Five indicted in Russian assassination scheme in New York

Five men were indicted in New York for their alleged role in an international assassination plot involving leaders of the Russian Federation intelligence service (RIS), the U.S. Department of Justice said. The five indictments were unsealed in the Southern District of New York allegeding that leaders of the Russian Federation intelligence service (RIS) are surveilling and assassinating people worldwide, including in the U.S., according to DOJ. Everyone indicted are men who remain at large. The conspiracy involves the RIS operating an international assassination network that involves paying and attempting to pay individuals living in the U.S. and elsewhere to conduct pre-operational surveillance and carry out targeted killings, according to the charges. It also involves allegedly commissioning associates to commit and attempt to commit acts of terrorism against civilian and military infrastructure in European countries that are aligned, or perceived to be aligned, with Ukraine. The targets are primarily Russian dissidents and defectors and citizens of countries perceived to be allies of Ukraine. Most recently, the RIS has attempted to recruit multiple individuals in the U.S. to carry out pre-operational surveillance and assassinations in the U.S. as well as terrorist acts overseas, the DOJ alleges. "These defendants allegedly 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," Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg said. "Actions like these represent a gross violation of our sovereignty and a threat to our national security. We will stamp out any foreign intelligence services' attempt to operate freely in our great Nation, and we will not rest until they and their enablers suffer the most severe consequences that federal law can levy." Three of the defendants are high-ranking members of the RIS Network, the DOJ says: Yuri Khrameev, a former colonel in the Russian intelligence services; his son, Kirill Khrameev, an officer in the Federal Security Service of Russia (FSB) and Cuban national Oemis Romagoza Durruthy, an influential member of the Cuban diaspora living in Russia. Two others indicted include, Cuban national Yaidel Delgado Suarez, "a prolific recruiter for the RIS Network;" and Venezuelan national Angel Eduardo Castro, who participated with Suarez in the recruitment of U.S.-based individuals to surveil and attempt to murder a prominent U.S.-based Russian dissident. In one example cited in the indictment, the RIS Network recruited an individual in the U.S. this summer to surveil and murder a prominent Russian dissident. The scheme involved Suarez directing the U.S. resident to go to two locations associated with the victim and conduct surveillance in exchange for between $1,000 and $1,500, according to the charges. After the surveillance was conducted, the individual was offered $40,000 to "eliminate" or "disappear" the victim, which he said he didn't want to do, the DOJ alleges. Suarez said he had "people in Mexico" who could do it. In another example, the RIS Network, including Khrameev, a U.S. citizen, was solicited to surveil and murder an individual located in Lithuania for $25,000 who was "telling lies about Russia," according to DOJ. In another example, Durruthy allegedly coordinated travel and logistics for the network including coordinating an attack in Prague, Czechia, and in Lithuania, according to the charges. He also allegedly worked with Khrameev and oversaw surveillance conducted by a U.S. resident this year, according to the charges. All five men are charged with participating in a conspiracy to finance terrorism, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Yuri Khrameev, Suarez, and Castro are also charged with participating in a conspiracy to commit murder for hire, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. The Counterintelligence Division of the FBI New York Field Office investigated the case, with the assistance of the FBI-Washington, D.C. Field Office and Homeland Security Investigations. The indictments come after the greatest number of Russian foreign nationals were reported illegally entering the country during the Biden administration, The Center Square reported. At the height of the border crisis in 2023, at least 57,000 Russians were reported illegally entering the U.S. excluding gotaways, those who evade capture. In one year alone they totaled more than the number of soldiers in a U.S. Army corps (45,000), according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. Since Biden took office through the end of fiscal 2023, they totaled more than 126,000, The Center Square reported. Several federal agencies have also warned about Russian cyberthreats targeting U.S. "critical infrastructure with disruptive and destructive cyber and physical attacks."