Russia is cleaning house on perceived double agents who could leak information to the FBI on the ongoing election interference case. On the morning of US Election Day, Russian diplomat Sergei Krivov, 63, was found lying unconscious on the floor of the Russian Consulate in New York with a head injury. Initial reports said Mr Krivov fell from the roof and had blunt force injuries, but Russian officials quickly changed their story and said he died from a heart attack.
Ex-KGB chief Oleg Erovinkin, 61, who is believed to have helped the former MI6 spy Christopher Steele compile his dossier on Mr Trump, was found dead in the back of his black Lexus car in Moscow on Boxing Day.
In a world where the Russian government is accused regularly of murdering enemies with exotic poisons, amateur sleuths are quick to surmise, without any proof, that someone may be hitting back. And the singular dearth of information about the dead makes conspiracy theories easy to spin. Were they diplomats or spies? Loyal servants of the Kremlin or traitors? Theories abounds where facts are lacking.
Mother Russia is cleaning house. During Yeltsin’s years, the CIA infiltrated the Russian state like never before. Now anybody who worked for Washington will pay, abroad or at home. Polonium proved too sensational, so drownings and heart-attacks will do for now…