U.S. Justice Department indicts five Russian-linked operatives for alleged murder-for-hire plots
The Department of Justice unsealed an indictment charging five individuals, including two Russian intelligence officers, with conspiracy to finance terrorism and murder-for-hire schemes targeting Russian dissidents and critics abroad.
The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday unsealed a federal indictment in Manhattan charging five suspected Russian intelligence operatives with conspiracy to finance terrorism and, for three of them, murder-for-hire conspiracy. The indictment describes the defendants as part of a network the Justice Department says functions as "one arm of the Russian Federation's apparatus used to carry out external attacks, including murder, around the world."
Identified defendants include former Russian intelligence colonel Yuri Khrameev and his son Kirill Khrameev, a suspected officer in the FSB. The other three accused are Oemis Romagoza Durruthy and Yaidel Delgado Suarez, both Cuban nationals, and Angel Eduardo Castro, a Venezuelan who resides in Russia. All remain at large.
According to the charging document, the network allegedly plotted a series of targeted killings and sabotage operations from 2024 onward. One scheme involved recruiting a Brooklyn-based Venezuelan citizen, referred to in the indictment as "U.S. Resident 1," to surveil a prominent Russian dissident living in the United States. Prosecutors say Castro and Suarez offered $40,000 for the murder and provided detailed instructions on photographing the target's residences.
A separate alleged plot targeted a Kremlin critic in Vilnius, Lithuania. Prosecutors say the American recruited by Kirill Khrameev at the Estonia-Russia border was offered $25,000 to photograph the target’s address and later to commit the killing. When the recruit declined, Khrameev purportedly suggested alternative sabotage, such as setting fire to a warehouse or electrical substation, and wrote, "I am interested in all the countries that are helping Ukraine" and "Serious money for serious work."
The indictment also references coordination of travel and payments for terrorist acts in European locations, including Prague, by the Cuban defendant Durruthy. Attorney General Todd Blanche said the indictment reflects the department’s effort to prevent adversaries from conducting violence on U.S. soil, adding, "It is our job to stop America's adversaries from unleashing violence and terror on American soil."
The charges come amid ongoing accusations from several NATO allies that Russia has conducted sabotage and covert attacks on their territories since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.