Department of Justice Charges Russian Intelligence Network With Recruiting Foreigners to Kill on U.S. Soil

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York unsealed an indictment on September 15 charging five people with running a Russian intelligence network that recruited foreigners - including people inside the United States - to surveil and kill targets on American and European soil, according to the Department of Justice. All five defendants, who prosecutors say worked for Russia's intelligence services, remain at large; the charges are accusations only, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

Five Defendants

Prosecutors named three defendants as senior figures in what the indictment calls the "RIS Network": Yuri Khrameev, 63, a former Russian intelligence colonel who goes by "Colonel Yuri" and who prosecutors say recruited multiple people to target perceived Russian dissidents; his son, Kirill Khrameev, 27, an officer with Russia's FSB; and Oemis Romagoza Durruthy, 35, a Cuban national - the "influential member of the Cuban diaspora living in Russia" that took part in organizing sabotage in Europe. Two more defendants are also charged: Yaidel Delgado Suarez, 35, a Cuban national who goes by "Viking" and whom prosecutors describe as a prolific recruiter for the network, and Angel Eduardo Castro, 22, a Venezuelan national who worked with Suarez.

A Recruiter Tied to Our Reporting

Romagoza is the same person this site profiled after a DW investigation identified him as "Dios," the Latin dance instructor in Petrozavodsk, Russia who recruited disposable agents to firebomb targets in Poland, Czechia, Romania, and Lithuania on behalf of Russia's GRU. The DOJ indictment goes further, alleging Romagoza personally coordinated attacks for the broader RIS Network: prosecutors say he arranged an attack in Prague in June 2024 by sending a participant potential attack sites and arranging their travel, and coordinated another attack in Lithuania in September 2024 - the same Šiauliai sabotage plot against Ukraine-aid supplier TVC Solutions that Lithuanian prosecutors formally charged six people over in January 2026. Prosecutors also allege that in November 2025, Romagoza obtained photos or video of a dwelling belonging to a prominent U.S.-based Russian dissident, which a U.S.-based recruit later surveilled in person this year.

Plots in the U.S. and Lithuania

According to the indictment, the network this summer recruited a person living in the United States to surveil and murder a Russian dissident it believed was living in the country. Suarez allegedly sent the recruit two locations to surveil, gave him detailed surveillance instructions, and paid him $1,000 to $1,500 for the work; when the recruit balked at committing the murder himself, Suarez and Castro offered him $40,000 to "eliminate" the target and asked if he knew "someone [who] can do the work," while Suarez separately claimed to have "people in Mexico" who could carry it out instead.

Prosecutors say a similar plot unfolded last year in Lithuania. Kirill Khrameev recruited a U.S. citizen to photograph the purported address of a target the network described as a "bad guy" who was "telling lies about Russia," paying him $200 for the images. Kirill then introduced the recruit to his father, Yuri Khrameev, who is alleged to have offered about $25,000 to kill the target, describing him as someone "spreading dirt about my country" and suggesting he be killed by "throwing a bottle of gasoline" or "sticking a knife" in him. When the recruit declined, Yuri Khrameev allegedly offered a "simpler job" instead - setting fire to a warehouse or "throw[ing] a bottle of gasoline at an electrical substation" - telling him the goal was to target "all the countries that are helping Ukraine" and that he was offering "serious money for serious work." Prosecutors say Yuri Khrameev confirmed on the recorded exchange that he was a "colonel of Russian intelligence agencies."

The Charges

All five defendants are charged with conspiracy to finance terrorism, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years; Yuri Khrameev, Suarez, and Castro are additionally charged with conspiracy to commit murder for hire, which carries a maximum of 10 years. U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel both said the case reflects Russian intelligence services' attempts to conduct violence on U.S. soil, and officials said the investigation involved multiple FBI field offices along with Homeland Security Investigations and the Justice Department's National Security Division.