Couple of Russian spies detained in Odessa

The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has detained a couple of Russian spies in Odesa as they were preparing a missile attack on air defence systems and artillery storage points of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Source: Press service of the SSU; Prosecutor’s Office in Odesa Oblast

Quote: "Military counterintelligence of the Security Service exposed two agents of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (GRU) as a result of a special operation in Odesa.

The perpetrators collected intelligence about possible locations and movements of air defence units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the oblast. However, the employees of the Security Service timely exposed the Russian spies and established control over them at the initial stage of subversive activities.

At the end, the SSU detained both spies while they were trying to forward classified information to the Russian Federation."

Details: Both of the detainees, the husband (born in Odesa, but later served in the Russian army and took part in hostilities on the territory of Chechnya in the 1990s) and the wife are citizens of Russia.

The SSU notes that the Russian Federation sent the agents to Ukraine back in 2018; the couple obtained a residence permit.

Having legalised their stay in Ukraine, the couple went into the so-called "waiting mode", studied the social and political situation in Ukraine’s south, and established friendly relations with residents of Odesa and former acquaintances, whom they planned to use in the future for intelligence activities.

Since the beginning of the enemy's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the suspects became more active and, in order to complete the tasks of their Russian handlers, they collected intelligence on the location of anti-aircraft missile units, missile weapons, and the location of hangars where military equipment was stored.

Above all, the spies tried to identify the combat positions of the Crotale anti-aircraft missile systems and the location of field artillery dumps with ammunition for air defence systems. Intelligence information was needed by the occupiers to carry out airstrikes with Kalibr cruise missiles or Kinzhal hypersonic missiles against Ukrainian military facilities, the SSU notes.

The agents sent the collected information to a "liaison": a resident of Sevastopol, a former Russian special forces officer who secretly cooperated with the GRU, and used the position of the head of a charity fund for "cover". He forwarded the information on to his handler, a staff member of the Russian Defence Intelligence.

To communicate with representatives of the Russian special service, the spies used a previously prepared anonymous Telegram channel.

During searches of the agents' residence, Ukraine’s law enforcement officers found mobile phones and computer equipment with evidence of hidden correspondence with the aggressor country’s secret services.

The detainees were charged with espionage. They were placed in pre-trial custody.

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