The United States has accused Russian intelligence operatives of orchestrating a murder-for-hire plot targeting a Kremlin critic believed to be residing in Washington, DC. In documents unsealed on September 17, 2026, federal prosecutors allege that the conspiracy is part of a broader global network that recruits individuals to carry out assassinations and terrorist attacks on behalf of Moscow.
Five men have been charged in connection with the incitement, allegedly working for Russia’s intelligence services. They are accused of paying and attempting to pay others in the US and abroad to surveil and kill Russian dissidents. Three of the defendants face conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire charges, and all five remain at large, according to the Justice Department.
Prosecutors state that the alleged operation reached Washington, DC, in late August, when suspected Russian intelligence operatives directed a US-based Venezuelan citizen to secretly film two locations associated with a Kremlin critic. They allegedly offered him $40,000 to carry out the killing. The recruit completed the surveillance but refused to commit the murder, according to the indictment.
The indictment claims that the five defendants were members or associates of a Russian intelligence-directed network that financed terrorism and coordinated violent operations across multiple countries. The recruiter allegedly guided the operative through the surveillance process, instructing him to use airplane mode on his phone, record before entering the neighborhood, slow down as he passed the target’s home, and delete messages afterward.
The conspirators reportedly used coded language, referring to the assassination as “construction” and the surveillance as “measuring a plot of land.” When the recruit declined to carry out the murder, the network sought other US-based recruits and noted it also had “people in Mexico” available for the job.
In addition to the alleged murder plot in Washington, the indictment accuses members of the network of supporting attacks on civilian and military infrastructure in Europe and conducting surveillance of Russian dissidents abroad. This case represents one of the most serious publicly alleged Russian intelligence operations targeting an individual inside the US in recent years.
The indictment names five alleged members of what prosecutors call the Russian Intelligence Services Network (RIS): Yuri Khrameev, a former Russian intelligence colonel; his son Kirill Khrameev, an officer in Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB); Oemis Romagoza Durruthy, a Cuban national living in Russia; Yaidel Delgado Suarez, known as “Viking”; and Angel Eduardo Castro.
Russia has been repeatedly accused by Western governments of targeting political opponents and defectors abroad. High-profile cases include the 2018 poisoning of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, England, with the nerve agent Novichok, which British authorities attributed to Russian military intelligence, a claim Moscow denied.
US officials have also accused Russia of orchestrating killings of Kremlin critics overseas and conducting covert influence and espionage operations within the United States. However, prosecutors indicate that the alleged Washington murder plot is a rare instance where Russian operatives sought to recruit someone on US soil for an assassination.
The alleged plot is said to be part of a broader Russian intelligence campaign that has been active since at least 2024. The same network reportedly recruited a US citizen in Lithuania to surveil another Kremlin critic, offering about $25,000 to kill him. After that recruit refused, the network allegedly shifted to soliciting sabotage attacks against infrastructure in countries supporting Ukraine, including plots targeting electrical substations, warehouses, and transportation hubs.
The indictment comes amid warnings from Western governments that Russia has expanded its use of covert operations, sabotage, and assassination plots beyond the battlefield since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.