The Security Service of Ukraine has reported that an FSB spy network has been dismantled in Kramatorsk and that four of its members have been arrested. According to the SBU, they were gathering and passing on the coordinates of the Defence Forces to the Russian security service, as well as monitoring the effects of shelling on the city in order to prepare new strikes and adjust follow-up attacks.
Briefly about the main points
- According to the SBU, the group was working for the FSB in Kramatorsk, near the front line.
- Russia was interested in the defenders’ command posts, depots, fortifications and routes.
- Those implicated include a driver for a municipal utility company, a plumber, a estate agent and the plumber’s wife.
- During the searches, electronic devices containing evidence of work for the Russian secret service were seized.
- The suspects are in custody; the charge carries a sentence of life imprisonment with confiscation of property.
What data did the network collect?
The SBU reported that the priority targets for reconnaissance were reserve command posts, logistics depots, fortifications and the routes taken by the Defence Forces as they advanced towards the front line.
The suspects also monitored the aftermath of Russian shelling of Kramatorsk. According to the investigation, this information was intended to help the FSB prepare new strikes and adjust subsequent attacks.
The roles of the participants and the suspicion
According to the case file, the three suspects were recruited through a long-standing acquaintance of theirs who lives in St Petersburg and works for an officer of the so-called «FSB Directorate in the DPR» Oleksandra Nogash.
One of the suspects worked as a driver for a housing and utilities company in Kramatorsk. The SBU claims that he used his work-related journeys around the city to identify the positions of Ukrainian defenders and to seek out people for subsequent recruitment by the Russian security services.
The group also included a local plumber and his wife. They travelled in their own car and used their mobile phones to film sites which, in their view, were being used by the Defence Forces. The couple later enlisted the help of a friend of theirs — a estate agent — who scouted out the locations where personnel were concentrated and the routes taken by the defenders of the Donetsk region.
Employees SBU They documented the suspects’ actions and arrested them at their homes. During the searches, they seized smartphones and other electronic devices which, according to the service, contain evidence of their work for the FSB.
Investigators have charged the detainees with Part 2 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code — treason committed under martial law. They have been taken into custody. If found guilty, they face life imprisonment and the confiscation of their property. The operations were carried out under the procedural supervision of the Office of the Prosecutor General.
