U.S. uncovers network that plotted assassinations of Russian ‘dissidents’ in Washington and Vilnius. Among the suspects: an ex-colonel with Putin ties, his FSB officer son, and a Cuban dancer.
U.S. authorities announced the discovery of a criminal network tied to Russian intelligence services, dubbed the RIS Network, that recruited operatives to assassinate Russian opposition figures and carry out sabotage attacks in countries allied with Ukraine. Five people — citizens of Russia, Cuba, and Venezuela — have been charged, the U.S. Justice Department reported.
According to the indictment, RIS Network members have organized attacks and killings in countries around the world, including the United States, since at least 2024. Washington links the group to Russian intelligence services that carry out operations abroad, including killings of Russian “dissidents” and defectors, and, more recently, sabotage attacks in countries Russia considers allies of Ukraine.
The defendants include:
- Yuri Khrameev, 63, a Russian national known as “Colonel Yuri,” a retired colonel in Russia’s security services who has boasted of working alongside Putin in his youth
- his son, Kirill Khrameev, 27, an officer with Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB)
- Oemis Romagoza Durruthy, 35, a Cuban national described as an “an influential member of the Cuban diaspora living in Russia”
- Yaidel Delgado Suarez, 35, another Cuban national also known as “Viking,” who lives in Russia
- Angel Eduardo Castro, 22, a Venezuelan national living in Russia.
The indictment says Durruthy handled logistics and coordinated the network’s attacks, including operations in Lithuania and the Czech Republic, while Suarez and Castro recruited operatives to surveil and kill an unnamed Russian “dissident” living in the United States.
All five face charges of conspiracy to finance terrorism, which carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. Yuri Khrameev, Suarez, and Castro are also charged with conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. None of them has been detained.
Investigators say the group tried to organize two assassination attempts targeting opposition figures in the U.S. and Lithuania
The first case involves a “a prominent Russian dissident” living in the Washington, D.C., area whose name has not been disclosed. In the summer of 2026, recruiters enlisted a Venezuelan citizen living in the United States to surveil him; he supplied several photographs and videos of locations connected to the opposition figure. Recruiters then offered him $40,000 to carry out the killing.
Investigative journalist Christo Grozev said this marks the first fully documented assassination attempt organized by Russian intelligence on U.S. soil. ”[T]here’s always been an unwritten rule to not conduct assassinations on each other’s territory. Clearly the old rules don’t apply.,” he added.
The second case centers on an attempt to assassinate an unnamed critic of the Russian government living near Vilnius. In 2025, a U.S. citizen living in Lithuania was hired to surveil the opposition figure. Yuri and Kirill Khrameev contacted him, claiming the target was “spreading dirt” about Russia and “distorting history.” The indictment says the younger Khrameev recruited the prospective agent while his father negotiated the assignment and payment. The agent was ultimately paid $200 for surveillance, then offered about $25,000 to kill the opposition figure.
The elder Khrameev discussed specific methods of attack with the American, suggesting, among other things, “throwing a bottle of gasoline” or “sticking a knife” in him. The U.S. citizen ultimately refused to carry out the killing, and Khrameev then suggested he instead carry out sabotage attacks against countries helping Ukraine.
The indictment states that the group recruited others for sabotage as well.
Journalists at the German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle found that Durruthy organized a series of arson attacks across four European Union countries using “disposable agents.” Most of the operatives he recruited online were from Spanish-speaking countries, and the investigation discovered that some were tricked into taking part in the sabotage.
According to DW, Durruthy instructed agents in 2024 to set fire to construction material warehouses in Poland, a bus depot in the Czech Republic, a waste processing plant in Romania, and Lithuanian-made equipment intended for Ukraine. Lithuanian authorities subsequently put Durruthy on an international wanted list.
The DW investigation also determined that Durruthy has lived in Russia for at least seven years, teaching Latin American dance in Petrozavodsk. In 2022, he married a Russian woman and subsequently obtained a Russian passport. DW was unable to establish when or under what circumstances he began cooperating with Russian security services, though one theory holds that he had run into financial trouble.
The Kremlin declined to comment on the accusations from the U.S. Justice Department, stating it had “not heard or seen any coherent evidence or argumentation based on anything tangible.”
What Yuri Khrameev is known for
Yuri Khrameev
Agentstvo
Anti-corruption expert Ilya Shumanov and the outlet Agentstvo studied Yuri Khrameev’s old interviews and leaked data to piece together details of the colonel’s biography. Here’s what they found:
- Khrameev was born in the Tambov region. He graduated from the Novosibirsk Higher Military Command School in 1986 and served 10 years in special units of the Internal Troops, including deployments to various “hot spots.”
- He has been described as the first commander of the Northwestern OMON (riot police) unit and head of a combined police detachment from the St. Petersburg Internal Affairs Directorate in Chechnya. The human rights group Memorial reported that in January 2001, security officers under Khrameev’s command detained Shamil Shaipov, a resident of the village of Goyty, who was later found dead.
- In interviews from the early 2000s, he complained about theft by his superiors and described awards he had received, including some presented to him personally by the president.
- Khrameev himself was removed from his post as deputy commander of the OMON in 1994 in connection with a fraud case, but continued serving in the internal affairs agencies until at least 2017. Until 2011, he was deputy battalion commander at the St. Petersburg and Leningrad region Internal Affairs Directorate.
- From September 2023 to June 2025, Khrameev worked as general director of the private security firm “Tornado.” That same year, the retired colonel said he “visits the SVO once a month.” In May 2026, he met with students at School No. 1 in Pikalyovo, in the Leningrad region, billed as “a participant in every local conflict from 1986 to the present.”
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SVO
“Special military operation” is the term Russian authorities use for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.