Russia accused of ordering assassinations on US soil
The gist
Federal prosecutors in New York unsealed an indictment against five alleged "RIS Network" members Tuesday.
All five are believed to live in Russia and remain at large.
How it unfolded
- 2024Members of the RIS Network were accused of helping facilitate a pair of failed arson attacks in Europe, including an attempt to set fire to buses in the Czech Republic and a plot against a Lithuanian facility that supplies radio equipment to Ukraine.
- 2025Yuri Khrameev and his son allegedly tried to recruit a US citizen in Lithuania to kill somebody who was ostensibly "telling lies about Russia"; the man was paid $200 for surveillance and allegedly offered $25,000 to kill the person.
- July and August of this yearOne of the murder-for-hire plots took place; the Venezuelan operative and one of the Cuban operatives allegedly recruited a Brooklyn resident to photograph two locations associated with an unnamed Russian dissident, promising $1,000 to $1,500, with another $40,000 offered to "eliminate" or "disappear" the target.