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El Mundo reports that a five-person group acting on Moscow’s orders planned to kill Russian opposition figures Ilya Ponomarev and Garry Kasparov in the United States. The newspaper also describes a separate planned killing in Vilnius, but the intended victim is not identified in the case files cited in the report.
El Mundo reported that a five-person group acting on orders from Moscow spent months planning to kill former Russian lawmaker Ilya Ponomarev and former world chess champion Garry Kasparov in the United States. The Spanish newspaper said U.S. authorities uncovered the alleged operation, while publicly available details cited in the report leave parts of the alleged plans and their intended targets unresolved.
According to El Mundo, U.S. authorities identified a group whose members recruited people to conduct surveillance and carry out killings. One recruit allegedly photographed two Washington locations linked to Ponomarev. The group reportedly offered between $1,000 and $1,500 for photographing the locations and $40,000 for carrying out the killing. The newspaper said the plot collapsed after the would-be killer backed out.
El Mundo described the plan against Ponomarev as being at a more advanced stage than the one against Kasparov. Sources close to Kasparov told the newspaper that U.S. authorities informed him in summer 2026 that he was a target and provided protection. They said this was the first time he had received such protection since moving to New York in 2013. The report does not provide a public account from U.S. authorities confirming these details.
The newspaper also reported a planned killing in Vilnius, Lithuania, in which the intended victim was to be ambushed and stabbed or doused with gasoline and set on fire. El Mundo did not identify the person. It suggested opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza could have been the target but supplied no details establishing that link. The paper said two group members paid a U.S. citizen about $200 to photograph the home of a Russian opposition figure in Vilnius; the alleged fee for the killing was $25,000.
Security Risks Beyond Russia
If the reporting is borne out, the alleged plans point to threats against Russian opposition figures living abroad, including people residing in the United States and Lithuania. The reported use of recruits for surveillance and proposed payments for attacks would also raise questions about how alleged operations were organized across borders. Those implications remain conditional: the details here come from El Mundo’s account, and the source material does not include a public statement from U.S. authorities confirming the full alleged operation.
The reporting also connects separate concerns involving opposition figures in Lithuania. El Mundo said Ivan Tyutrin, co-founder of the Free Russia Forum, had been on the group’s radar since 2024 and was receiving protection. It reported that police warned him again in recent months. Separately, Bashkir activist Ruslan Gabbasov has said Lithuanian intelligence services uncovered a plot to kill him. These accounts make it important to distinguish named targets and confirmed statements from the newspaper’s unresolved identification of the intended Vilnius victim.
Earlier Threats in Lithuania
The report places the alleged U.S. plans alongside earlier threats against Russian opposition figures in Lithuania. El Mundo said Tyutrin had been under scrutiny by the alleged group since 2024. It did not establish whether he was the unnamed person whose home was photographed or the person the group planned to kill in Vilnius.
Another strand concerns Gabbasov, founder of the Committee of the Bashkir National Movement Abroad. El Mundo reported that he found a tracking device on his car in 2025 and that Lithuanian prosecutors later uncovered a plot against him. In April 2026, Lithuanian outlet Delfi reported that a 55-year-old man had been detained in Greece on suspicion of plotting to kill two people in Lithuania. Gabbasov confirmed that Lithuanian intelligence services had uncovered a plot to kill him, but the available account does not establish whether he was among the two people in the Greece-related case.
“U.S. authorities notified Kasparov in the summer of 2026 that he was a target and provided him with protection.”
— Sources close to Garry Kasparov, as quoted by El Mundo
Vilnius Target Still Unnamed
The case files cited by El Mundo do not name the intended victim of the reported Vilnius killing plan. The newspaper suggested Kara-Murza may have been the target, but it provided no supporting details in the account. It also did not establish whether Tyutrin was the person whose home was photographed or the person the group planned to kill.
Other important details have not been independently confirmed in the source material. These include the identities and roles of all five alleged group members, the evidence linking them to Moscow, and the full scope of U.S. authorities’ investigation. The reported plan involving Gabbasov and the detention in Greece may relate to the same broader threats, but the available information does not prove that connection.
Investigations and Target Identifications
Further information from U.S. or Lithuanian authorities, prosecutors, or court records could clarify the alleged group’s membership, the evidence behind the reported plans, and whether charges were filed. Those records or official statements may also establish whom the group intended to target in Vilnius. Until then, the reported links among the unnamed victim, Kara-Murza, Tyutrin, and Gabbasov remain unresolved.
El Mundo’s reporting is the basis for the detailed account of the alleged U.S. plots and the unnamed Vilnius plan. The source material supplies no announced date for a further official update, so the next developments and their timing are not clear.
Key Questions
Who were the reported targets in the United States?
El Mundo reported that Ilya Ponomarev and Garry Kasparov were targets of alleged killing plans. It said U.S. authorities warned Kasparov in summer 2026 and provided him with protection.
What is known about the alleged plan against Ponomarev?
El Mundo said a recruit photographed two Washington locations linked to Ponomarev and that the group offered $40,000 for the killing. The newspaper reported that the would-be killer backed out, causing the plan to collapse.
Who was targeted in the reported Vilnius plan?
The intended victim has not been identified in the case files cited by El Mundo. The newspaper suggested Vladimir Kara-Murza may have been the target but gave no details establishing that.
Was Ruslan Gabbasov the unnamed Vilnius target?
The available reporting does not establish that. Gabbasov confirmed that Lithuanian intelligence uncovered a plot to kill him, but the source material does not say whether that plot was the same one El Mundo described.
Have U.S. authorities publicly confirmed the reported details?
The source material does not include a public confirmation from U.S. authorities of the full account. El Mundo attributed some details to sources close to Kasparov and reported that U.S. authorities uncovered the alleged group.
Source: rss
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