Key facts
- Russian intelligence services are plotting targeted killings in the US and Europe.
Russian intelligence services are allegedly plotting targeted killings and acts of terrorism in the United States and European nations supporting Ukraine, federal authorities announced Tuesday. An indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court details a network of operatives who paid or attempted to pay individuals to surveil and murder targets.
The alleged plot highlights ongoing efforts by Russian intelligence services to conduct extraterritorial operations, including assassinations and acts of terrorism, against individuals and entities perceived as hostile to Russian interests, posing a direct security threat to the US and its allies.
Russian intelligence services are allegedly plotting to carry out targeted killings and acts of terrorism in the United States and European nations that support Ukraine, federal authorities announced Tuesday. An indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court detailed a network of operatives who paid or attempted to pay individuals to surveil and murder targets.
The indictment stated that associates recruited within the network had also been solicited to carry out acts of terrorism against civilian and military infrastructure in European countries perceived as aligned with Ukraine. James Barnacle Jr., head of New York's FBI office, said the FBI disrupted the plans through "relentless work" as members of Russian intelligence services and their affiliates "conspired to intimidate, threaten, or murder people on US soil and around the world."
Darren Cox, head of the FBI's Washington DC office, credited "extraordinary work by multiple FBI field offices, components, and partner agencies" for disrupting Russia's attempts to conduct violent acts in the nation's capital and across the United States. According to a release, the network has been conspiring to conduct and has conducted attacks and murders globally, including within the US, since at least 2024.
The release described the network as "one arm" of the Russian Federation's apparatus for external attacks. Previously, the network focused on Russian dissidents and defectors, but most recently has targeted nations perceived as allies of Ukraine. Members of the network have recently attempted to recruit multiple people in the United States.
The indictment detailed an instance where a US-based individual, identified as "US Resident-1," was recruited to surveil and murder a prominent Russian dissident believed to be residing in the United States. This individual was given explicit instructions for surveillance and promised $1,000 and $1,500 for the work. After conducting the surveillance and providing photographs and videos of the target's locations, the US resident turned down an offer of $40,000 to "eliminate" or "disappear" the target through murder. Following this rejection, a member of the intelligence services attempted to recruit other individuals in the United States for the job by offering substantial sums of money.