US Charges Russian Intelligence Agents With Terror Financing and Assassination Plots
The US Justice Department has charged a group of Russian citizens, linked by authorities to Russian intelligence services, with financing terrorism and conspiring to carry out assassinations worldwide. The alleged targets included a Russian dissident believed to be in Washington.
US Attorney General Todd Blanche announced during a press conference in the White House Rose Garden that the Justice Department has charged a group of Russian citizens, whom American authorities link to Russian intelligence services, with financing terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire around the world.
According to Blanche, the suspects worked for Russian intelligence and were planning a series of assassinations across the globe. Among their targets was a Russian dissident believed to be located in Washington. The attorney general did not name the defendants, did not specify which opposition figure was the intended target, and did not disclose when the assassination was planned to take place. The case is being handled by the Federal Court for the Southern District of New York.
Previous incidents
Western countries have repeatedly recorded activity by Russian operatives on their territory. The best-known cases include the poisoning of former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006, and the attack on former GRU agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, UK, in 2018 using the Novichok nerve agent. In August 2019 in Berlin, Russian officer Vadim Krasikov shot and killed former Chechen field commander Zelimkhan Khangoshvili.
The US Justice Department regularly brings criminal cases against Russian citizens for cybercrimes, espionage and sanctions evasion. However, the disclosure of plans to physically eliminate dissidents directly on US soil points to a significant escalation in the activity of Russian intelligence services.
