The US Department of Justice has charged five people accused of working with Russian intelligence services to organise attacks and planned killings in the United States and Europe.
The charges, unsealed on Tuesday, allege that members of the Russian Intelligence Services Network paid or attempted to pay people to surveil and target individuals seen as aligned with Ukraine. The defendants remain at large. US authorities have not said whether they are currently in the United States or elsewhere.
Attorney General Todd Blanche said the US was committed to preventing foreign intelligence services from directing violence on American soil. The five defendants face a charge of conspiring to finance terrorism, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Three of those charged are described by the Justice Department as senior members of the network. They include Yuri Khrameev, a former Russian intelligence colonel; his son Kirill Khrameev, an FSB officer; and Oemis Romagoza Durruthy, a Cuban national living in Russia.
The other defendants are Yaidel Delgado Suarez of Cuba, and Angel Eduardo Castro of Venezuela. Suarez and Castro are accused of recruiting people in the US to surveil and attempt to kill a prominent Russian dissident.
Prosecutors allege that one US-based recruit was offered about $25,000 to kill a target described as being hostile to Russia. After the recruit refused, investigators say the network continued seeking others willing to carry out attacks.
Similar Dealings in Europe
The Justice Department also alleges that the network organised operations in European countries, including Lithuania and the Czech Republic. In one alleged case, Kirill Khrameev recruited a US citizen to surveil a person in Lithuania who was accused of spreading false information about Russia.
Khrameev, Suarez and Castro face an additional charge of conspiracy to commit murder for hire, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow would not comment until it saw credible evidence or tangible facts.