Report: Russia planned to assassinate Garry Kasparov in the US

According to reports, Russian authorities spent months planning to kill chess player and dissident leader Garry Kasparov in the United States. US authorities informed the founder of the Free Russia Forum that he was the target of a Kremlin assassination plot, leading to special protection being assigned to him.

Advanced plans were also reportedly in place to assassinate Ilya Ponomarev, a former Russian lawmaker who voted against the annexation of Crimea. An operative recruited by Moscow allegedly filmed locations associated with one of the targets in the US following coded instructions.