BERLIN — As it moves to transform US relations with Russia, the Trump administration is talking with Moscow about readmitting potentially scores of Russian diplomats into the United States after years of expulsions.
But the goodwill gesture, which would be reciprocated by Russia, could be a kind of Trojan horse, experts and diplomats warn, as the Kremlin is likely to dispatch spies posing as diplomats to restore its diminished espionage capabilities within the United States.
US and Russian officials met in Istanbul last month to discuss returning more diplomats to each other’s countries after years of tit-for-tat expulsions and the shuttering of diplomatic facilities. The midlevel talks, part of a rapid rapprochement between the Kremlin and the White House under President Trump, took place at the US consul’s residence.
Days earlier in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, a US delegation headed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian officials agreed “to ensure that our diplomatic missions can function,’’ as Rubio told reporters.
Both sides say the move could pave the way for a broader peace agreement to end the war in Ukraine.
An agreement to normalize diplomatic operations might also enable the United States to conduct espionage activities of its own: Washington has long placed spies in US embassies and consulates in Russia. But experts say that even if a deal expands both diplomatic contingents in comparable numbers, any Russian spies would enjoy an advantage, working in a more open society.
The renewed access, combined with Trump’s courtship of Russian President Vladimir Putin, could spell opportunity for the Kremlin’s espionage apparatus at a time when Moscow’s operations against the West have grown more brazen, according to intelligence experts and former officials.
The Trump administration has installed several officials sympathetic to Moscow’s worldview, raising questions about whether it will continue to prioritize counterintelligence operations against Russia. And the appointment of political operative Kash Patel and conservative media personality Dan Bongino atop the FBI promises upheaval in the force whose counterintelligence division tracks Russian spies.