Ukraine’s SBU uncovers FSB spy network including ex-bodyguards and National Guard member
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Ukraine’s SBU Security Service announced the dismantling of
an FSB spy network involving former bodyguards of ex-President Viktor
Yanukovych and a National Guard servicemember, the SBU reported on Telegram on Aug. 14.
According to the investigation, the FSB network collected
confidential information about Ukrainian intelligence agencies, law enforcement
bodies, and public figures. The SBU suspects that this information was intended
to be used by Russia for the elimination, recruitment, and information warfare
against Ukrainian officials.
The network included, among others, two former bodyguards of
Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia, and an active National Guard member. The
network was reportedly led by 48-year-old Dmytro Ivantsov, a former head of a
State Protection Administration unit who accompanied Yanukovych during his
escape to Russia.
Investigators believe that Ivantsov was recruited by Igor
Yegorov, an FSB counterintelligence officer, before 2012. After Russia’s occupation
of Crimea, Ivantsov betrayed his oath, obtained a Russian passport, and began
working for the Federal Security Service of Russia.
The SBU reported that Ivantsov continued his work for the
FSB, later recruiting former Yanukovych bodyguard Roman Lapa, who is currently
in occupied Crimea. Additionally, the network included a 46-year-old Kyiv
resident and National Guard member who had previously been Ivantsov’s personal
driver. He used his connections within law enforcement to gather information and
seek out “like-minded individuals” for recruitment.
The SBU documented the intelligence activities of each
network member and detained the National Guard member in Kyiv. He has been
charged under Part 1 of Article 111 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code (treason)
and is being held in custody, facing up to 15 years in prison.
Ivantsov and Lapa face charges under Part 2 of Article 28
and Parts 1-2 of Article 111 (treason committed during martial law in
conspiracy by a group of individuals). The investigation revealed that Ivantsov
transmitted secret operational plans from his time with the State Protection
Administration to the FSB.
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