The SSU Military Counterintelligence, in cooperation with the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, prevented new attempts by russia’s federal security service to infiltrate our Defence Forces. As a result of the operation in Rivne, a russian spy has been detained after attempting to trying to track down the partisan underground of Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces.

The perpetrator turned out to be a 28-year-old russian citizen. In 2018-2019, he served as a scout in russia’s military intelligence.

According to the investigation, the man arrived in Rivne in 2021 posing as an ordinary resident of russia’s Krasnoyarsk region who has Ukrainian relatives.

The russian then began collecting contacts of SOF servicemen in order to spy inside this unit.

He tried to obtain personal data of SOF servicemen and pass it on to the russians through pre-arranged secure electronic communication channels.

In addition, he was interested in information on persons who covertly cooperate with the Special Operations Forces and are involved in the preparation and conduct of special operations.

The SSU Military Counterintelligence identified the spy, documented his actions, and detained him red-handed.

Russian military uniforms and documents of the aggressor state were found in the suspect’s possession.

SSU investigators have notified the detainee of suspicion under Article 114.1 of the CCU (espionage).

The russian citizen is in custody without bail and faces up to 15 years in prison with confiscation of property.

The operation was carried out jointly with the investigators of the SSU Rivne Office under the procedural supervision of the regional Prosecutor’s Office.