The State Department held a top secret congressional briefing Friday on the Russian spy compound in New York as calls to close down the building continue to escalate, The Post has learned.
Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres’ office on Wednesday confirmed the meeting took place but would not provide further details.
In March, Torres called on the FBI to investigate the Cold War-era high-rise in the Bronx that’s home to some of the Kremlin’s most powerful diplomats in light of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
In a new letter sent to the FBI and Attorney General Merrick Garland Tuesday and reviewed by The Post, the first-term Democrat wrote that the FBI “has been missing in action” and called attention to its specific location at 355 West 255th St. in Riverdale.
“The Russian Diplomatic Compound is strategically sited at the highest point in the Bronx, making it both literally and metaphorically a structure of surveillance,” Torres wrote. “The compound is shrouded in secrecy that the FDNY could not access the property when a fire broke out.“
The congressman added: “Given the heightened risk of Russian retaliation against the United States for aiding the Ukrainian struggle for self-rule, the FBI should strongly consider assessing whether the presence … threatens the national security interests of the United States.”
Torres has repeatedly stated that constituents have reached out to his office voicing concern about the 20-story building.
“The time has come for the Bureau to break its silence and reveal the truth about the national security risk posed by the Russian Diplomatic Compound in the Bronx,” Torres wrote.
The classified State Department briefing suggests that the federal government shares some of Torres’ concerns but it’s provided no details on any possible plan of action.
The classified gathering was first reported Wednesday by The Daily Beast.
The FBI said the bureau “cannot discuss whether we are conducting specific investigations.”
The State Department did not return requests for comment.
Torres’ office said that the Office of Foreign Missions within the State Department has “unilateral authority” to close the compound and revoke its diplomatic status. The pol also slammed the FBI for claiming it doesn’t have jurisdiction over the spooks’ skyscraper.
“The Foreign Missions Act specifically mentions the Director of the FBI and contemplates a critical role for the FBI in assessing the national security risks of foreign missions,” Torres wrote in his letter.
Experts have repeatedly stated that it’s an “open secret” that Kremlin spies live in the towering compound.
Rebekah Koffler, a Russian-born former intelligence officer for the Defense Intelligence Agency, told The Post earlier this year that spies at the compound are likely focused on amassing tons of information that might prove useful down the line.
“They view us as threat No. 1,” she 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.”
In March, a local Bronx resident told The Post she went to school there.
“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,” she said, adding that she hasn’t been back in the past decade.
In the immediate outbreak of the now five-month war between Russia and Ukraine, protesters gathered outside the building in the Bronx…
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