El Mundo: Russia-linked network uncovered in US targeted Garry Kasparov

Garry Kasparov was among the Russian opposition figures allegedly targeted for assassination by the RIS Network, a group linked to the Russian authorities. The former world chess champion is a Kremlin critic and supports Ukraine in its war against Russia.

The Spanish newspaper El Mundo, citing sources including people close to the Russian opposition, reported that former State Duma member Ilya Ponomaryov and dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza were also targets of the plot. Both are Kremlin critics and supporters of Ukraine.

The network was uncovered in September, when the FBI and other US agencies announced that they had identified a group they said had ties to Russia. Those suspected of belonging to it include former FSB colonel Yuri Khrameyev, 63, known as “Colonel Yuri”; his son Kirill Khrameyev, 27, an FSB officer; Cuban national Oemis Romagosa Durruti, 35; Cuban national Yaydel Delgado Suarez, 35, known as “Viking”; and Venezuelan national Angel Eduardo Castro, 22.

US authorities said members of the group had paid people to spy on and kill two people in the United States and a third in Lithuania. According to the US Department of Justice, Suarez and Castro helped recruit US residents to follow and attempt to kill a prominent Russian dissident living there.

Kasparov, a Croatian citizen who lives mainly in the United States, is believed to have been one of the targets. El Mundo, citing people close to him, reported that US authorities informed him in the summer of 2026 of a plot to kill him, which the Kremlin was suspected of being behind. Following the warning, he received special protection for the first time since moving to New York in 2013.

According to the Spanish newspaper, the plan against Ponomaryov had reached a more advanced stage. He divides his time between Kyiv and Washington. In Washington, he has a residence and an office that serve as the US branch of his political platform, the Congress of People’s Deputies. Russia designated the organization “terrorist” in December 2025.

El Mundo raises the possibility that Ponomaryov is the person identified as “Victim 1” in US Department of Justice documents. According to US authorities, Suarez and Castro offered an American $40,000 to kill this person, but he refused. Suarez then allegedly sought to recruit others to carry out the killing.

A source close to Ponomaryov told the BBC that this was the ninth plot to kill him, but declined to provide further details.