US indicts Russian spy network over assassination plots against Garry Kasparov and Ilya Ponomarev

Indictments uncover cross-border assassination network

The United States Department of Justice unsealed charges against five individuals linked to Russian intelligence who allegedly coordinated surveillance and planned assassinations of prominent Russian dissidents abroad. The group, identified in court records as the RIS Network, has operated since at least 2024 to enlist local operatives for sabotage across European nations and surveillance operations in the United States. US prosecutors indicted Yuri Khrameev, a former Russian intelligence colonel, alongside his son Kirill Khrameev, identified as an active FSB officer. The indictment also names Cuban nationals Oemis Romagosa Durrutty and Yaidel Delgado Suarez, as well as Venezuelan national Angel Eduardo Castro. All five suspects reside in Russia and remain at large, facing charges of conspiracy to finance terrorist activities, with three also accused of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire.

Surveillance and bounties in Washington

Among the primary targets in the United States were former world chess champion Garry Kasparov and former State Duma deputy Ilya Ponomarev. During the summer of 2026, American authorities warned Kasparov that he was the target of a Kremlin-backed assassination operation, placing him under specialized security protection for the first time since he moved to New York in 2013. The plot against Ponomarev, who was the sole Russian parliamentarian to vote against the annexation of Crimea in 2014, reached an advanced stage in Washington. Organizers offered between $1,000 and $1,500 for reconnaissance, directing a recruited scout to record at least 30 seconds of video across two properties associated with Ponomarev. The scout was required to show a thumbs-up or OK gesture in the frame to verify recency. Network handlers offered a $40,000 bounty to complete the killing, using code words such as measuring the plot for surveillance and construction for the murder itself. The recruited operative delivered surveillance footage but refused to execute the killing.

Planned operations in Lithuania

The network's target list extended into the European Union, where operatives prepared attacks against Kremlin critics in Lithuania. Investigators identified plans to assault a third dissident in Vilnius using either a knife or petrol to ignite a fire. Ivan Tyutrin, who co-founded the Free Russia Forum alongside Kasparov and lives in Lithuanian exile, had been monitored by the network since 2024, while democratic opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza was also identified among potential targets. The European operations relied on recruited local criminals and saboteurs to execute physical assaults and logistical disruptions in states backing Ukraine.

Decades of security precautions in exile

The assassination plots reflect a heightened willingness by Russian intelligence services to pursue exiled critics on Western territory. Exiled figures have operated under protective routines for years. Kasparov initially hired an eight-person security detail after stepping back from competitive chess in 2005 to enter Russian opposition politics, relying on guards to supply food and sealed water to prevent poisoning. Following escalating threats, he left Russia in 2013, and Moscow later classified him as a foreign agent before adding him to its terrorist and extremist register in 2024. Ponomarev relocated abroad after opposing the Crimean annexation and later coordinated on the ground with Ukrainian territorial defense forces.