The SBU exposed and documented illegal activities of a resident of Kherson region, who is a member of the Russia’s FSB intelligence agency and the so-called affiliated LNR State Security Ministry (MDB).

Within the criminal proceedings, the operatives found that in January 2021, for a monetary reward, the agent was instructed by Russian mentors to disseminate information about artificially provoked mass protests and, in particular, the so-called Tariff Maidan through a closed communication channel. The offender planned to discredit public authorities and destabilize the situation in Ukraine. Additionally, he organized a number of protests in the past.

Earlier, the SBU documented that on the instructions of the Russia’s FSB, the perpetrator, being the leader of a pro-Russian party, collected deceptive information about the crisis in the social and economic spheres. The Russian special services intended to establish a sustainable protest potential in the region bordering with the temporarily annexed peninsula. Subsequently, they should spread the provocative information throughout the country.      

In February 2020, during his stay in city of Simferopol, the offender, acting on the task of the Russian curators, held meetings with high-ranking officials of the AR of Crimea, in particular the so-called head of the AR of Crimea S. Aksionov.

The Russian actor was also instructed to collect signatures among the citizens of Kherson region to restore water supply to the AR of Crimea and launch a relevant publicity campaign. Further, he was to promote separatist pressures and the idea of ​​autonomy of certain regions of Ukraine.     

During his stay in temporarily occupied Luhansk in May 2020, the perpetrator was recruited by a representative of the so-called MDB LNR and named as the “Dzhyhurda”.

The pre-trial investigation under encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine is underway.