Metro

NYC diplomatic compound reported hotbed of Russian espionage

An ominous-looking Cold War-era high-rise in The Bronx is home to some of Russia’s most powerful diplomats — and dangerous spies, who work hard to blend into their city neighborhood.

The 20-story cryptic compound at 355 W. 255th St. in Riverdale houses scores of Russian officials, some of whom work in the United States as intelligence operatives, vacuuming up information and making key connections for the Kremlin, according to experts.

About 40 young students from a local Jewish school protested outside the building’s gates Tuesday, holding up signs that said, “We pray for peace in Ukraine.”

“We want peace!” the pro-Ukraine activists yelled as cars passing by honked, with some of their occupants raising their fists in support. 

Retired FBI Special Agent Robin Dreeke said Tuesday that some of the local residents are agents of either Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service or military intelligence agency.

“Open secret is a good way to put it,” Dreeke, the former head of the bureau’s Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program, told Fox News of the group’s presence. “I think they think it’s more of a secret than we do.”

A barista working at the Earlybird coffee shop next to the high-rise went to the private school that takes up the first few floors of the building and described its residents as a reclusive community hiding in plain sight. Her father was a UN diplomat for Azerbaijan at the time.

“A lot of them usually walk past, or they do come here to shop,” said the 23-year-old worker, who asked not to be named. “They keep to themselves. They ask for their order and nothing else.

A view of the Russian government complex in the Bronx Stefan Jeremiah

“Since Sunday, I’ve seen a little less people coming. The street is a little empty.”

A cop car was stationed at both the front and back gates of the compound Tuesday.

The barista said she attended to the school from 2006 to 2011. It welcomed children of diplomats from Russia and other Russian-speaking countries, she said.

“The first four to five floors were the school. They had an auditorium, a lunch room for kids. Then above there are  the people who work there or live there,” the worker said, adding that she hasn’t been back in the past decade.

“The kids, they keep to themselves. They don’t mix with the community,” the barista said of current residents’ offspring. “Most of them don’t speak English.”

Oleksandr Manikhin, 41, a Riverdale resident with a Russian father and Ukrainian mother, shouted, “Go back to your country! Go back to Russia!” at a woman picking up her child from the school at the high-rise Tuesday afternoon.

“They shouldn’t stay here, because [Russia is] an aggressive country – not just to Ukraine, not just to Europe, it’s aggression to all democratic countries,” said Manikhin, who was born in Kazakhstan but lived in Lviv, Ukraine.

Manikhin said he showed up to the compound to send the message to those living there that Riverdale “is not their home.

“I know that they are living here,” he said. “They feel very comfortable in this area, you know, it’s a nice area – very comfortable, very silent, and they think it’s their home or something like that. No, they should not feel that.”

The structure is reportedly a hotbed for Russian espionage activity. Stefan Jeremiah

Rebekah Koffler, a Russian-born former intelligence officer for the Defense Intelligence Agency, said having agents stationed around the world under diplomatic cover is “a standard procedure” for most nations, including the US.

According to Koffler, the author of the recent book “Putin’s Playbook,” the spies are focused on amassing as much information as they can with the idea that it may someday provide actionable insights.

“They collect regardless – the Russians and the Chinese do – because that’s just how they do business,” she said.

“They view us as threat No. 1,” Koffler added. “And sooner or later, they believe that information will be useful, whether it’s for wartime or peacetime, when they want to undermine and somehow cause some kind of disruption.”

Dreeke said the Russian snoops in Riverdale keep tabs on “everything” and the building has been dubbed the “plex” by some law-enforcement officers.

“A lot of people think that spies are just going for the high-level classified military infrastructure kind of stuff,” Dreeke said. “The real purpose of spying/intelligence collection is filling information gaps that another country has, and mostly to provide their policymakers and decision-makers the knowledge they need that’s not common knowledge that they can get through legitimate means.”

Dreeke told Fox that he spent hours inside the Riverdale compound between 1997 and 2005, when he was part of the FBI’s Russian Military Intelligence Squad. He’s also tried to recruit Russian spies in an effort to neutralize them. 

He said there are two types of intelligence officers. The first category covers those who work for the mission to the United Nations under “diplomatic cover.

“It’s what we called a ‘symmetrical threat.’ We know they’re here. They’re diplomats under diplomatic cover, so they actually have all the privileges of diplomats. So, when they’re caught conducting espionage against our country, you can’t throw them in jail, because they’re diplomats,” Dreeke explained, adding, “No one likes it. But it’s a fact of life.”

Then there are those in the US under a deeper level of cover, working under “false pretenses, with fake names” and posing an “asymmetrical threat.”

According to Dreeke, some diplomats at the “plex” are not intelligence officers, but there are others who “do the diplomatic job probably one or two hours a day. And the rest of the day is spent collecting intelligence” that they send back to Moscow.

Some of the intelligence officers reportedly work in the US under fake names. Google Maps

Koffler said the Russian spooks’ M.O. is to try to establish relationships with people the Kremlin believes may be potentially useful sources of information, like government officials.

“It’s not like they try to steal your wallet or your purse and get your information that way,” Koffler said. “It’s called targeteering – they identify, ‘OK, we need a list, we need somebody in your State Department,’ or, ‘We need somebody at the United Nations’ … and they do their homework and they study” their mark.

“Where does this or that person hang out? Do they play golf, for example? Once they identify who exactly they need, what kind of access, they figure out that person’s patterns of behavior … they would show up, like, on a tennis court if you are playing tennis. And they would strike up a conversation with you and try to be your friend. And you have no idea that you’ve been targeted because it all looks so innocuous and accidental,” she said.

Dreeke estimates that as much as 98 percent of the information the agents collect is “benign,” while the remainder is classified, saying ”it is proprietary [information] that does that greater damage.”

The barista said the area is home to a sizable Russian population and believes the “majority of them are against the war.”

On Sunday, she said she saw a small demonstration in the area, where about 100 people carried signs, many in Hebrew, and Ukrainian flags.

There was a rabbi praying, she said.

universo-virtual.com
buytrendz.net
thisforall.net
benchpressgains.com
qthzb.com
mindhunter9.com
dwjqp1.com
secure-signup.net
ahaayy.com
soxtry.com
tressesindia.com
puresybian.com
krpano-chs.com
cre8workshop.com
hdkino.org
peixun021.com
qz786.com
utahperformingartscenter.org
maw-pr.com
zaaksen.com
ypxsptbfd7.com
worldqrmconference.com
shangyuwh.com
eejssdfsdfdfjsd.com
playminecraftfreeonline.com
trekvietnamtour.com
your-business-articles.com
essaywritingservice10.com
hindusamaaj.com
joggingvideo.com
wandercoups.com
onlinenewsofindia.com
worldgraphic-team.com
bnsrz.com
wormblaster.net
tongchengchuyange0004.com
internetknowing.com
breachurch.com
peachesnginburlesque.com
dataarchitectoo.com
clientfunnelformula.com
30pps.com
cherylroll.com
ks2252.com
webmanicura.com
osostore.com
softsmob.com
sofietsshotel.com
facetorch.com
nylawyerreview.com
apapromotions.com
shareparelli.com
goeaglepointe.com
thegreenmanpubphuket.com
karotorossian.com
publicsensor.com
taiwandefence.com
epcsur.com
odskc.com
inzziln.info
leaiiln.info
cq-oa.com
dqtianshun.com
southstills.com
tvtv98.com
thewellington-hotel.com
bccaipiao.com
colectoresindustrialesgs.com
shenanddcg.com
capriartfilmfestival.com
replicabreitlingsale.com
thaiamarinnewtoncorner.com
gkmcww.com
mbnkbj.com
andrewbrennandesign.com
cod54.com
luobinzhang.com
bartoysdirect.com
taquerialoscompadresdc.com
aaoodln.info
amcckln.info
drvrnln.info
dwabmln.info
fcsjoln.info
hlonxln.info
kcmeiln.info
kplrrln.info
fatcatoons.com
91guoys.com
signupforfreehosting.com
faithfirst.net
zjyc28.com
tongchengjinyeyouyue0004.com
nhuan6.com
oldgardensflowers.com
lightupthefloor.com
bahamamamas-stjohns.com
ly2818.com
905onthebay.com
fonemenu.com
notanothermovie.com
ukrainehighclassescort.com
meincmagazine.com
av-5858.com
yallerdawg.com
donkeythemovie.com
corporatehospitalitygroup.com
boboyy88.com
miteinander-lernen.com
dannayconsulting.com
officialtomsshoesoutletstore.com
forsale-amoxil-amoxicillin.net
generictadalafil-canada.net
guitarlessonseastlondon.com
lesliesrestaurants.com
mattyno9.com
nri-homeloans.com
rtgvisas-qatar.com
salbutamolventolinonline.net
sportsinjuries.info
topsedu.xyz
xmxm7.com
x332.xyz
sportstrainingblog.com
autopartspares.com
readguy.net
soniasegreto.com
bobbygdavis.com
wedsna.com
rgkntk.com
bkkmarketplace.com
zxqcwx.com
breakupprogram.com
boxcardc.com
unblockyoutubeindonesia.com
fabulousbookmark.com
beat-the.com
guatemala-sailfishing-vacations-charters.com
magie-marketing.com
kingstonliteracy.com
guitaraffinity.com
eurelookinggoodapparel.com
howtolosecheekfat.net
marioncma.org
oliviadavismusic.com
shantelcampbellrealestate.com
shopleborn13.com
topindiafree.com
v-visitors.net
qazwsxedcokmijn.com
parabis.net
terriesandelin.com
luxuryhomme.com
studyexpanse.com
ronoom.com
djjky.com
053hh.com
originbluei.com
baucishotel.com
33kkn.com
intrinsiqresearch.com
mariaescort-kiev.com
mymaguk.com
sponsored4u.com
crimsonclass.com
bataillenavale.com
searchtile.com
ze-stribrnych-struh.com
zenithalhype.com
modalpkv.com
bouisset-lafforgue.com
useupload.com
37r.net
autoankauf-muenster.com
bantinbongda.net
bilgius.com
brabustermagazine.com
indigrow.org
miicrosofts.net
mysmiletravel.com
selinasims.com
spellcubesapp.com
usa-faction.com
snn01.com
hope-kelley.com
bancodeprofissionais.com
zjccp99.com
liturgycreator.com
weedsmj.com
majorelenco.com
colcollect.com
androidnews-jp.com
hypoallergenicdogsnames.com
dailyupdatez.com
foodphotographyreviews.com
cricutcom-setup.com
chprowebdesign.com
katyrealty-kanepa.com
tasramar.com
bilgipinari.org
four-am.com
indiarepublicday.com
inquick-enbooks.com
iracmpi.com
kakaschoenen.com
lsm99flash.com
nana1255.com
ngen-niagara.com
technwzs.com
virtualonlinecasino1345.com
wallpapertop.net
nova-click.com
abeautifulcrazylife.com
diggmobile.com
denochemexicana.com
eventhalfkg.com
medcon-taiwan.com
life-himawari.com
myriamshomes.com
nightmarevue.com
allstarsru.com
bestofthebuckeyestate.com
bestofthefirststate.com
bestwireless7.com
declarationintermittent.com
findhereall.com
jingyou888.com
lsm99deal.com
lsm99galaxy.com
moozatech.com
nuagh.com
patliyo.com
philomenamagikz.net
rckouba.net
saturnunipessoallda.com
tallahasseefrolics.com
thematurehardcore.net
totalenvironment-inthatquietearth.com
velislavakaymakanova.com
vermontenergetic.com
sizam-design.com
kakakpintar.com
begorgeouslady.com
1800birks4u.com
2wheelstogo.com
6strip4you.com
bigdata-world.net
emailandco.net
gacapal.com
jharpost.com
krishnaastro.com
lsm99credit.com
mascalzonicampani.com
sitemapxml.org
thecityslums.net
topagh.com
flairnetwebdesign.com
bangkaeair.com
beneventocoupon.com
noternet.org
oqtive.com
smilebrightrx.com
decollage-etiquette.com
1millionbestdownloads.com
7658.info
bidbass.com
devlopworldtech.com
digitalmarketingrajkot.com
fluginfo.net
naqlafshk.com
passion-decouverte.com
playsirius.com
spacceleratorintl.com
stikyballs.com
top10way.com
yokidsyogurt.com
zszyhl.com
16firthcrescent.com
abogadolaboralistamd.com
apk2wap.com
aromacremeria.com
banparacard.com
bosmanraws.com
businessproviderblog.com
caltonosa.com
calvaryrevivalchurch.org
chastenedsoulwithabrokenheart.com
cheminotsgardcevennes.com
cooksspot.com
cqxzpt.com
deesywig.com
deltacartoonmaps.com
despixelsetdeshommes.com
duocoracaobrasileiro.com
fareshopbd.com
goodpainspills.com
kobisitecdn.com
makaigoods.com
mgs1454.com
piccadillyresidences.com
radiolaondafresca.com
rubendorf.com
searchengineimprov.com
sellmyhrvahome.com
shugahouseessentials.com
sonihullquad.com
subtractkilos.com
valeriekelmansky.com
vipasdigitalmarketing.com
voolivrerj.com
zeelonggroup.com
1015southrockhill.com
10x10b.com
111-online-casinos.com
191cb.com
3665arpentunitd.com
aitesonics.com
bag-shokunin.com
brightotech.com
communication-digitale-services.com
covoakland.org
dariaprimapack.com
freefortniteaccountss.com
gatebizglobal.com
global1entertainmentnews.com
greatytene.com
hiroshiwakita.com
iktodaypk.com
jahatsakong.com
meadowbrookgolfgroup.com
newsbharati.net
platinumstudiosdesign.com
slotxogamesplay.com
strikestaruk.com
trucosdefortnite.com
ufabetrune.com
weddedtowhitmore.com
12940brycecanyonunitb.com
1311dietrichoaks.com
2monarchtraceunit303.com
601legendhill.com
850elaine.com
adieusolasomade.com
andora-ke.com
bestslotxogames.com
cannagomcallen.com
endlesslyhot.com
iestpjva.com
ouqprint.com
pwmaplefest.com
qtylmr.com
rb88betting.com
buscadogues.com
1007macfm.com
born-wild.com
growthinvests.com
promocode-casino.com
proyectogalgoargentina.com
wbthompson-art.com
whitemountainwheels.com
7thavehvl.com
developmethis.com
funkydogbowties.com
travelodgegrandjunction.com
gao-town.com
globalmarketsuite.com
blogshippo.com
hdbka.com
proboards67.com
outletonline-michaelkors.com
kalkis-research.com
thuthuatit.net
buckcash.com
hollistercanada.com
docterror.com
asadart.com
vmayke.org
erwincomputers.com
dirimart.org
okkii.com
loteriasdecehegin.com
mountanalog.com
healingtaobritain.com
ttxmonitor.com
bamthemes.com
nwordpress.com
11bolabonanza.com
avgo.top