DOJ indicts five Russian operatives for terrorism financing and murder‑for‑hire plot in United States

The Department of Justice on September 16, 2026 unsealed an indictment charging five Russian intelligence operatives with conspiracy to finance terrorism and a murder‑for‑hire plot targeting a Russian dissident in the United States.

The defendants are Yuri Khrameev, 63, a former colonel in Russian intelligence; his son Kirill Khrameev, 27, an officer in Russia’s Federal Security Service; Oemis Romagoza Durruthy, 35, and Yaidel Delgado Suarez, 35, both Cuban nationals; and Angel Eduardo Castro, 22, a Venezuelan national. All remain at large.

According to the indictment, the network recruited a U.S.-based individual to conduct surveillance of the target, offering between $1,000 and $1,500 for photographs and video of two locations connected to the dissident. After the surveillance was completed, prosecutors say Suarez and Castro offered $40,000 to “eliminate” or “disappear” the target, an offer the recruit declined.

The indictment also details a separate scheme in which Yuri Khrameev allegedly offered roughly $25,000 to a U.S. citizen to kill a Russian critic living in Lithuania after that individual performed preliminary surveillance of the victim’s home.

Attorney General Todd Blanche emphasized the government’s commitment to stopping foreign adversaries from committing violence on American soil, praising the “relentless work” of the FBI and Justice Department prosecutors. FBI officials in New York and Washington, D.C., were credited with disrupting the plots and exposing the broader network that has allegedly coordinated attacks against civilian and military infrastructure in European countries supporting Ukraine.

The five defendants face conspiracy to finance terrorism charges, carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years, and three of them—Yuri Khrameev, Suarez, and Castro—also face conspiracy to commit murder‑for‑hire charges, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

The case marks a rare public allegation of a Russian‑directed murder‑for‑hire scheme on U.S. soil and underscores ongoing concerns about transnational repression and covert operations targeting dissidents abroad.