U.S. Charges Five in Alleged Russian Intelligence Assassination Plot

U.S. prosecutors have charged five people allegedly working for Russian intelligence with conspiracy to finance terrorism and, in three cases, conspiracy to commit murder for hire.

The charges, unveiled on Tuesday, also allege that the network recruited operatives to conduct surveillance and killings in the U.S., and to attack civilian and military infrastructure in European countries which are aligned — or perceived to be aligned — with Ukraine. All five defendants remain at large.

The indictment says the group most recently approached a U.S.-based individual to surveil and kill a prominent Russian dissident living in the country. Two alleged recruiters offered that person $40,000 to “eliminate” or “disappear” the target and discussed finding someone else to carry out the murder.

In a separate case, an alleged Russian intelligence officer offered $25,000 to kill a dissident in Lithuania before proposing attacks on a warehouse or electrical substation in “all the countries that are helping Ukraine.” The network also allegedly coordinated operations in Prague and Lithuania in 2024.

“These defendants allegedly operated as part of a global assassination network that reached into the United States,” Assistant Attorney General John Eisenberg said, accusing them of acting “at the behest of the Kremlin.”

The charges come as European capitals confront a string of alleged Russian-linked operations on the continent.

Germany has explicitly blamed Moscow for an explosives-laden drone attack at Leipzig-Halle airport in August, while investigators identified a Belarusian citizen and a Russian national with alleged ties to Russian military intelligence as suspects last week.

On Tuesday, NATO jets shot down a drone that entered Lithuanian airspace, and a Russian frigate fired at a Danish military helicopter.

European governments have accused Moscow of waging hybrid attacks to destabilize the continent as it pursues its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry and embassy in Washington have not responded to POLITICO’s request for comment.