Russia-linked spies accused of hiring assassins in deadly plot

Federal prosecutors have unsealed documents accusing five men of working for Russia's intelligence services in a deadly scheme to hire assassins on behalf of Moscow. The plot allegedly targeted a Kremlin critic living in Washington, D.C., according to charges revealed Tuesday. These defendants are said to be part of a vast global network that recruits individuals to carry out terrorist attacks and murders across the world.

All five suspects remain at large as the Justice Department investigates their roles. Three face specific conspiracy charges related to murder-for-hire. The alleged operation reached the nation's capital in late August, when operatives directed a U.S.-based Venezuelan citizen to secretly film locations tied to the critic before offering him $40,000 to kill him. The recruit completed the surveillance but refused to pull the trigger himself.

Prosecutors claim the five defendants belong to or associate with a Russian intelligence-directed network that financed terrorism and coordinated violent operations across multiple countries. One recruiter allegedly walked the operative through every step of the surveillance process. He instructed the man to put his phone in airplane mode, start recording before entering the neighborhood, move slowly past the target's home, and delete messages afterward.

The indictment notes that conspirators used coded language for their violence. They called assassination "construction" and described surveillance as "measuring a plot of land." When the recruit declined the killing job, prosecutors say the network immediately sought other U.S.-based recruits while noting it also had people available in Mexico to do the work.

This case marks one of the most serious publicly alleged Russian intelligence operations targeting an individual inside the United States in recent years. The indictment names five specific individuals as members or associates of what prosecutors call the Russian Intelligence Services Network, or RIS. They include Yuri Khrameev, a former Russian intelligence colonel known as "Colonel Yuri," and his son Kirill Khrameev, an officer in Russia's Federal Security Service. Oemis Romagoza Durruthy, a Cuban national living in Russia, is described by prosecutors as coordinating attacks for the network. The group also includes Yaidel Delgado Suarez, known as "Viking," and Angel Eduardo Castro.

Russia has repeatedly faced accusations from Western governments of targeting political opponents and defectors abroad. Among the highest-profile cases was the 2018 poisoning of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, England. British authorities blamed Russian military intelligence for that attack using the nerve agent Novichok, an allegation Moscow denied.

U.S. officials have long accused Russia of orchestrating killings of Kremlin critics overseas and conducting covert influence operations inside the United States. However, prosecutors say this alleged Washington murder plot represents a rare instance where Russian operatives sought to recruit someone on U.S. soil to carry out an assassination directly. This broader campaign allegedly operated since at least 2024, according to the indictment text which cuts off before detailing further recruitment activities.

A Lithuanian citizen allegedly agreed to spy on another Kremlin critic before reportedly offering roughly $25,000 to take his life. When that recruit backed out, prosecutors claim the criminal network pivoted toward sabotage plots against infrastructure in nations backing Ukraine. These alleged schemes included targeting electrical substations, warehouses, and transportation hubs.

This indictment arrives just as Western governments have issued warnings that Russia has grown its use of covert operations, sabotage, and assassination attempts well beyond the battlefield since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. U.S. prosecutors say the group moved away from hunting Russian dissidents and defectors to strike at countries "aligned, or perceived to be aligned, with Ukraine.