US exposes alleged Russian spy network accused of plotting assassinations across Europe and America
Photo: US accuses five people of links to Russian intelligence services (Russian media)
US prosecutors have charged five members of a Russian intelligence network accused of recruiting operatives to carry out terrorist attacks in Europe and plotting to assassinate a Russian dissident in the United States, the US Department of Justice announced.
US Attorney General Todd Blanche said investigators identified 63-year-old Yuri Khramyeev, a former Russian intelligence colonel, and his 27-year-old son, FSB officer Kirill Khramyeev, as the alleged leaders of the network.
The other suspects include:
- a Cuban citizen;
- two Venezuelan citizens.
What the US Department of Justice says
“These defendants allegedly operated as part of a global assassination network that reached into the United States, attempting to recruit US citizens and foreigners to carry out killings at the behest of the Kremlin,” said John Eisenberg, assistant attorney general for the US Department of Justice.
It should be recalled that analysts at YouControl found that Russia most often obtains sensitive information about Ukraine’s defense industry not through state registries, but through agents and informants.
A significant portion of such recruitment efforts is carried out through Telegram, often under the pretext of offering “easy money.”
Meanwhile, Poland’s Internal Security Agency arrested a Ukrainian citizen in Warsaw who allegedly prepared, on orders from Russian intelligence services, to blow up the vehicle of a representative of Ukraine’s defense industry in Irpin.
The man, who fled to Poland after the failed assassination attempt, now faces life imprisonment.
