Russia plotted to kill defector in Florida: Report

A Russian flag flies from a vacated Russian consulate building in Seattle, Washington [File: Elaine Thompson/The Associated Press]

Russia sought to kill a defector living in the United States in 2020, enlisting a Mexican scientist to help in the plot, according to a report by the New York Times.

While the scheme to kill Aleksandr Poteyev failed, its aftermath “spiraled into tit-for-tat retaliation by the United States and Russia”, the newspaper reported on Monday.