Court sentences Russian agent who tried to join Sumy RMA to 15 years in prison

Based on the evidence gathered by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), a Russian FSB agent who attempted to get a job at the Defense Work Department of the Sumy Regional Military Administration (RMA) was sentenced to 15 years in prison with confiscation of property.

The SBU stated this in an article on its website, Ukrinform reports.

The investigation established that the traitor tried to join the Defense Work Department of the Sumy Regional Military Administration to conduct subversive activities within the state institution.

If he had succeeded, the mole was supposed to collect and transmit secret information about the border region's defense system to the Russians.

SBU counterintelligence uncovered the offender in advance and detained him near the administrative building of the Sumy RMA in January 2023.

According to the investigation, the traitor was a resident of the regional center who agreed to work for the Russian intelligence service for money.

As noted by the SBU, initially the Russian FSB tested him by collecting information about the locations and movements of Ukraine's Defense Forces in the region.

He also gathered personal files on local law enforcement officers and their families for the invaders. Later, the Russians planned to use this information for recruitment and information sabotage.

Subsequently, the agent received the task of getting a junior position in the RMA defense department.

During a search of his residence, authorities found a Russian passport and smartphones he used to communicate with the enemy. Based on counterintelligence and investigative materials, the court found the agent guilty under Part 2 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (state treason committed under martial law).

As Ukrinform reported, the SBU previously detained an IT specialist in Kharkiv region who was transmitting coordinates to the Russian military intelligence (better known as the GRU) for assaults on Defense Forces positions in the Kupiansk sector.