Financial hardship or ideology. Who and why agrees to cooperate with Russian special services in Ukraine
In the ninth month of the great war, Russian special services still manage to find people in Ukraine who agree to pass coordinates of the Armed Forces of Ukraine or try to recruit Ukrainian officials. Ukrainians accept such offers for various reasons: some hope to make money, while others support the Kremlin's ideology. Exposed traitors receive harsh sentences: treason during martial law can lead to life imprisonment. But even such a severe punishment does not always deter when a text message comes from an unfamiliar number that reads: "We need help".
In the afternoon of May 11, Vladyslav from Cherkasy received a message on Viber messenger from an unknown number: "Good afternoon, Vladyslav. I see you are not happy with the way the current government of Ukraine acts. We need the help of people like you. In return we can offer a decent payment for the work done" (translation from Russian – ed.) In 13 minutes Vladyslav replied: "Yes, no problem, write what you need, I will do everything in my power" (translation from Russian – ed.). Later in court, he explained that he agreed due to "financial hardship". Thus began his cooperation with the Federal Security Service of Russia. Within an hour he received his first task: to find out about all free Wi-Fi points in the center of Cherkasy. In the evening of the next day, he took a shuttle, got to Soborna Square and sent the data about free Wi-Fi to the FSB officer in Viber. For this, on May 14, he received 2,000 hryvnias ($55) on his bank card.
Then he received new tasks, and with them "fees", for which the FSB overseer asked to write and send receipts on Viber: "I inform you that today, 27.05.2022, I received on the PrivatBank card... 4,000 UAH ($110). 27.05.2022 /signature/" (translation from Russian - ed.)."
At the end of May, the man was still waiting for the arrival of the Russian army in Cherkasy and asked to send him weapons to fight with the Ukrainian military if it came to street fighting. In particular, he asked to "send a parcel" with several pistols with silencers and laser sights, ammunition and magazines for them, anti-personnel mines and grenades.
"I would, of course, feel calmer and it would be more fun. Because things will soon start here, and I have only one ASVK (large-caliber sniper rifle – ed.) almost dead with a handful of cartridges. But this, of course, is probably the ideal option" (translation from Russian - ed.),” Vladyslav wrote to his Russian overseer in the evening of May 27.
The FSB officer replied: "We are working on your information". And gave a new task – to film air defense units. On June 1, Vladyslav went out of town to film a military unit. It was during the hidden shooting that he was detained by the Security Service of Ukraine.
For his work, Vladyslav received a total of 8,000 hryvnias ($220) from the Russian secret service and 10 years in prison from Ukrainian justice. During the trial, the man said that he sincerely regretted his cooperation with Russia and that "at first he did not understand the consequences of his actions". He added that he had reported the absence of military personnel at the objects he photographed and geolocated in order not to be shot at. His lawyer noted that all the photographed objects were already publicly available on the Internet. During the meeting Vladyslav also said that he does not mind if he is exchanged for the captured soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
This is one of 1,847 treason cases registered by Ukrainian investigators since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. hromadske analyzed the verdicts on treason passed since the beginning of the full-scale invasion and the published data of the Security Service on the detainees. Based on these data, we explain how the network of Russian special services agents in Ukraine works.
Who are they – state traitors?
"They can be divided into three categories," a source in one of the law enforcement agencies tells hromadske, "Category one is people whom Russia wanted to bring with them [after the full-scale invasion] or had lists and knew exactly which people had been undercover before the invasion and were ready to cooperate."
This conditional category includes politicians who fled to Russia after the Maidan and were probably being groomed by the Russians for leadership positions. For example, former MPs from the Party of Regions Oleg Tsarev and Volodymyr Oliynyk, as well as the so-called "Minister of Foreign Affairs of the "DPR" Natalia Nikonorova arrived in occupied Kyiv Oblast together with Russian troops on February 24 to help establish the occupation regime. Another ex-regional Ihor Markiv fled to Russia in 2014 and was a frequent guest on Russian TV channels. He came to Kyiv Oblast in March 2022 and publicly supported Russian troops and the occupation.
The law enforcement officer who spoke to hromadske explains that it was important for the Russians to put Ukrainians in leadership positions. This would show the international community that Moscow allegedly has support among the locals and protects their desire to join Russia.
"They need all these people just for a screen, because all administrative functions are performed by FSB officers. At first, they did not have such a thing as an occupation administration, because all the management on the ground was done by FSB officers and the military from Russia," the law enforcement officer said.
In Kyiv, the power wing was also waiting for Russia. In October, the SBU detained members of the public association "Patriots for Life". This organization is controlled by former MP Ilya Kiva, who left for Russia. According to the Ukrainian intelligence service, the members of the group were supposed to wait for the Russians in Kyiv and support them in case of capture of the capital. However, after the escape of Kiva, 12 suspects were left without work and decided to earn some money by making drugs. That is why they were detained.
The second and third categories of those accused of treason are of a slightly smaller caliber. Some of them can be recruited by Russians after the occupation of the settlement, others are simply found on the Internet. Representatives of the second category usually agree to cooperate for the "idea" – these people support the Kremlin's narratives, often since the Revolution of Dignity and earlier.
"No matter how sad it is to admit, we have people who are nostalgic for the Soviet past or simply brainwashed [by propaganda] and want to be part of Russia because they think that Russia is cool. 99.9% of them are marginalized people who failed to prove themselves under the Ukrainian government, who are offended by Ukraine for some reason and therefore gladly accept the opportunity to take revenge on our state," the law enforcement officer describes this group of traitors. He adds that some of these people are supporters of the banned Opposition Platform – For Life or Shariy's Party. By the way, the Security Service of Ukraine is investigating 70 criminal proceedings against Opposition Platform functionaries.
An example of ideological cooperation with Russia is the story of a 62-year-old employee of a rocket and space enterprise in Dnipro, who passed information about Ukrainian developments to the Russians. According to the investigation, she "was waiting for the arrival of the ‘Russian world’ in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and in every possible way demonstrated her pro-Russian position on social media.”
The third category of traitors is those who want to make some money on cooperation with Russians. Money (or other benefits) is the main motivation for them. A resident of Korosten, Zhytomyr Oblast, agreed to take pictures of objects for 20,000 rubles ($321), "since he has a heart condition, he decided to earn some extra money and use it to improve his health." Another unemployed man, who attended a group of anonymous alcohol and drug addicts, received about 20,000 hryvnias ($546) for trying to find out information about his unit from a military man. A spotter from Zaporizhzhya Oblast complained that he had no money and asked for 20,000 hryvnias ($546) for his data.
In addition to money, Ukrainians are also motivated to cooperate with Russians by other circumstances. For example, the hope to get positions in the occupation administration or other services from the Russian special services. According to the court, the pro-Russian private notary was afraid that he would be mobilized and wanted to avoid conscription by leaving for Russia. He contacted an FSB officer and in exchange for help with leaving Ukraine agreed to send information about the location of checkpoints and critical infrastructure in Kyiv. On March 6, the notary walked along Velyka Zhytomyrska Street, marked the checkpoints on Google Maps, and subsequently sent this data to the FSB officer via Telegram. He pleaded guilty in court and got eight years in prison.
Who and how recruits agents in Ukraine?
Former SBU Head Ivan Bakanov said in 2021 that 7,000 Russian special services officers were working against Ukraine. Ukrainians are being recruited by Russian intelligence officers from the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (GRU) and the Federal Security Service (FSB), and in a race against time.
"They have a competitive principle, especially after the failures began. Everyone wants to show their effectiveness, so they do the same thing, but they fight for numbers," says a source in Ukrainian law enforcement agencies.
In several court materials, the defendants identified their overseers in detail – as employees of the fifth FSB service. Thus, the fire spotter at the airfield in Kramatorsk was supervised by Aleksey Shingirev, a staff member of the 9th Department of the 5th FSB Service. According to Russian media, the fifth FSB service is engaged in foreign intelligence and manages operations in the countries of the former USSR. The ninth department is responsible for special operations, search for agents and intelligence in Ukraine. Media reported that after the failure in Ukraine, Putin purged the FSB for exaggerating its achievements in Ukraine.
Russian special services have been building an agent network in Ukraine for years. Some were recruited during trips to Russia or while living or working in Russia and the occupied territories. One such example is a citizen of Ukraine who has been living and doing business in Russia since the 1990s. The FSB recruited him in 2017 and offered him to travel to Ukraine and establish contacts with politicians, priests, and the military. During a visit to his relatives in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, he offered a representative of Batkivshchyna to create a new "party with pro-European views that would not spoil relations with the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States and Russia".
Another fire spotter in Lysychansk was recruited by the FSB when he was in a Russian colony and then transferred to Ukraine. Another spotter in Kharkiv Oblast – a former law enforcement officer – was recruited by an FSB officer while crossing the Russian border in 2019. The 49-year-old Kharkiv resident had been living in occupied Donetsk since 2014 and recruited other Kharkiv residents who participated in the 2014 Anti-Maidan protests to carry out tasks for the GRU.
Some agents can be found by Russian special services right on the Internet. From the studied court verdicts, it is clear that many of those accused of treason used Russian social networks – VKontakte and Odnoklassniki – where they openly expressed support for Russia.
"Russia has a very powerful system of monitoring social networks: they look at who writes what on Facebook, VKontakte and Odnoklassniki," says the source in the law enforcement agency. According to him, Russian intelligence officers can search for agents by monitoring even comments on Telegram messenger. They get in touch with those dissatisfied with the Ukrainian authorities or supporters of the "Russian world" and ask, as in the case of Vladyslav from Cherkasy, whether this person is ready to help Russia to capture Ukraine.
For example, the Kryvyi Rih airport fire spotter "came to the attention of Russian special services as an active user of anonymous Telegram channels and social networks banned in Ukraine," where he publicly called for support for Moscow and justified the crimes of Russians. A resident of Mykolaiv, who passed to the Russians the locations of the deployment of combat aircraft of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, was tracked down by the Russian special services "due to her pro-Kremlin views, which she repeatedly expressed" in public. The man, who leaked the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Odesa, was involved in cooperation with the Russian special services due to "an active pro-Kremlin position, which he repeatedly made public among his environment and on social media".
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Although Ukrainian law enforcers are constantly detaining suspected collaborators with Russia, the work of Russian special services in Ukraine has become more difficult, a source in Ukrainian law enforcement assures.
"It has become more difficult for them to search for traitors, because now things have changed in our country," the source concluded.
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hromadske studied all the verdicts on treason and collaboration that were publicly available in the court register as of November 9 – about 300 verdicts in total. At the time of publication, the review of these cases is temporarily unavailable.