U.S. charges five in alleged Russian assassination network

Federal prosecutors accused five people linked to Russian intelligence of operating a global network that sought to kill Kremlin critics, including an alleged plot this summer to murder a Russian dissident believed to be living in the Washington, D.C., area.

An indictment unsealed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court charges former Russian intelligence colonel Yuri Khrameev, 63, his son Kirill Khrameev, two Cuban nationals and one Venezuelan national in what the Justice Department called the “RIS Network.” All five defendants are believed to be living in Russia and remain at large, authorities said.

Prosecutors said the group paid and attempted to pay people in the United States and Europe to conduct surveillance on targets who were later to be killed. The indictment also alleges the network solicited associates to carry out attacks on civilian and military infrastructure in European countries perceived as aligned with Ukraine.

The U.S.-based murder-for-hire plot took place in July and August, according to the indictment. Authorities said the Venezuelan operative and one of the Cuban operatives recruited a Brooklyn resident to photograph and film two locations associated with an unnamed Russian dissident. The recruit was promised $1,000 to $1,500 for the surveillance and later offered $40,000 to “eliminate” or “disappear” the target.

Attorney General Todd Blanche told reporters the operatives believed the dissident lived in the Washington area. The Brooklyn resident was willing to take photos but said he was unwilling to “do the other stuff,” the indictment says. Prosecutors said the recruiters then asked whether he knew anyone else who might be interested.

“Let me know as soon as possible because I have a chain and my boss has questions,” one of the Cuban recruiters wrote, according to the indictment. “I have people in Mexico right now and theyre delayed. I only need a response to know if someone can do the work. It doesn’t have to be today or tomorrow just need to know if the[y] can.”

The indictment also accuses Yuri Khrameev, identified as “Colonel Yuri,” and his son of trying last year to recruit a U.S. citizen in Lithuania to kill someone accused of “telling lies about Russia.” Court papers say the U.S. citizen met the younger Khrameev at the Estonia-Russia border and was paid $200 to photograph the target’s address.

Yuri Khrameev later offered the person $25,000 to kill the target because he was “spreading dirt about my country” and “telling the media and the common people that the Russians are the aggressors,” prosecutors said. When the U.S. citizen refused, Khrameev allegedly suggested he could instead be paid to set fire to a warehouse or electrical substation. He said he was interested in targeting pro-Ukrainian countries and offered “serious money for serious work,” according to the indictment.

Authorities also linked members of the network to two failed arson plots in Europe in 2024: an attempt to burn buses in the Czech Republic and a plot targeting a Lithuanian facility that supplies radio equipment to Ukraine. Lithuanian and Czech officials had previously blamed Russia for those plots, CBS News reported. Prosecutors said one Cuban defendant communicated with associates involved in those incidents and arranged hotels and travel for them.

All five defendants were charged with terrorism finance conspiracy. Yuri Khrameev and the Cuban and Venezuelan operatives tied to the alleged U.S. plot were also charged with murder-for-hire conspiracy. The U.S. citizen and Brooklyn resident allegedly recruited for surveillance were not charged or named.

James Barnacle Jr., head of the FBI’s New York office, said agents disrupted the plans “through relentless work.” Darren Cox, head of the FBI’s Washington office, said authorities moved quickly after identifying the threat to disrupt “Russia’s attempts to conduct violent acts in our nation’s capital and throughout the United States.”

Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg called the alleged plots “a gross violation of our sovereignty and a threat to our national security.” He said the defendants “allegedly operated as part of a global assassination network that reached into the United States, attempting to recruit U.S. citizens and foreigners to carry out killings at the behest of the Kremlin.”

CBS News said it contacted the Russian Embassy in Washington for comment.