I have people who would pay a lot of money to have this person and others like him arrested and handed over to them. I have three or more people wanted for arrest right now... We get 1,5 million US dollars for each person. We need an associate who won't ask much, but will give us that information, and after I confirm the location (I will check it out myself), we get the money.
These are the messages that a Montenegrin citizen Darko Đurović, according to the prosecution, sent to an accomplice (designated as CC-2), cited in the indictment filed against him by a grand jury in the Federal Court for the Southern District of New York, in a case brought by the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.
According to unofficial information from "Vijesti", the target of this group led by the Russians Denisa Alimova were well-known dissidents from Chechnya, opponents Ramzan Kadyrov who are in emigration. In this context, the family is also mentioned Zakayev, although American court records do not name them. Chechen dissidents have previously faced pressure, reprisals and assassination attempts.
Another source for "Vijesti" reported that American investigators found numerous problematic contacts on the phone of the alleged organizer from Russia, including Dejan Berić i Davor Savičić from Serbia, who have long been under the scrutiny of Western intelligence services for allegedly recruiting mercenaries to fight on Russia's side in Ukraine.
According to the newspaper's unofficial information, the two of them are possible intermediaries through whom he involved Alimov and Đurović in his network of associates, after which he quickly climbed the associate ladder and became one of the key players - he takes over the operational part of the work, and in communication with Alimov, he allegedly receives data on targets, including IP addresses and phone numbers associated with one of the dissidents, in order to more easily locate them.
American investigators determined that Đurović wrote to Alimov in late 2024 regarding one of their "projects."
On November 23, 2024, he sent him a message: "I cannot confirm the location in New York at this time, because I am in Montenegro. I will return to New York around December 20 and will try to find him in New York... (He) is trying to give the impression that he is constantly in the EU to cover his tracks, but in reality he is in the US most of the time. This is the information I received from my contacts."
While monitoring this Montenegrin citizen, for whom they already had information that he had traveled to Russia twice - in July and October 2024, and that he had done so by formally booking hotels in Turkey, trying to conceal his destination, and then continuing on to Moscow, upon his return to the US, he was interrogated by FBI special agents.
Both times he categorically denied having visited Russia, but the special agents pretended to believe him, continuing to follow him and read his virtual diary on Google Translate.
During monitoring of his online activities, they determined that in late 2024 he was searching for “Glock 17”, “Glock 21”, “Glock 22” and where to get a “Glock 22” in Podgorica.
Discussing another “project,” Đurović wrote to Alimov on December 19, 2024, about a target who spends time in a “white villa, near the sea… surrounded by a white fence/wall, and there is some Islamic sign on the gate.”
"I believe we will find him soon, he can't be constantly on the move. At some point he will relax and fall into a trap," he wrote to him.
Before his arrest in March 2025, American investigators determined that Đurović had sought help from an unnamed accomplice in the United States.
On Christmas Eve 2024, he explained to that accomplice that they had three targets and that they were being offered $1,5 million for each.
The new link in the hunt for Kadyrov's opponents asked for an advance, after which Đurović praised Alimov, stating that he was "very well connected... one of the closest people to an important state official."
According to the amended US indictment against him, Alimov provided Djurovic with a technical intelligence package that included IP addresses and European phone numbers previously used by one of those targets.
American agents explain that during a meeting in Moscow in October 2024, which took place near the FSB headquarters, Djurovic received an advance payment of $60.000 from Alimov and promised an additional $1,5 million for each target who was successfully “deported to Russia.”
They also claim that Đurović was then told that a third person, who they were looking for "dead or alive", could bring a reward of more than 10 million dollars.
Secret surveillance files, parts of which were cited in a recently unsealed US grand jury indictment, show that two operatives from one of Russia's most secretive assassination units plotted a contract killing using a translation tool, leaving traces on a server controlled by the US service.
Indictment
The investigation, according to US authorities, covered the period from October 2024 to 2025, when an operation was allegedly planned against two dissidents who had previously been the target of attempted reprisals and assassinations.
According to the indictment, Đurović acted in a conspiratorial group that Alimov, the person considered by US authorities to be the main organizer of the plan. The investigation claims that Alimov coordinated the operation, found collaborators and provided financing.
US authorities claim that it was Đurović who took over the operational part of the job after the meeting where he took $60.000. In his communication with Alimov, he allegedly received data on the targets, including IP addresses and phone numbers associated with one of the dissidents, in order to make it easier to locate them. The prosecution alleges that Đurović then began planning trips to Europe and gathering information about possible locations where the targets might be staying.
The indictment also alleges that Đurović attempted to expand his network of associates. According to the prosecution, he recruited another accomplice, explaining to him that there were people willing to pay large sums of money to capture certain individuals. The conversations discussed the need to secure funding for a so-called “hunting team,” which would be tasked with finding targets.
In addition to the main charge of conspiracy to commit murder and kidnapping abroad, Đurović is also charged in separate counts with making false statements to the FBI regarding his travels.
The prosecution claims that he twice misled American agents about his travel and whereabouts at the time when, according to their allegations, he participated in planning the operation.
On the other hand, Denis Alimov, who US authorities say was the mastermind of the plot, faces even more serious charges. According to a statement from US prosecutors, he is charged with multiple crimes, including conspiracy to commit murder and kidnapping in a foreign country, providing material support to terrorism and financing terrorism, for which he faces up to life in prison.
Alimov was arrested on February 24, 2026, in Bogota, Colombia, on the basis of an Interpol international arrest warrant issued by the United States, and US authorities have announced that they will seek his extradition.
Some media reports and security analyses have also claimed that Alimov is allegedly connected to Russian security structures, but these claims are not formally part of the US indictment, which does not directly name the country behind the targets and organizers, but rather refers to them with codes such as "Country-1" and "Republic-1".
US authorities claim that the entire operation represented an attempt at transnational repression, that is, an attempt to find and remove political opponents of a regime outside the borders of their country.
The FBI said in a statement that this is an example of how foreign actors are trying to use criminal networks and paid operatives to silence critics abroad.
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