The Justice Department has brought charges against five suspected Russian intelligence operatives for allegedly plotting attacks against the Kremlin's perceived enemies around the world, including the murder-for-hire of at least one prominent dissident in the U.S. The indictment, which was unsealed in federal court in Manhattan, says the defendants belong to a network that "is one arm of the Russian Federation's apparatus used to carry out external attacks, including murder, around the world." The network also allegedly conducted operations against civilian and military targets in European allies of Ukraine. Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and the two countries have been locked in a bloody war since then.
Several European allies of Ukraine, including Poland, Germany and Czechia, have accused Russia of conducting sabotage attacks on their soil in recent years. Now, the U.S. is making similar allegations in a criminal indictment against specific, alleged Russian operatives. "It is our job to stop America's adversaries from unleashing violence and terror on American soil," Attorney General Todd Blanche said.
"And that's precisely what we are doing thanks to the work of the FBI and our Justice Department prosecutors." Court papers identify two of the defendants as Yuri Khrameev, a former colonel in the Russian intelligence service, and his son, Kirill Khrameev, who is a suspected officer in Russia's FSB intelligence agency. The other defendants are Oemis Romagoza Durruthy and Yaidel Delgado Suarez, both from Cuba, and Angel Eduardo Castro, who is from Venezuela. Prosecutors say all three men live in Russia.
The five defendants are charged with conspiracy to finance terrorism, while Yuri Khrameev, Suarez and Castro also face one count of murder-for-hire conspiracy. Officials say all of the defendants remain at large. The indictment paints a detailed picture of the defendants' alleged efforts since 2024 to recruit and carry out a series of targeted killings and acts of sabotage on behalf of the Russian government.
One of the alleged plots took place between July and August 2026, when prosecutors say the network recruited a Venezuelan citizen, identified only as U.S. Resident 1, living in Brooklyn to surveil and murder a prominent Russian dissident in the U.S. The dissident is not named in court papers.
Prosecutors say Castro and Suarez used an encrypted messaging app to communicate with U.S. Resident 1, and gave him two addresses to surveil that were associated with the dissident. They also provided detailed instructions on how to take photos and videos of the locations.
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