"Political expert" traitor in Poltava detained by the SBU

The SBU has detained an agent of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service in Poltava who was carrying out information s abotage against Ukraine, the SBU has said. The SBU reports that.

On the instructions of the enemy intelligence service, the attacker prepared more than 60 custom-made publications for the Russian online publications One Homeland and the Strategic Culture Foundation. These information resources function as international mouthpieces of the Kremlin to spread hostile propaganda to Western countries," the SBU said.

It has been established that the defendant prepared a series of publications that "whitewashed" air attacks by Russian troops on Ukraine's civilian infrastructure.

In particular, we are talking about ordered materials about enemy strikes on a shopping centre in Kremenchug, an apartment building in Dnipro and massive shelling of energy facilities in Kiev.

In his articles, the Russian agent tried to discredit the command and fighters of Ukrainian troops in front of foreign partners of our state.

To disguise his criminal activities, he used the pseudonyms Andrey Uvarov, Igor Loginov and Pyotr Zharkov.

For conducting information and subversive activities against Ukraine, the attacker received almost 250 thousand in hryvnia equivalent from his Russian handlers.

In addition, he created and headed a pro-Kremlin public organisation called "Russian Community of Poltava Region" in Poltava. In this way he came to the attention of Russian intelligence, which remotely involved him in covert co-operation.

The SBU investigators informed the detainee of suspicion under two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:

• ч. 2 of Art. 111 (high treason);
• part 2, 3 of Article 436-2 (justification, recognition of lawfulness, denial of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, glorification of its participants).

A preventive measure in the form of detention was chosen for him. The investigation is continuing to establish all the circumstances of the offence. The perpetrator faces life imprisonment.