Five Charged in Alleged Russian Intelligence Murder-for-Hire Network Targeting U.S.-Based Dissident

Five defendants charged; all remain at large

NEW YORK — Federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment Tuesday charging five people in what the Justice Department describes as a Russian intelligence network that recruited people to conduct surveillance and targeted killings in the United States and Europe.

The defendants are Yuri Khrameev, 63; his son Kirill Khrameev, 27; Oemis Romagoza Durruthy, 35; Yaidel Delgado Suarez, 35; and Angel Eduardo Castro, 22. DOJ identifies the first two as Russian nationals, Durruthy and Suarez as Cuban nationals and Castro as a Venezuelan national. All five remain at large.

Every defendant is charged with conspiracy to finance terrorism, which carries a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years. Yuri Khrameev, Suarez and Castro also face a murder-for-hire conspiracy count carrying a maximum of 10 years. Maximum penalties are not predictions of any eventual sentence, and no defendant has been convicted.

Prosecutors allege a $40,000 offer to kill a Washington-area dissident

The indictment alleges that Yuri Khrameev, Suarez and Castro recruited a Venezuelan citizen living in Brooklyn to surveil a prominent Russian dissident they believed was in the Washington, D.C., area. Prosecutors do not publicly identify the intended victim.

DOJ says Suarez sent the recruit two locations associated with the dissident, gave instructions for conducting surveillance and promised between $1,000 and $1,500 for photographs and videos. The recruit completed that surveillance, according to the indictment.

Prosecutors allege that Suarez and Castro then offered $40,000 to kill the intended victim. When the recruit declined to commit the killing personally, DOJ says the defendants asked whether someone else could do it and attempted to recruit other U.S.-based people. The FBI says it disrupted the plot; the reviewed sources report no killing in connection with the alleged U.S. scheme.

A separate Lithuania allegation and claimed sabotage activity

The same indictment alleges that Kirill Khrameev recruited a U.S. citizen in 2025 to photograph the home of a Russian dissident in Lithuania. Prosecutors say Yuri Khrameev then offered about $25,000 to kill that person and suggested a knife or gasoline attack. The recruit refused, according to the charging document.

Prosecutors further allege that Yuri Khrameev offered the recruit other work involving arson against warehouses or electrical infrastructure in countries supporting Ukraine. DOJ also accuses Durruthy of coordinating travel and logistics connected to attacks in Prague and Lithuania in 2024.

Those claims describe the government's case, not adjudicated facts. The public indictment does not establish in a completed trial that the five defendants acted under Kremlin direction, that every attributed message is authentic or that each defendant joined every alleged operation.

Russia questions the allegations; no defense response is reported

Reuters reports that Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia would not comment without what he called credible evidence and tangible facts. Russia has previously denied conducting assassination plots abroad.

Because all five defendants remain at large, the reviewed sources report no arraignment, plea or attorney appearance for any of them. The indictment has not been tested through discovery, motions, cross-examination or trial.

The names of the intended victims remain withheld. Readers should not speculate about their identities or circulate addresses associated with the alleged surveillance.

What is confirmed — and what remains alleged

Confirmed by the public record: a federal grand jury returned a two-count indictment in the Southern District of New York; the Justice Department unsealed it September 15; all five defendants are charged in Count One; three are charged in Count Two; and DOJ says all five remain at large.

Still alleged: that the defendants worked for Russian intelligence, financed terrorism, recruited people to commit murder and directed surveillance or attacks. An indictment is a formal accusation. Each defendant is presumed innocent unless prosecutors prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

The case was investigated by the FBI's New York Counterintelligence Division with assistance from the FBI Washington Field Office and Homeland Security Investigations, according to DOJ.

About the image

The accompanying image is an authentic May 2005 photograph of the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building in Washington, D.C. Ed Brown released it into the public domain through Wikimedia Commons.

The photograph provides institutional context only. It does not show any defendant, intended victim, surveillance site, arrest, FBI operation or evidence, and its use does not imply endorsement by the photographer, DOJ or Wikimedia Commons.