SSU has dismantled FSB spy ring that was coordinating shelling attacks on Kramatorsk. PHOTOS
The Security Service’s counter-intelligence unit has neutralised yet another Russian spy network in the Donetsk region. Following a special operation, three FSB agents were exposed for ‘leaking’ the coordinates of the Defence Forces in the Kramatorsk sector to the Russians.
This was reported by Censor.NET, citing the Security Service of Ukraine.
Details
The suspects operated independently of one another but had a single handler from the FSB’s military counter-intelligence unit – a militant from Russian armed groups fighting on the eastern front.
According to the case file, the hostile cell comprised a market trader working in Kramatorsk, her acquaintance who had travelled to Russia and begun working for the FSB, and a local labourer.
It has been established that, in order to recruit the market trader, the FSB enlisted the help of her acquaintance, who was in the aggressor country. After being recruited, the suspect covertly extracted intelligence from customers, particularly from military personnel. She also ‘inquired’ about the locations of defensive structures and Ukrainian artillery firing positions.
As for the other member of the spy ring, he turned out to be a labourer from the suburbs of a district centre. He came to the attention of the Russians when he posted anti-Ukrainian comments on ‘Odnoklassniki’.
It has been documented that the suspect tracked the locations of fortified areas and other places where Defence Forces personnel were concentrated on behalf of the FSB.
To maintain his cover, the suspect would only leave his home for short periods and used his knowledge of the local area to plot covert routes for his reconnaissance missions.
SSU officers secured the locations of Ukrainian troops in advance and arrested both agents at their homes. During searches, computer equipment and mobile phones containing evidence of subversive activities were seized from them.
Investigators from the Security Service informed the agents that they were suspected of treason.
The suspects are being held in custody without the right to bail. They face life imprisonment with confiscation of property.
Investigations are continuing into a third member of the spy ring, who is in hiding in the Russian Federation. A notice of suspicion is currently being prepared for her as part of a special pre-trial investigation.
