The US Justice Department charged five people in mid-September over an alleged Russian intelligence-linked plan to target Kremlin critics. US authorities had earlier announced the arrests, saying three of the five were senior Russian intelligence officers. Spain’s El Mundo has now reported additional details, including names of people allegedly targeted.
The report says US officials warned former world chess champion Garry Kasparov during the summer that he could be at risk. Kasparov moved to the United States in 2013 and was reportedly placed under special protection for the first time since then. Former Russian lawmaker Ilya Ponomaryov and journalist and rights advocate Vladimir Kara-Murza were also identified as possible targets.
Investigators allege that in July and August the group tried to recruit a Brooklyn resident to photograph locations connected to a Russian dissident near Washington. The person was offered payment for surveillance and refused after being offered $40,000 to kill the target, according to the report. These details reflect allegations and reporting, not a finding of guilt.
Ponomaryov was the only member of Russia’s State Duma to oppose the 2014 annexation of Crimea. He divides his time between Kyiv and Washington and founded the Congress of People’s Deputies, an organization of former Russian politicians describing itself as a government in exile. Kara-Murza was arrested in April 2022, sentenced to 25 years in prison and released on August 1, 2024, in a prisoner exchange in Ankara.
The report says Russian services had recruited people in the United States and Europe since 2024 to monitor prominent dissidents and prepare attacks on civilian and military infrastructure in European countries that support Ukraine. The five defendants face US charges; the allegations remain subject to court proceedings.