Russian Brotherhood of Assassins

The Russian Assassins were a branch of Assassins located in Russia, formed some time after the early 16th century.

By the late 19th century, the Russian Assassins had prioritized the abolition of the Tsarist rule over Russia, even more so when some of the Russian Tzars had allied themselves with the Templars.

It was the Russian Assassin Nikolai Orelov who caused both the Borki train disaster and the Tunguska explosion, two disastrous events in Russia's history, and the Assassins later supported the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution.

Spying on the Kremlin
During the 15th century, the Italian Assassins sent several Assassins, including Pietro Antonio Solari and Ridolfo "Aristotele" Fioravant, to Moscow, where they were recruited by Tsar Ivan III Vasilevich as architects to work on the Kremlin. Unbeknownst to Ivan, they secretly kept an eye on his activities and ambitions, reporting back to the Assassins in Italy.

However, in 1493, Ivan found out that Solari and Aristotele were spies, and had Solari killed. Aristotele, realizing Ivan was close to uncovering who they worked for, turned himself into the culprit for the murder. Additionally, he began creating rumors about a revival of the Strigolniki Sect.

In the early 1500s, Ezio Auditore da Firenze sent a group of Assassin apprentices to Moscow to find out what happened to Solari. The Assassins infiltrated the Kremlin, knocking a group of guards unconscious and eventually finding documents pointing out that Aristotele murdered Solari. After a search for Aristotele's location, offering small amounts of coins for rumors, they were directed to a church where Aristotele was rumored to hide. Having threatened the priests to lure Aristotele out, he came out to protect his people and explained his actions to the apprentices. The apprentices carried out the plans Aristotele had made to fool Ivan into believing the Assassins were working for the Strigolniki Sect, until they found two of Ivan's top investigators. Killing the two men, they carved the bodies with the symbol of the Strigolniki Sect and left them hanging from church beams, with Aristotele leaving a note declaring himself the leader of the sect. The apprentices and Aristotele returned to Rome to question Aristotele, and new Assassin spies were sent to Moscow.

Assassination of Tsarevich Ivan
In 1581, the Assassins killed Tsarevich Ivan Ivanovich, the second son and apparent heir to Ivan the Terrible. However, his death was commonly believed to have been caused by his own father.