Prosecutors have charged five individuals in connection with alleged plots linked to Russian intelligence services involving surveillance, recruitment, and planned killings. An indictment unsealed by the United States Department of Justice details that the group operated on behalf of Russian intelligence to execute attacks and murders internationally, including within the United States. All five individuals remain at large.
The defendants include Russian national Yuri Khrameev, 63, his son Kirill Khrameev, 27, and Cubans Oemis Romagoza Durruthy and Yaidel Delgado Suarez, both 35, along with 22-year-old Venezuelan Angel Eduardo Castro. All five face charges of conspiring to finance terrorism, while Khrameev, Suarez, and Castro also face additional charges of conspiring to commit murder for hire.
During a news conference, Attorney General Todd Blanche stated that the alleged plots included attempts to kill a Russian dissident believed to be residing in the Washington, DC area. Justice Department officials indicated that the network had recruited individuals in the US to conduct surveillance on Russian dissidents, targeting individuals both domestically and in Lithuania. In one reported instance, a recruit was allegedly promised $40,000 to make a US-based target 'disappear', while another recruit was offered $25,000 the previous year to kill someone in Lithuania.
Russia's embassy in the US has not commented on the case, and Moscow has consistently denied accusations of orchestrating assassination operations on foreign soil, including in the US.