Russian Intelligence Network Accused of Financing Terror, Murder Plots On US Soil

• Five alleged members of a Russian intelligence-linked network have been charged in the United States with conspiring to finance terrorism and arrange murder-for-hire attacks, exposing an alleged cross-border funding and recruitment operation targeting dissidents and infrastructure.

The US Department of Justice said five individuals allegedly working for Russian intelligence services recruited people in the United States and elsewhere to conduct surveillance, killings and attacks against targets viewed as opponents of Russia. The indictment was unsealed on September 15, 2026.

The defendants are Yuri Khrameev, his son Kirill Khrameev, Oemis Romagoza Durruthy, Yaidel Delgado Suarez and Angel Eduardo Castro. All remain at large, according to the Justice Department.

Prosecutors allege the network offered money to US-based recruits for surveillance and planned killings. In one alleged operation, a US resident was paid between $1,000 and $1,500 to conduct surveillance of a prominent Russian dissident, before being offered $40,000 to carry out the killing or find someone who could do it.

The indictment also alleges the network recruited a US citizen to surveil a target in Lithuania and offered approximately $25,000 for the killing. When the recruit declined, prosecutors said he was offered money to attack warehouses or electrical substations in countries supporting Ukraine.

US prosecutors further allege that network members coordinated attacks in the Czech Republic and Lithuania, including travel, logistics and identification of potential targets.

All five defendants face a charge of conspiracy to finance terrorism, carrying a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Three also face a conspiracy-to-commit-murder-for-hire charge carrying a maximum of 10 years.

For financial-crime investigators, the case highlights how relatively small payments, recruitment networks and cross-border logistics can form part of a wider terrorism-financing structure.

The charges are allegations, and all defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.