Russian intelligence services have been preparing targeted killings in the United States and European countries seen as supporting Ukraine, US federal authorities said, as they announced the disruption of a plot against a prominent Russian dissident believed to be living in Washington, D.C.
Five people allegedly connected to Russian intelligence have been charged over the scheme, according to an indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court. Prosecutors allege that a Russian intelligence-linked network has since at least 2024 recruited and paid individuals in the US and abroad to monitor and ultimately kill Russian dissidents, the Associated Press (AP) reports.
The same network also sought operatives for attacks on civilian and military infrastructure in European countries viewed as aligned with Ukraine, according to the indictment.
James C. Barnacle Jr., head of the FBI's New York office, said the agency disrupted the plans “through relentless work” as Russian intelligence personnel and their associates “conspired to intimidate, threaten, or murder people on U.S. soil and around the world.”
The FBI said the network had previously concentrated on Russian dissidents and defectors before expanding its activities to countries regarded as Ukraine's allies following Russia's 2022 invasion.
In one case, Yuri Khrameev and two other defendants allegedly recruited a Venezuelan national living in Brooklyn to monitor and kill a prominent Russian dissident believed to be in Washington. The recruit carried out surveillance and supplied photographs and videos of locations linked to the intended target before rejecting a $40,000 offer to “eliminate” or “disappear” the person through murder, authorities said.
The indictment said the Russian intelligence operative behind the offer subsequently approached other people in the United States and offered them substantial sums to carry out the killing.
By Jeyhun Aghazada
