Five Russian agents plotting assassinations and terrorist attacks have been exposed in US
U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche announced that charges have been filed against five members of a Russian intelligence network. They recruited operatives to carry out terrorist attacks in European countries and planned the assassination of a Russian dissident in the United States.
ABC News reports on this, according to Censor.NET.
Details
The network of individuals named in the indictment is described as "working for the intelligence services of the Russian Federation" (the "RIS" network).
Since 2024, they have been tracking and surveilling Russian dissidents living in the U.S. and Europe, as well as coordinating terrorist attacks on military and civilian infrastructure in European countries that support Ukraine.
The indictment names three alleged "high-ranking" members of the network, as well as two alleged recruiters. According to the charges, the network also allegedly attempted to recruit people in the United States to carry out terrorist attacks in Europe.
Who are we talking about?
According to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice, the defendants include 63-year-old Yuri Khramyev, a former colonel in the Russian intelligence services, and his 27-year-old son, Kirill Khramyev, an FSB officer. The group also included 35-year-old Cuban citizen Oemis Romagosa Durruti, who resides in Russia.
Two other defendants—35-year-old Cuban national Yidel Delgado Suárez and 22-year-old Venezuelan national Ángel Eduardo Castro—served as recruiters for the RIS network.
"According to the investigation, these defendants operated as part of a global network of contract killers that extended to the United States, attempting to recruit U.S. citizens and foreign nationals to carry out assassinations on the Kremlin’s orders," said John Eisenberg, Assistant Attorney General for National Security.
Organizing murders
Case Study 1
In the summer of 2026, Russian agents recruited a U.S. resident to surveil and orchestrate the assassination of a well-known Russian dissident. He was promised between $1,000 and $1,500 for the surveillance, and $40,000 for the assassination.
The man refused to carry out the murder himself, after which his handlers asked him if he could find other people to do it.
Case Study 2
There was also another assassination attempt. Last year, the RIS network recruited a U.S. citizen to kill a person who was in Lithuania. They described him as a "bad guy" who "spreads lies about Russia."
First, Kirill Khrameev recruited a U.S. citizen to go to the victim’s presumed address and take a photo. After the man agreed and carried out the task in exchange for a promised payment of $200, Kirill Khramyev introduced him to a man he referred to as his "boss" and "colonel"—who turned out to be Yuri Khramyev.
"Yuri Khrameev offered a U.S. citizen approximately $25,000 to 'kill him' (referring to the aforementioned potential victim. — Ed.). Yuri Khrameev also told the U.S. citizen that they wanted the victim dead because he "spreads slander about my country" and "distorts history."
After that, Yuri Khrameev sent U.S. Citizen-1 a photograph of the victim and explained that he could be killed by "throwing a bottle of gasoline" at him or "stabbing him with a knife."
After U.S. Citizen-1 refused to carry out the murder, Yuri Khrameev offered him a "simpler job," which could have involved "setting fire to a warehouse containing goods or food" or "throwing a bottle of gasoline at an electrical substation," according to the report.
Yuri Khrameev made it clear that the goal is to launch attacks against "all countries that are helping Ukraine," and that he is offering "serious money for serious work." Ultimately, Yuri Khrameev confirmed that he is a "colonel in the Russian intelligence services."
The investigation also established that in June 2024, Durruti, a Cuban national, coordinated preparations for an attack in Prague, and in September of that same year, a terrorist attack in Lithuania.
Russian agents are accused of conspiracy to finance terrorism (which carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison), and three of them are accused of conspiracy to commit contract murder (up to 10 years in prison).
