DOJ claims Russian network offered $40,000 for a hit on a dissident in America

The Justice Department has unsealed an indictment against a Russian intelligence network accused of operating on American soil, per Reuters. Prosecutors allege the group recruited people in the United States and Europe to surveil and murder Kremlin critics while plotting attacks on infrastructure. Five people face federal charges, though all five remain at large and none have been convicted.

The most serious allegation involves a plot this summer against a prominent Russian dissident believed to live near Washington, D.C. The indictment says the Russian intelligence network promised a Brooklyn resident up to $1,500 to surveil two locations tied to the dissident. After receiving photographs and videos, the handlers allegedly offered the recruit $40,000 to “eliminate” or “disappear” the target.

Prosecutors identify the target only as Victim-1. Cuban national Yaidel Delgado Suarez and Venezuelan national Angel Eduardo Castro allegedly made the offer. However, the recruit declined to carry out the killing himself, and Suarez responded by asking whether he knew anyone who could. Suarez also said he had people in Mexico who could handle it, though they were delayed.

A former Russian colonel allegedly pitched a nearly identical job in Lithuania a year earlier

The indictment also describes an earlier recruitment effort that began near the Estonia-Russia border last year. According to prosecutors, an American living in Lithuania met there with Kirill Khrameev, whom they identify as an officer in Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB. Kirill is the son of Yuri Khrameev, a former Russian intelligence colonel.

Kirill Khrameev allegedly promised the man $200 to photograph a target’s address in Vilnius before introducing him to his father. The indictment says Yuri Khrameev then offered $25,000 to kill the target, accusing him of spreading dirt about Russia and distorting history. When the recruit declined, the offer shifted to sabotage, including setting fire to a warehouse or attacking an electrical substation.

According to the indictment, the elder Khrameev told the recruit the goal was to hit every country helping Ukraine and promised to pay well for the work. Prosecutors also allege that Oemis Romagoza Durruthy, a Cuban national living in Russia, coordinated attacks in Prague and Lithuania.

Prosecutors describe the two Khrameevs and Durruthy as high-ranking members of the Russian intelligence network. However, much of the legwork fell to outsiders. Prosecutors say Suarez recruited or tried to recruit multiple people in the United States, offering them substantial sums to target Victim-1 and other potential victims inside the country.

All five defendants are charged with conspiracy to finance terrorism, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Yuri Khrameev, Suarez, and Castro also face a murder-for-hire conspiracy charge carrying up to 10 years. However, bringing any of them to trial could prove difficult, as all five are believed to be living abroad.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov brushed off the charges, as he told reporters Moscow saw no need to comment without credible evidence based on tangible facts. Russia has rejected similar accusations before, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s claim that Russia fed Iran satellite intel ahead of a strike on a U.S. air base.

If any of the five defendants are taken into custody, they would face the charges in Manhattan federal court, where the Southern District of New York is prosecuting the case.