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the concerns were dismissed as paranoia, another official said.

Other American officials who raised the list said that when they followed up they were told the Mexican officials never received it, that the list was too vague to act on or that junior officials misplaced it.

Eventually, Gen. Glen VanHerck, the head of U.S. Northern Command, aired the concerns in public testimony to the Senate in March 2022.

“The largest portion of G.R.U. members in the world is in Mexico right now,” said General VanHerck, referring to Russia’s main military intelligence agency. “Those are Russian intelligence personnel, and they keep an eye very closely on their opportunities to have influence on U.S. opportunities and access.”

Mr. López Obrador then brushed the general’s remarks aside.

By late 2022, Washington had grown so concerned over Russia’s spy buildup that Wendy Sherman, then deputy secretary of state, raised the issue with Mexico’s foreign minister, according to several people with knowledge of the meeting. (Ms. Sherman declined to comment.)

Marcelo Ebrard, the foreign minister at the time, tried to wave away the concerns, these people said, saying the Russians on Washington’s list were not “a problem.”

Ms. Sherman replied: “They are a problem. We know, we kicked many of them out of D.C. and now they are here.”