A high-rise in New York is called the headquarters of Russian spies: why and what happens in it

A sinister Cold War era reigns in the Bronx, home to some of Russia's most powerful diplomats and dangerous spies who are determined to blend in with their urban neighbors. New York Post.

In a 20-story encrypted complex at 355 W. 255th St. Dozens of Russian officials live in Riverdale. Some of them, according to experts, work in the United States as intelligence officers: they collect information and establish key connections for the Kremlin.

About 40 young students of the local Jewish school On March 1, they protested in front of the gates of the building holding up banners with the inscription: "We pray for peace in Ukraine».

"We want peace!" shouted pro-Ukrainian activists as cars drove by. They honked, and some of the passengers held their fists in support.

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Retired FBI Special Agent Robin Drick said on March 1 that some local residents are agents of either the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service or military intelligence.

"A secret exposed is a good way to put it," Drik, a former head of the counterintelligence bureau's behavioral analysis program, said of the group's presence.

Their children do not speak English

The barista, who works at the Earlybird coffee shop next to the high-rise building, went to a private school that occupies the first few floors of the building. She described its inhabitants as an aloof community hiding in plain sight. At that time, her father was a UN diplomat in Azerbaijan.

“A lot of them usually walk around here or come here to shop,” said the 23-year-old barista, who preferred not to be named. “They keep to themselves. They take their order and nothing else. Since Sunday, the number of people has decreased. The street is a bit empty."

The March 1 police car was placed at both the front and rear gates of the complex.

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

“The first four or five floors were a school. They had an auditorium, a dining room for children. There are also people who work or live there,” the worker said, adding that she had not returned there for the past ten years.

“Children, they keep on their own. They don't mix with the community,” the barista explained of the current residents' children. “Most of them don't speak English.”

Riverdale is not their home

Alexander Manikhin, 41, a Riverdale resident with a Russian father and Ukrainian mother, yelled at a woman picking up her child from a high-rise school: “Go back to your country! Come back to Russia!"

“They should not stay here because [Russia] is an aggressive country not only for Ukraine, not only for Europe. This is aggression against all democratic countries,” said Manikhin, who was born in Kazakhstanbut lived in Lvov, Ukraine.

Manihin said he came to the complex to send a message to those who live there that Riverdale is "not their home."

“I know they live here,” he assured. - In this area they feel very comfortable, you know, this is a good area. Very comfortable, very quiet and they think it's their home or something. No, they shouldn't feel like that."

Rebecca Koffler, a Russian-born former defense intelligence officer, said stationing agents around the world under diplomatic cover is “standard procedure” for most countries, including the US.

According to Koffler, author of the recent book Putin's Handbook, spies are focused on gathering as much information as they can, with the idea that it might someday provide actionable insights.

“They collect information regardless of what the Russians and Chinese do, because that is how they do business,” she said.

“They view us as threat #1,” Koffler added. “And sooner or later, they believe that the information will be useful, whether for wartime or peacetime, when they want to undermine and somehow cause some kind of disruption.” .

Drik said that Russian spies in Riverdale are watching "everything". The building has been referred to as a "plex" by some law enforcement officials.

Dreek said he spent several hours at the Riverdale complex between 1997 and 2005. Then he was part of the Russian military intelligence unit of the FBI. He also tried to recruit Russian spies in an attempt to neutralize them.

Symmetric and asymmetric threats

He said that there are two types of intelligence officers. The first category covers those who work in the representation to the United Nations under the guise of "diplomats".

“This is what we called the “symmetrical threat.” We know they are here. They are diplomats under diplomatic cover, so they actually have all the privileges of a diplomat. So when they are caught spying against our country, you can't throw them in jail because they are diplomats,” Drik explained, adding, “No one likes that. But that's a fact of life."

In addition, there are people in the US under deeper cover working under "false pretenses, false identities" and posing an "asymmetric threat."

According to Drik, some of the diplomats in the plex are not intelligence officers. But there are others who “do diplomatic work, probably one or two hours a day. And they spend the rest of the day gathering intelligence,” which they send back to Moscow.

The man has no idea that he became the target of Russian intelligence

According to Koffler, the moral character of Russian spies is to try to establish relationships with people the Kremlin believes could be potentially useful sources of information, such as government officials.

“It's not like they're trying to steal your wallet or purse and get your information that way,” Koffler said. "It's called targeting - they define, 'OK, we need a list, we need someone in the department' or 'We need someone in the United Nations'... and they do their homework and they study."

“Where does this or that person hang out? For example, do they play golf? Once they determine who exactly they need, what kind of access, they find out the behavior patterns of this person: they will appear, for example, on the tennis court if you play tennis. And they will strike up a conversation, even try to be your friend. And you have no idea that you have been a target for a long time, because it all looks so harmless and random, ”she explained.

Drick estimates that up to 98 percent of the information agents gather is "benign" while the rest is classified, meaning "it's personal [information] that does more damage."

Barista said that a significant part of the Russian population lives in the area, and believes that "most of them are against the war."

On February 27, she stated that she saw a small demonstration in the area, where about 100 people carried signs, many in Hebrew, and Ukrainian flags. She also said that a rabbi used to pray there.