GRU spy network in Kharkiv, which was involved in coordinating strikes on city and monitoring military personnel, has been uncovered. VIDEO+PHOTOS
The Security Service’s counter-intelligence unit has dismantled a Russian military intelligence network in the Kharkiv region.
According to Censor.NET, this was reported by the SSU press centre.
Details
Following a special operation personally coordinated by the head of the SSU, Major General Oleksandr Poklad, four members of the group were detained; they had been directing shelling of the region and monitoring Ukrainian soldiers, law enforcement officers and judges.
Furthermore, at the behest of the Russians, the suspects were harbouring a man convicted of justifying Russia’s armed aggression in a safe house in Kharkiv.
As the investigation revealed, the members of the hostile cell included the head of the security department of a mobile telecoms company and one of his subordinates.
Acting on instructions from the Russian secret service, they collected personal data on Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel, law enforcement officers and members of the Ukrainian judiciary.
It has been documented that the Russian agents tasked these operatives with gathering information on the prosecutor and judges handling the criminal proceedings against a propagandist whom the perpetrators were harbouring.
To this end, they utilised their access to the mobile operator’s software, which allows them to obtain data on subscribers’ telephone connections and geolocation.
A third member of the spy network was an employee of a local defence enterprise who, acting on the enemy’s orders, rented out a flat to Ukrainian soldiers and, without their knowledge, extracted information from them about the military’s deployment locations and their movement routes. Furthermore, she directed enemy strikes against the defence enterprise where she worked.
Another agent was a resident of Kharkiv who, together with two employees of a mobile operator’s security unit, drove around the city and surrounding areas in their company car. During these trips, he used his smartwatch to film defence facilities, including backup command posts, fortifications and checkpoints manned by Ukrainian defenders.
SSU counter-intelligence officers acted pre-emptively and exposed the entire spy ring in good time. After documenting the crimes of the hostile cell step by step, every member was detained.
According to the investigation, the suspects were recruited by the Russian Federation through an acquaintance from Kharkiv who, even before the start of the full-scale war, had travelled to the aggressor country and begun working for the Russian GRU as a ‘liaison officer’.
Investigators from the Security Service have informed all those detained of the charges against them.
The suspects are currently in custody. They now face life imprisonment with confiscation of property.
