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FBI thwarts Russian plot to kill a prominent dissident in Washington
Five people assumed to be living abroad were charged in the plot, according to an indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court
The intelligence services of the Russian Federation are plotting to carry out targeted killings in the US and in European nations supporting Ukraine, federal authorities said Tuesday in announcing they'd thwarted a plot to kill a prominent Russian dissident believed to be living in Washington, D.C.
Five people assumed to be living abroad were charged in the plot, according to an indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court. It said a network of the Russian intelligence services has paid and tried to pay individuals in the United States and in other countries since 2024 to surveil and then kill Russian dissidents.
The associates recruited by the network also have been solicited to carry out acts of terrorism against civilian and military infrastructure in European countries that are perceived to be aligned with Ukraine, the indictment said.
James C. Barnacle Jr., head of New York's FBI office, said the agency disrupted the plans "through relentless work" as members of the intelligence services and their affiliates "conspired to intimidate, threaten, or murder people on US soil and around the world." Darren B. Cox, head of the Washington, D.C., office of the FBI, in a release cited "extraordinary work by multiple FBI field offices, components, and partner agencies" and said they "moved quickly to disrupt the plot." According to the release, a network of people working for the Russian Federation's intelligence services had since at least 2024 conspired to conduct and had conducted attacks and murders around the world, including within the United States.
Previously the network had focused on Russian dissidents and defectors but following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine had targeted nations perceived to be allies of Ukraine, the release said. Recently, members of the network have tried to recruit multiple people in the United States, it said.
