Pretending to be a journalist: Russian spy gets 12 years in prison

This was reported by the Security Service of Ukraine.

The attacker, along with three accomplices, was detained in March 2023 in the frontline territory in eastern Ukraine.

According to the investigation, the enemy henchman turned out to be a resident of Druzhkovka, Donetsk region, who worked in the editorial office of one of the local newspapers. However, even before the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, he was preparing pro-Russian materials for one of the Kremlin's mouthpieces, the Rossiya Segodnya media group," the SBU said.

Thus, the man was spotted by the Russian security services and, through the Russian consul operating in Kharkiv at the time, attracted to covert cooperation. After that, the enemy agent underwent a special training course on intelligence and subversive activities on the territory of Russia.

Prior to the full-scale invasion, the intruder was in a standby mode, beginning its tasks after 24 February 2022. Among its main tasks was to collect information on the time and number of AFU military echelons moving towards the front line.

In addition, it recorded the effects of enemy shelling in Kramatorsk, Druzhkivka and Konstantinivka. After that, he sent relevant "reports" to the aggressor to adjust the fire on Ukrainian cities. At the same time, the Russian agent scouted locations of firing positions, fortifications and warehouses with ammunition of Ukrainian troops, - added in the SBU.

The attacker used anonymous chats in messenger to communicate with the occupants.

Taking into account the collected evidence, the court found the man guilty of collaboration activities (part 3 of article 28, part 7 of article 111-1 of the Criminal code of Ukraine). He was sentenced to imprisonment for up to 12 years.

The investigation is continuing to bring to justice all participants of the agent network.