Five individuals have been charged in connection with alleged plots linked to Russian intelligence involving surveillance, recruitment, and planned killings, according to an indictment unsealed by the United States Department of Justice on Tuesday.
Prosecutors stated that the group operated on behalf of Russian intelligence services to carry out attacks and murders internationally, including within the United States. All five suspects remain at large.
The defendants identified in the case are Russian national Yuri Khrameev, 63, his son Kirill Khrameev, 27, Cubans Oemis Romagoza Durruthy and Yaidel Delgado Suarez, both 35, and 22-year-old Venezuelan Angel Eduardo Castro. While all five face charges of conspiring to finance terrorism, Khrameev, Suarez, and Castro are additionally charged with conspiring to commit murder for hire.
Attorney General Todd Blanche announced at a press conference that the conspiracy included attempts to kill a Russian dissident believed to be residing in the Washington, DC area. Justice Department officials reported that the network recruited several individuals in the US to conduct surveillance on Russian dissidents, targeting them both domestically and in Lithuania.
According to the indictment, one recruit was promised $40,000 to make a US-based target “disappear,” while another was allegedly offered $25,000 the previous year to carry out a killing in Lithuania.
The Russian embassy in the US has not yet commented on the case. Moscow has consistently denied accusations that it orchestrates assassination operations on foreign soil, including within the United States.
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