U.S. Charges Five in Russian-Linked Assassination Network

U.S. authorities have charged five individuals with operating a transnational assassination network directed by Russian intelligence services. The group, labeled the RIS Network, allegedly plotted killings of Russian opposition figures in the United States and Lithuania and sabotage in countries allied with Ukraine.

The defendants include retired Russian colonel Yuri Khrameev, his son Kirill Khrameev, an FSB officer, two Cuban nationals, and a Venezuelan national. All five remain at large and face conspiracy to finance terrorism charges carrying up to 20 years in prison.

“These defendants allegedly operated as part of a global murder-for-hire network with reach into the United States, attempting to recruit U.S. and foreign citizens to commit homicides at the direction of the Kremlin.”

Prosecutors say the network has been active since at least 2024. An unnamed Russian dissident in the Washington, D.C. area was targeted in summer 2026, while operatives were also recruited to surveil and kill a dissident in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Cuban national Oemis Romagoza Durruthy allegedly coordinated logistics for attacks in Lithuania and the Czech Republic. The other Cuban and the Venezuelan defendants are accused of recruiting operatives inside the United States.

Acting Assistant Attorney General John Eisenberg stated the defendants operated as a global murder-for-hire network on behalf of the Kremlin. FBI Deputy Director James Barnacle said the group conspired to intimidate or assassinate people on U.S. soil.