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US Uncovers Russian Intel Plot to Assassinate Anti-Kremlin Activists on US Soil
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Russian intelligence-linked operatives planned to assassinate chess grandmaster and Kremlin critic Garry Kasparov in the United States this summer, Spanish outlet El Mundo reported on September 30.
US authorities informed Kasparov that he was the target of a Kremlin-linked assassination plot and placed him under special protection. According to El Mundo, preparations to kill former Russian lawmaker Ilya Ponomarev were even further advanced.
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“US authorities confirmed to him this summer that he is a target,” a source close to Kasparov told the newspaper.
US prosecutors have identified five alleged members of a network linked to Russian intelligence services that recruited people to surveil and kill Kremlin opponents.
El Mundo reported that two targets were to be killed in the United States, while another potential victim was targeted in Vilnius, Lithuania.
The network, described as the “RIS Network,” has allegedly operated since at least 2024 and previously organized sabotage attacks in Europe using recruited criminals and local operatives. Its alleged preparations for assassinations on US soil marked a significant expansion of such operations, according to El Mundo.
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Kasparov has lived outside Russia since 2013 after years of threats linked to his political activity. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow designated him a “foreign agent,” added him to its list of “terrorists and extremists” in 2024, and placed him on an international wanted list in May 2026.
Ponomarev, another alleged target, was the only member of Russia’s State Duma to vote against the annexation of Crimea in 2014. He later joined Ukraine’s territorial defense and has stated that he survived five assassination attempts, El Mundo reported.
A person recruited by Moscow photographed two locations in Washington linked to an individual identified by US prosecutors as “Victim Number 1.” The planned killing carried a $40,000 payment.
The surveillance instructions required videos of at least 30 seconds from several angles, with an agreed hand gesture visible to prove the material was recent. El Mundo reported that the group used coded language, calling surveillance “measuring the land” and the planned killing “construction.”
The assassination was ultimately not carried out after the recruited individual refused to proceed beyond surveillance.
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US prosecutors allege that five men formed the Russian intelligence-linked network, including former Russian intelligence colonel Yuri Jrameev and his son Kirill, an FSB officer. Two Cuban nationals and one Venezuelan were also charged, and all five remain in Russia, according to El Mundo.
All five face charges of conspiring to finance acts of terrorism, while three are additionally accused of conspiracy to commit murder for hire. The network also allegedly recruited people to carry out sabotage in countries supporting Ukraine.
El Mundo reported that Russian-linked operatives had also targeted exiled activists in Lithuania, including Free Russia Forum co-founder Ivan Tyutrin and Bashkir activist Ruslan Gabbasov. Gabbasov discovered a tracking device on his car in 2025, after which Lithuanian prosecutors identified an alleged plot to kill him.
The alleged US plots would represent an unusual expansion of Russian intelligence operations. Moscow-linked assassinations and attempted killings have previously been concentrated in Europe, including the 2018 Novichok poisoning of Sergei Skripal in Salisbury and the 2019 killing of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in Berlin, El Mundo wrote.
Russia has increasingly relied on recruited foreign nationals and local criminals for sabotage and covert operations abroad, allowing its intelligence services to distance themselves from those carrying out attacks.
Days earlier, Ukraine’s Security Service detained an alleged FSB operative in Kyiv who was preparing to assassinate a Russian opposition figure fighting for Ukraine.
Investigators stated that she had received weapons training from the FSB and collected a pistol from a concealed cache before being arrested near the intended target’s workplace.
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