Russian dissidents who left their country for safety have been warned that an alleged intelligence operation may have followed them abroad. Garry Kasparov said American and Lithuanian security services told him his life was in danger, while his associate Ivan Tyutrin received similar warnings and was told to take security precautions.
The warnings came as the US Justice Department unsealed an indictment earlier this month charging five people with plotting attacks and murders in several countries, including the US. Prosecutors said the defendants allegedly worked for a network linked to the Kremlin that had operated since at least 2024.
The five charged are Yuri Khrameev, Kirill Khrameev, Oemis Romagoza Durruthy, Yaidel Delgado Suarez and Angel Eduardo Castro. All remain at large. US prosecutors identified Yuri Khrameev as a former Russian intelligence colonel and Kirill Khrameev as an officer in Russia's Federal Security Service, known as the FSB.
John A Eisenberg, the assistant attorney general for national security, said the group operated “as part of a global assassination network that reached into the United States, attempting to recruit US citizens and foreigners to carry out killings at the behest of the Kremlin.”
Kasparov, the chess grandmaster turned opposition figure, retired from competitive chess in 2005 to enter politics. He fled Russia in 2013 and has not returned. He now lives in New York, where he was placed under enhanced protection over the summer for the first time since moving to the US.
Russia classed Kasparov as a foreign agent after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It added him to its list of terrorists and extremists in 2024. Kasparov is a co-founder of the Free Russia Forum with Tyutrin.
Writing on social media, Kasparov said news that he was on a list of assassination targets had been unsurprising, though still shocking. He wrote: “I will not stop and I will not hide, even if I thought it was possible to do so. My family and I will not truly be safe as long as [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is in power in Russia - a circumstance shared by millions.”
Tyutrin lives in Vilnius, Lithuania. Lithuanian authorities advised him about two weeks before the public disclosure to leave his residence urgently and dispose of his car. During a trip to the US in April 2024, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents approached him at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York and told him they would protect him during the visit. Tyutrin said agents followed him for two weeks.
He was subsequently placed under state protection in Lithuania, although that security detail was withdrawn several months later. Tyutrin did not receive the same level of protection after the latest warning. The reason for the reduced protection is unknown.
Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported that US authorities had warned Kasparov and Ilya Ponomarev about the alleged plot over the summer. It also reported that a recruited operative had taken photographs and videos of the Washington house and office linked to Ponomarev, then refused to carry out an assassination.
Ponomarev was the only Russian member of parliament to vote against the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014. He later went into exile in Ukraine. He described the allegations as a “new level of escalation” by Russia and said: “America was previously considered safe, especially compared to the EU, Turkey and Ukraine. The Kremlin is now destroying that framework as well, which had been in place since World War II.”
The indictment does not establish whether Kasparov and Tyutrin were explicitly named as targets. It is also unclear whether any planned killing was prevented or whether the alleged operation was disrupted before an attempt could be made.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he would not comment on the charges until he had heard or seen “any credible evidence” or “tangible facts.”
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