Russian Foreign Intelligence Service not commenting on Poteyev's possible death in U.S
MOSCOW. July 7 (Interfax) - The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has declined to comment on a report that former SVR officer and defector Alexander Poteyev died in the United States.
"We are not commenting on these reports," SVR spokesman Sergei Ivanov told Interfax on Thursday.
Former Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Col. Alexander Poteyev, who fled to the United States and was sentenced in absentia to 25 years in prison for high treason, died, sources familiar with the situation told Interfax.
"Some reports indicate that Poteyev died in the U.S. This information is now being verified," one of the sources said.
Another source confirmed that such reports had been received from abroad and did not rule out that "this can be misinformation so that the traitor would be simply forgotten."
Poteyev's treason led to the exposure of a group of Russian sleeper intelligence agents working abroad.