US indicts members of Russian spy cell for plotting assassinations on US, European soil

THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT of Justice unsealed last week charges against members of an alleged Russian intelligence network that planned a series of targeted assassinations in the United States and Europe. According to the indictment, the accused are part of a broad effort by the Russian state that amounts to a “global assassination network”—termed “intelligence services of the Russian Federation”, or “RIS”, network.

Three of the accused are believed to be senior members of the RIS network. They are: Yuri Khrameev, 63; his biological son, Kirill Khrameev, 27; and Oemis Romagoza Durruthy, 35. The elder Khrameev is a retired intelligence officer who claims to have reached the rank of colonel and has stated at least once that he worked alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin in the past. The younger Khrameev is believed to hold a mid-level rank in Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB). The indictment describes Durruthy as a well-known member of the Cuban expatriate community in Russia, who has operated internationally as a member of the RIS network.

The fourth suspect is named as Yaidel Delgado Suarez (known as “the Viking”), who, like Durruthy, is a Cuban expatriate living in Russia. The remaining suspect is named as Angel Eduardo Castro, a 22-year-old Venezuelan. Notably all five suspects remain at large and are believed to reside in Russia. The Khrameevs and Durruthy are Russian citizens. Durruthy is also a Cuban national, as is Suarez—the latter’s status described in the indictment as that of “a Cuban national living in Russia”. Castro is referred to as a “Venezuelan national living in Russia”. It is therefore not known whether Suarez and Castro also hold Russian citizenship—though they most likely do.

According to the indictment, in the summer of 2026 Suarez and Castro recruited a Venezuelan citizen who was living in the New York area. The unnamed Venezuelan, who is referred to in the indictment as “Resident 1”, agreed to engage in reconnaissance activity in the vicinity of a house where the RIS network believed an exiled Russian dissident resided. In exchange for his services, “Resident 1” was promised between $1,000 and $1,500. The recruit was also offered $40,000 in exchange for assassinating the RIS network’s target, but appears to have declined the offer.

The same network also tried to recruit an American citizen living in Vilnius, Lithuania, to assassinate a Russian expatriate living there, who, according to one RIS network member, was “telling lies about Russia”. The American citizen held a meeting with the younger Khrameev “at the Estonia-Russia border”, according to the indictment—which likely means on the Estonian side of the border. The American recruit was paid $200 to carry out surveillance against the target and was eventually offered $25,000 to carry out the assassination. When he declined the offer, the recruit was offered a smaller amount in exchange for burning down an electrical substation or a warehouse located on Lithuanian soil.

The existence of a dedicated Russian intelligence-led sabotage and assassination network has been verified in the open-source domain since at least 2019. However, these appear to be the first indictments of named individuals for attempting to carry out an assassination on American—rather than European—soil.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 21 September 2026 | Permalink