The SSU has identified the head of the FSB’s agent group, exposed during counter-sabotage efforts in Donetsk oblast in August 2022.

This is a former employee of the disbanded ‘Berkut’ special police unit, Valeriy Astakhov.

After the occupation of Crimea, he defected to the enemy and joined the FSB-controlled group ‘Yevpatorian people’s militia company’.

At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the FSB tasked Astakhov with forming his own agent group to conduct reconnaissance and sabotage against Ukraine.

The traitor remotely recruited several dozen residents of Ukraine’s southern and eastern oblasts, including those from Bakhmut.

The enemy agents were to collect intelligence on locations and movements of the Defence Forces in the frontline areas.

The informants sent the intelligence to Astakhov via Telegram messenger in the form of locations on electronic maps with detailed description of targets.

The former ‘Berkut’ officer passed the information to his FSB handlers in the occupied Crimea.

Occupiers needed the data to direct and adjust missile and artillery strikes on positions of Ukrainian troops.

Based on the evidence collected, SSU investigators notified Astakhov of suspicion under Article 111.2 of the CCU (high treason committed under martial law).

The criminal is currently hiding in the temporarily occupied territory in southern Ukraine. The SSU is acting to bring the traitor, all his accomplices and their russian handlers to justice.

Earlier, during a special operation in Bakhmut in late summer 2022, the SSU Counterintelligence detained ‘Sedoy’ - an active member of this intelligence network.

The indictment against the detained agent has been sent to the court.

The SSU Office in Vinnytsia region carried out the investigation under the procedural supervision of the regional Prosecutor’s Office.