Camilla Jessen
Known as “The Baron” to the CIA, Russian spy chief has stepped out of the shadows to lead high-stakes negotiations with the U.S.
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For decades, Colonel General Sergei Beseda has operated far from the public eye, quietly orchestrating some of the Kremlin’s most sensitive missions.
Now, he has become the face of Russia’s diplomatic push in U.S.-Russia negotiations over the war in Ukraine.
Nicknamed “The Baron” by the CIA, Beseda appeared last month at the Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh, where American and Russian officials were discussing a possible ceasefire.
As the talks wrapped up, the seasoned spy briefly stepped in front of reporters—an unusual moment for a man rarely photographed, and even more rarely named.
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According to The Wall Street Journal, his presence at the negotiating table shows how Vladimir Putin’s intelligence agencies have begun to replace the Russian Foreign Ministry in managing key international affairs—something Cold War veterans say even the USSR avoided.
From Havana to Kyiv
Beseda’s career spans decades and continents.
Known for his tailored suits, cigars, and charm—trademarks picked up during his time in Havana—Beseda has long been involved in operations tied to Russian influence abroad.
He was one of the key figures coordinating the 2014 crackdown on pro-Western protesters in Kyiv, a fact that has made him a deeply reviled figure in Ukraine.
He has done a lot of harm to Ukraine,” said Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s military intelligence. “He is the most dangerous Russian.
Beseda’s office in the FSB has played a pivotal role in gathering intelligence, shaping invasion plans, and allegedly using polling data to build the Kremlin’s case for war.
Despite rumors in 2022 that Putin had sidelined or even imprisoned him for faulty intelligence about Ukraine’s resistance, Beseda resurfaced—smiling—at a later round of talks in Moscow, joking to American diplomats:
The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.
Negotiator, Spy, Enforcer
His involvement in U.S.-Russia prisoner swaps is already well-documented.
Beseda was a central figure in what became the largest exchange of prisoners in the history of the two countries, though U.S. officials warned at the time that even mentioning his name could derail the fragile process.
“I’m from the FSB. I can find out everything,” he once quipped during a tense negotiation session in 2021, before walking out mid-meeting.
Experts believe Beseda’s new role is meant to send a clear signal: Putin is not backing down on his ambitions for Ukraine, and the Kremlin is now treating diplomacy as a matter of intelligence, not statecraft.
His presence at the table is as much a message as it is a negotiation,” said one Western official involved in the talks. “It tells Kyiv and the West that this is no longer about compromise—it’s about control.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made that point clear in a recent interview with CBS, saying, “When confronting aggression, there is no room for neutrality—there is a clear aggressor and a clear victim.”