexico’s response

When asked about the general’s comments at the time, Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he didn’t have information about them and that Mexico is “a free, independent, sovereign country.”

Mexico has had extensive trade ties with the United States for decades but also maintains friendly relations with Russia and Cuba.

Russian spies — and their American informants — have a long history in Mexico.

Unlike the U.S., where Russian intelligence is under intense scrutiny from the FBI and consulates have been shuttered, Mexico offers a convenient, lower-risk setting for Moscow to oversee agents in the U.S. and stage other operations, according to former intelligence officers.

According to retired senior CIA officer Douglas London, the Russians are likely to use Mexico’s proximity to support both U.S. agents and Russian officers working under “deep cover” in the United States.

As previously reported, the Texas Army National Guard has lost 17 soldiers in three years while strengthening the border with Mexico.