DOJ charges five individuals in alleged Kremlin-led murder-for-hire plot targeting Russian dissident in Washington
The U.S. Department of Justice unsealed an indictment accusing five people of participating in a Russian-directed network that planned to assassinate a Russian dissident in Washington, D.C., and conduct other violent operations abroad.
The Department of Justice announced Tuesday that five suspects have been charged with conspiracy to finance terrorism and, for three of them, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire. Prosecutors say the alleged scheme was part of a Russian intelligence-run network that sought to eliminate a prominent Russian dissident living in Washington, D.C., and to carry out violent acts against targets in Europe perceived as supportive of Ukraine.
The indictment lists the defendants as Yuri Khrameev, a 63-year-old former Russian intelligence colonel, his 27-year-old son Kirill Khrameev, a Federal Security Service officer, Cuban nationals Oemis Romagoza Durruthy and Yaidel Delgado Suarez, both 35, and Angel Eduardo Castro, a 22-year-old Venezuelan. All are alleged to be at large.
According to the filing, the network recruited a Venezuelan resident of Brooklyn to photograph and film two locations linked to the Washington target, offering $1,000-$1,500 for the surveillance. The same individual was later offered $40,000 to “eliminate” the target, an offer he declined. Prosecutors say the conspirators then sought other persons in the United States who might carry out the killing.
A separate plot described in the indictment involved a dissident believed to be residing in Lithuania. A U.S. citizen was promised $200 for photographing the target’s address and later $25,000 to kill him; when he refused, the scheme allegedly shifted to arson or sabotage of infrastructure.
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said the defendants “operated as part of a global assassination network that reached into the United States, attempting to recruit U.S. citizens and foreigners to carry out killings at the behest of the Kremlin.” New York FBI head James C. Barnacle Jr. added that the agency “disrupted this operation through relentless work and rock-solid partnership.”
The Kremlin has not commented on the allegations, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov stating that without “reasonable evidence… we do not consider it necessary to comment.”