Kasparov Says US and Lithuania Warned of Russian Assassination Plot

Garry Kasparov, the exiled Russian chess grandmaster and opposition figure, said on 1 October that Lithuanian and US security services had warned him his life was in danger, following reports that a Russian intelligence network plotted to assassinate him and former Russian lawmaker Ilya Ponomaryov in the United States.¹⁵

The warning

Kasparov, who gave up competitive chess in 2005 to pursue political advocacy and has resided in exile in New York for over ten years, said he and his longtime associate Ivan Tyutrin, co-founder of the Free Russia Forum, were told by security services that their lives were in danger. "Lithuanian and US security services informed us that our lives were in danger and that we should take precautionary measures," Kasparov said.¹

Kasparov said the news that he and Tyutrin appeared on a list of assassination targets was not entirely unexpected. "News that I, along with my longtime associate and co-founder of the Free Russia Forum, Ivan Tyutrin, are on a list of assassination targets did not come as a surprise to me, but it is nevertheless a shock," he said, adding that neither man had been explicitly told they were the individuals whose names were concealed in a US indictment.¹

The indictment

The reports come after the US Justice Department unsealed charges against five men alleged to have plotted violent attacks and killings internationally, including one identified as a Russian FSB officer, according to France 24. The Moscow Times, citing an unnamed report, said the charges covered surveillance, recruitment and targeted killings, and that those running the scheme were communicating with individuals tasked with monitoring and eliminating Kasparov and Ponomaryov.¹³

According to Meduza, citing El Mundo, Russian officials had been developing a scheme over multiple months to kill Ponomaryov and Kasparov on US soil, with the plan targeting Ponomaryov reportedly further along. US authorities reportedly notified Kasparov of the plot in summer 2026, and he received protection for the first time since moving to New York in 2013. A recruited operative is reported to have taken photographs and videos of Ponomaryov's house and office in Washington but refused to carry out the assassination.²³

US prosecutors described the network as involved in "surveilling Russian dissidents and defectors, preparing possible assassinations," according to the Ukrainian outlet UNN, which also reported that preparations for the US operation had been under way since at least late July, with a recruited individual given geolocation data, addresses and operational security instructions in August.⁴

Other targets and operations

According to Meduza and The Moscow Times, the network also went after Tyutrin and Bashkir activist Ruslan Gabbasov, who earlier found a tracking device hidden in his vehicle while in Lithuania. In April 2026, a 55-year-old man was taken into custody in Greece over suspected involvement in a scheme to murder two individuals in Lithuania, and Gabbasov confirmed that Lithuanian intelligence had uncovered a plan targeting his life. The group is reported to have offered $1,000 to $1,500 for surveillance photographs and up to $40,000 to carry out the killing of Ponomaryov, while two members allegedly paid $200 for a photograph of an opposition figure's home in Vilnius, with a reported fee of $25,000 for that killing.²³

The Moscow Times also reported that Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was freed from Russian custody in 2024 as part of the biggest exchange of prisoners between Russia and Western nations since the Cold War era, is considered a possible target for assassination. UNN reported that members of the network talked about arson against warehouses and infrastructure across Europe and had connections to an assault on a Lithuanian firm producing mobile radio gear for Ukraine.³⁴

Kremlin response

Neither the Kremlin nor the Russian Embassy has responded to the US allegations, The Moscow Times reported, noting that Russian officials have in the past rejected claims of conducting assassinations in other countries. The Straits Times similarly reported that Russia has repeatedly denied conducting assassination plots on foreign soil, including in the United States. France 24 observed that Russian intelligence agencies have gone after opponents of the Kremlin throughout Europe on multiple occasions, though the United States had stayed out of reach for such Russian activity for many years.³⁵¹

Reaction

Tyutrin said Lithuanian authorities had warned him two weeks earlier to leave his home and dispose of his car, and that his security detail was subsequently withdrawn even as he said a target list existed. "It is clear that Moscow is behind this and it's clear that there is a list of people to be eliminated," he said, expressing thanks to the authorities for the tip-off and remarking that being warned in advance allowed him to prepare.¹⁷

Kasparov's group, the Renew Democracy Initiative, said it had needed to tighten its safety protocols after receiving information from US officials, while Kasparov wrote from Strasbourg pushing for action via the European Court of Human Rights. He said, "I decided long ago that I was going to do what I knew was right," and, "But I will not stop and I will not hide, even if I thought it was possible to do so." RDI's Uriel Epshtein said, "The only way out is through. he said that both his and countless others' security depend on Putin eventually being defeated.⁴⁶