Russian security service detains two Ukrainian spies
Russia’s security service (FSB) has apprehended two men on suspicion of working for the Ukrainian intelligence service, the body’s press office revealed on Friday. The suspects had allegedly been gathering information on Russian military facilities and units and sharing it with Kiev’s representatives in exchange for money.
Since the start of Moscow’s military campaign against the neighboring country in February 2022, the FSB has reported arresting dozens of suspects, both Russian and Ukrainian nationals, who are believed to have either been spying for Kiev or carrying out acts of sabotage or terrorist attacks on Russian territory.
In a press release on Friday, Russia’s Federal Security Service said that the latest arrests took place in the city of Rostov-on-Don, located not far from the border with Ukraine. The two suspects, who are both Russian citizens, were charged with high treason, the FSB added.
According to the authorities, the men had contacted the Ukrainian intelligence service on their own, and were tasked with observing Russian military units that took part in military action against Ukraine.
The FSB has also released a video clip depicting the arrest of the suspects, apparently outside of a Russian military base.
A court has placed both men in pre-trial detention.
Last July, the FSB detained three Russian citizens in the southern region of Voronezh on suspicion of providing information on Russian military facilities and transport infrastructure to the Ukrainian radical group ‘Right Sector’.
During interrogations, one of the men revealed that he had been tasked with, among other things, gathering information on the whereabouts of a Russian fighter pilot, as well as staging fires and explosions at railway and industrial facilities in Voronezh Region.
Another high-profile case from last summer involved a neo-Nazi group, members of which were accused of plotting the assassination of RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan and journalist and former presidential candidate Ksenia Sobchak at the orders of the Ukrainian intelligence service.
