Russia offered $100,000 per kill: Joint Ukrainian-Moldovan operation dismantles assassination network targeting public figures

Ukrainian and Moldovan law enforcement jointly dismantled a criminal network of ten people who were preparing contract killings of prominent Ukrainian citizens on orders from Russian intelligence services, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko said on 20 February.

Seven suspects were detained in Ukraine and three more, including the alleged organizer, in Moldova, the Prosecutor General's Office reports. The operation was codenamed "Enigma 2.0."

The network's members collected information on the movements, residences, and daily routines of potential targets to carry out their "physical elimination" for cash payments, according to investigators. Russia's side promised up to $100,000 per killing, with the exact amount depending on the prominence and influence of the intended victim, Kravchenko said.

"The members of the organized group clearly distributed roles, planned methods of killings, prepared instruments of the crime, and worked out escape routes," the Prosecutor General stated.

At least five targets, one named

Investigators established that the group planned to kill at least five public figures. The only one named publicly is Andrii Yusov, the spokesperson for Ukraine's Defense Intelligence (HUR) and deputy head of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

Andrii Yusov is one of the key public faces of Ukraine’s military intelligence and a central figure in the system that deals with Ukrainian prisoners of war. Since 2022, Yusov has been the press representative/spokesperson of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense (HUR/DIU), regularly commenting on Russian plans, strikes, and Ukrainian special operations.

As DIU’s spokesperson, Yusov shapes Ukraine’s information policy on intelligence issues, speaks about operations in Crimea and the Black Sea, Russian internal conflicts, and nuclear threats.

Yusov has already been the target of the attacks in 2014 and in 2015 there was an assassination attempt related to his previous activity.

National Police os Ukraine listed the remaining targets without identifying them by name: a journalist placed on Russia's "extremist" list and wanted by Russian authorities; a head of a state strategic enterprise; active servicemembers of Ukraine's Defense Intelligence, including fighters of the HUR Foreign Legion; servicemembers of Ukraine's Special Operations Forces; and a civic activist originally from Russia who took a pro-Ukrainian stance.

The authorities said the killings, had they been carried out, could have caused significant public resonance and been exploited by the aggressor state to destabilize the security situation in Ukraine, Europeiska Pravda reports.

Moldovan recruiter, Russian prison connection

The alleged organizer and coordinator of the network is a 34-year-old Moldovan citizen, police said. He previously served a prison sentence in Russia, where he was recruited by Russian intelligence services. After returning to Moldova, he supported a pro-Russian group whose activities aimed to destabilize the country and organize mass protests in 2022–2023, according to investigators.

The man built a hierarchical structure and recruited accomplices — fellow Moldovan citizens under 25. They targeted young men, mostly students at military educational institutions, for carrying out tasks of hostile intelligence services abroad, police said. The accomplices also handled transportation of recruits into Ukraine, their accommodation, financing, and cover stories.

Surveillance disguised as courier work, methods ranged from shooting to bombing

The recruited Moldovan citizens entered Ukraine posing as tourists and then settled in rented apartments, Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) reported.

Some members, posing as couriers, conducted surveillance of the targets — taking photos and videos, gathering information on daily schedules, travel routes, residences, and security levels. Others were responsible for procuring weapons, organizing safe houses, maintaining cover, and preparing methods of assassination — from shooting to bombing, police said.

Communication between members ran through encrypted channels. Financial transfers were conducted through cryptocurrency wallets to complicate tracking, according to investigators. Russian intelligence services promised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the contract killings; for the elimination of a career HUR officer specifically, the promised payment was $100,000.

Over 20 searches, weapons seized

As part of the operation, law enforcement simultaneously conducted more than 20 searches across several oblasts of Ukraine, seizing weapons, ammunition, explosives, mobile phones, and computer equipment. Evidence of contacts with Russian handlers was also documented, the Prosecutor General's Office reported.

Moldovan law enforcement detained the network's organizer and two accomplices. Motions for their arrest are being prepared. The investigation continues as part of a joint international investigative team.

The suspects have been charged under the Criminal Code of Ukraine with preparation for contract murder (Article 115) and illegal handling of weapons, ammunition, or explosives (Article 263). They face life imprisonment with confiscation of property.

Not the first dismantled network

The dismantled network is part of a broader pattern of assassinations and attempted killings of Ukrainian public figures, politicians, and activists since Russia's full-scale invasion.

On 30 August 2025, former Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Andriy Parubiy was shot and killed in Lviv in broad daylight. The gunman, disguised as a delivery service courier, shot Parubiy eight times before fleeing on an electric bike. A suspect, 52-year-old Lviv resident Mykhailo Stselnikov, was arrested within two days in Khmelnytskyi Oblast. National police chief Ivan Vygivsky stated that "this crime was not accidental" and that there was "a Russian trace in it." Investigators later uncovered a history of pro-Russian activity in the suspect's social media, including posts attempting to share information with the Russian side. The 54-year-old politician had served as Speaker of Ukraine's parliament from 2016 to 2019 and was a central figure in the 2014 Euromaidan Revolution, serving as commandant of the protest camp and later as Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council.

Just over a year earlier, on 19 July 2024, former MP, linguist, and prominent Ukrainian language advocate Iryna Farion was shot near her home in Lviv. The 60-year-old professor sustained a fatal gunshot wound to the head and died that night. The suspect, 18-year-old Viacheslav Zinchenko from Dnipro, was arrested six days later after renting at least three apartments in Lviv while preparing for the attack. He had conducted surveillance near Farion's residence for days before the killing. His trial on charges of intentional murder committed out of national intolerance began in July 2025 and is ongoing. President Zelenskyy said at the time that all versions, including one leading to Russia, were being investigated.

In July 2025, SBU Colonel Ivan Voronych, reportedly involved in covert operations in Russian-occupied territories, was assassinated in a bold daylight attack in Kyiv. Ukraine's Security Service tracked down and killed the two suspected Russian agents responsible.

President Zelenskyy himself has survived dozens of assassination and kidnapping attempts by Russian or pro-Russian agents since the start of the full-scale invasion. As early as February 2022, Russia sent Chechen commandos and private military contractors to eliminate Ukraine's leadership. In 2024, a Russian sleeper agent activated by the FSB was arrested in Poland while gathering intelligence for a planned assassination of Zelenskyy at an airport.