DOJ Charges Five Alleged Russian Agents in Global Assassination Plot Network
Five alleged Russian intelligence agents face U.S. charges for recruiting a global network to carry out assassinations, including a plot against a dissident on American soil.
Five Alleged Kremlin Agents Indicted for Murder-for-Hire Conspiracy in U.S. and Abroad
The U.S. Department of Justice announced charges Tuesday against five men accused of operating as part of a Kremlin-directed assassination network, france24.com reports. Three of the defendants are alleged former members of Russian intelligence services; all five remain at large.
The group has been active since at least 2024, according to a DOJ statement. Its most recent operation was a plot this summer to murder a "prominent Russian dissident" believed to be living in the United States — a target the department did not name. The scheme collapsed after the man recruited to conduct surveillance on the target declined to carry out the killing, despite being offered $40,000.
"Its members allegedly operated as part of a global assassination network that reached into the United States," Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg said. They attempted to recruit both U.S. citizens and foreign nationals to carry out killings on the Kremlin's orders, Eisenberg added.
The three principal defendants are Yuri Khrameev, 63, a former colonel in the Russian intelligence services; his son Kirill Khrameev, 27; and Oemis Romagoza Durruthy, 35, a Cuban national. The remaining two suspects — Yaidel Delgado Suarez of Cuba and Angel Eduardo Castro of Venezuela — allegedly served as recruiting agents inside the United States.
The summer dissident plot was not the network's only known operation. The previous year, a murder plot against a target in Lithuania — described in the statement as someone "telling lies about Russia" — also fell apart when the recruited operative refused to act. The DOJ statement also identified planned attacks on civilian and military infrastructure in European countries that support Ukraine.
Attorney General Todd Blanche framed the charges in broad terms. "It is our job to stop America's adversaries from unleashing violence and terror on American soil," Blanche said.
Source: NYT US News