Skip to content

Russia accused of ordering assassinations on US soil

newsSep 20, 202631722

The US Department of Justice on Tuesday unsealed indictments in absentia accusing five people allegedly working for Russia’s intelligence services of conspiring to "conduct attacks and murders around the world, including in the United States." The indictment names FSB officer Kirill Khrameev, his father Yuri Khrameev, Cuban nationals Oemis Romagoza Durruthy and Yaidel Delgado Suarez, and Venezuelan Angel Eduardo Castro. The FBI says it recovered encrypted messages in which members of the alleged ring offered $40,000 to surveil and then "eliminate" a prominent Russian dissident in Washington and discussed recruiting US residents or bringing in assassins from Mexico to carry out the "construction". Roman Dobrokhotov, a Russian exile who spoke at a Washington conference this week, was previously named in a London trial as a target of a Russian-hired operative who texted violent options including acid, VX and ricin in plans targeting him in Britain. Exiled dissidents at the Washington Dialogue said the unsealed indictment and recent disclosures mean the longstanding taboo against killings on rival soil may be breaking down, prompting warnings that "nowhere is safe" and changes in how dissidents behave in the US. The DOJ’s public attribution and unsealing of charges signals a more overt counterintelligence posture and could lead to further investigations, warnings to potential targets, and pressure on individuals named to face charges abroad.

Eliot Higgins
@eliothiggins.bsky.social

‘The rules have changed’: has Russia begun to order assassinations on US soil? www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s...

28520d ago
1 source