Ukraine’s military counterintelligence of the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) detained in Kyiv one of the deep-cover agents of the FSB, whom the Russian intelligence service had kept in a “standby mode” for 12 years.
As the investigation found, since February of this year he had been preparing coordinates for a precision Russian missile strike on Kyiv, including the home of the head of Ukraine’s State Emergency Service.
According to the case materials, the assignment was carried out by an IT specialist from Mykolaiv who had been recruited by the FSB. It was established that Russian intelligence officers recruited him back in 2014 and then “conserved” him for future tasks.
Recently, the Russian intelligence service “activated” the agent and ordered him to move to Kyiv to collect data on public figures against whom Russia was preparing sabotage and terrorist attacks.
The Russia’s targets included well-known politicians and representatives of Ukraine’s security and defense forces.
Under FSB instructions, the agent was to track the addresses of homes and the movement routes of potential “targets” and report them to his handler in Moscow.
To complete the hostile task, the suspect formed new acquaintances, which he then used “in the dark” to obtain intelligence information.
Often, the perpetrator operated under the cover of providing private IT system administration and technical maintenance services. Later, under the guise of casual conversations, he extracted the “needed” information.
Later, he recruited another IT specialist into the subversive activity — a resident of Odessa.
Together with his “colleague,” they created an entire network of informants who were leaking data on the deployment of Ukrainian troops.
SSU officers detained the agent in a rented apartment in Kyiv. At the same time, his accomplice was detained in Odessa. During searches, investigators seized smartphones containing evidence of cooperation with the FSB.
Investigators of the Security Service of Ukraine served them suspicion notices under Part 2 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (treason committed under martial law).
The suspects are in custody. They face life imprisonment with confiscation of property.
