World

FBI Thwarts Russian Plot to Target Individuals in U.S. and Europe

By AP

Federal authorities announced charges against five individuals on Tuesday, September 15, 2026, revealing that Russian Federation intelligence services were planning targeted killings in the United States and European nations supporting Ukraine. An indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court detailed a network within these intelligence services that allegedly paid or attempted to pay individuals in the U.S. and other countries to surveil targets for assassination. The indictment also stated that associates recruited by this network were solicited to conduct acts of terrorism against civilian and military infrastructure in European countries perceived as aligned with Ukraine.

James C. Barnacle, Jr., head of the FBI's New York office, confirmed that the FBI disrupted these plans. Darren B. Cox, head of the FBI's Washington, D.C., office, credited the efforts of multiple FBI field offices, components, and partner agencies for thwarting Russia's attempts to carry out violent acts in the U.S. capital and nationwide. According to a release, the FBI's Washington field office and its partners acted swiftly to disrupt the plot and hold the Russian government accountable after the threat was identified.

Since at least 2024, a network operating for the Russian Federation's intelligence services has allegedly conspired to conduct and has conducted attacks and murders globally, including within the United States. This network is described as an arm of the Russian Federation's apparatus for external attacks, including murder. While previously focused on Russian dissidents and defectors, the network has recently targeted nations perceived as allies of Ukraine. Members of the network have attempted to recruit multiple individuals in the United States.

Authorities reported that this summer, the network recruited a U.S.-based individual to surveil and murder a prominent Russian dissident believed to be residing in the United States. The indictment states that an individual identified as “U.S. Resident-1” was sent to two locations associated with the target, receiving explicit surveillance instructions and being promised between $1,000 and $1,500 for the work. After providing photographs and videos of the locations to one of the charged men, the U.S. resident declined an offer of $40,000 to “eliminate” or “disappear” the target. Following this rejection, the intelligence services member attempted to recruit other individuals within the United States with substantial monetary offers to complete the assassination.