US charges five in alleged Russian plot to kill dissidents and recruit saboteurs in Europe

The indictment, unsealed in the Southern District of New York, alleges that the network had operated since at least 2024, tracking Russian dissidents in the United States and Europe and coordinating planned attacks in European countries that support Ukraine.

According to prosecutors, members of the network sought to recruit a person in the United States in the summer of 2026 to surveil and kill a prominent Russian dissident they believed was in the Washington, D.C., area.

One recruit was allegedly offered $40,000 to carry out the killing. After refusing, he was asked whether he knew anyone else who would do it.

Prosecutors also allege that in 2025 the network recruited a person to surveil a target in Lithuania and later offered $25,000 to kill the individual because the target had “said bad things about Russia.”

The network allegedly sought recruits in the United States for attacks on military and civilian infrastructure in European countries supporting Ukraine.

The five defendants include Yuri Khrameev, described by prosecutors as a former colonel in Russian intelligence, and his son Kirill Khrameev, whom the indictment identifies as an officer in Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB.

A third alleged senior member of the network, Oemis Romagoza Durruthy, is a Cuban national living in Russia who prosecutors say helped coordinate attacks. Two other defendants, Yaidel Delgado Suarez and Angel Eduardo Castro, allegedly acted in part as recruiters.

All five have been charged with financing terrorism, an offense carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Three also face murder-for-hire conspiracy charges.

US Attorney General Todd Blanche said the defendants acted at the direction of Russian intelligence services.