By Tom Balmforth
ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine (Reuters) – Spying runs within the household for Oleh Kolesnikov.
The Ukrainian citizen mentioned his father was a Soviet intelligence agent in Cuba through the Chilly Conflict, posing as a translator, and his cousin works with the Russian safety service.
That made him a chief candidate for wartime espionage.
Kolesnikov advised Reuters he agreed to produce the Russians with details about army websites and troop actions in his house metropolis of Zaporizhzhia, and report again on the place their missiles had landed.
He had supported the idea of the “Russian World”, a doctrine backed by President Vladimir Putin that emphasizes Moscow’s historic and cultural ties to neighbouring nations, and one which some hardliners in Moscow have used to justify intervention overseas in defence of Russian audio system.
“I did not do that for cash,” he mentioned.
However he had regrets: That the inaccuracy of some missile strikes led to civilians being killed, and that the battle – which he had assumed can be a swift, medical affair – has dragged on for nearly three years, devastating his homeland.
“I assumed they (the Russians) would advance quickly,” mentioned the 52-year-old, a former state land supervisor who grew up in a Soviet Ukraine. “It turned out prefer it at all times does. They plan one factor and one other factor occurs solely.”
His spouse left him when he was arrested for treason, taking their 11-year-old baby together with her.
Reuters spoke to Kolesnikov in a police facility in Zaporizhzhia in April, within the presence of an officer from the Safety Service of Ukraine (SBU), 5 months earlier than he was sentenced to life in jail for treason.
His is amongst greater than 3,200 state treason instances launched by Ukrainian authorities since Russia’s full-scale invasion, together with feeding info to Moscow to help missile strikes and spreading Russian propaganda, in accordance with the SBU.
Reuters interviews with three informants convicted by Ukraine and two SBU Ukrainian counter-intelligence officers spoke to the divided loyalties felt by some folks in Ukraine, the place older generations grew up as a part of the Soviet Union earlier than the bloc’s breakup in 1991 ended the Chilly Conflict.
Vasyl Maliuk, the pinnacle of the SBU, advised Reuters that Ukrainian counter-espionage work to root out Russian brokers was key to victory within the battle, including that the Kremlin had been “secretly infiltrating” the nation and recruiting belongings for many years.
“Our systematic method is yielding outcomes,” he added. “We’ve got purged enemy brokers in all spheres of life and proceed to take action.”
Russia’s international ministry and Federal Safety Service (FSB) did not reply to requests for remark for this text.
Ukrainian spies have additionally performed a distinguished function within the battle, which erupted in February 2022 when Russia launched a full-scale invasion.
Final week, the SBU orchestrated a bomb blast exterior a Moscow house block that killed Lieutenant Basic Igor Kirillov, chief of Russia’s Nuclear, Organic and Chemical Safety Troops, in accordance with a supply on the company.
This was the most recent in a string of focused assassinations that Moscow says Ukraine has carried out through the battle.
In November 2022, Reuters interviewed a number of residents of Kherson who equipped info to assist Kyiv conduct strikes on Russian targets to assist Ukraine recapture the southern metropolis.
HOW TO CATCH A SPY
SBU counter-espionage work has recognized completely different classes of residents vulnerable to being recruited by the enemy, in accordance with an SBU officer interviewed by Reuters in Zaporizhzhia who recognized himself by the decision signal “Fanat”.
They’re individuals who have been overtly pro-Russian or have household hyperlinks to Soviet or Russian intelligence; kinfolk of captured Ukrainian troopers; and the household of individuals residing in occupied territory.
Kolesnikov was class one, he added.
He was convicted in September of supplying the Russians with the coordinates and different details about dozens of primarily army websites, in accordance with his treason verdict, which was seen by Reuters. It did not say what number of of these areas have been hit by strikes.
Kolesnikov’s lawyer mentioned he primarily helped confirm the aftermath of strikes slightly than serving to establish targets.
Kolesnikov advised Reuters that in September 2022 he handed info to the Russians a couple of assembly of native officers that was meant to occur on the Dawn Lodge in Zaporizhzhia.
The constructing was struck by a Russian missile the next day, on Sept. 22, 2022, in accordance with the decision. The assembly did not happen, for undetermined causes, although the strike devastated the constructing in Zaporizhzhia’s outdated city, killing a civilian and hurting 5 others, the decision mentioned.
The resort convention corridor and cratered summer time terrace remained strewn with rubble throughout a Reuters go to to the positioning in April this yr.
Fanat mentioned SBU brokers started closing in on Kolesnikov after the suspect’s automotive was noticed by witnesses on the web site of a Russian strike in March final yr that narrowly missed a tv tower and hit an house block, killing a number of civilians. Kolesnikov advised Reuters he was there afterwards checking on the outcomes of the assault.
Ukrainian brokers traced Kolesnikov’s cellphone to quite a few affect websites, in accordance with Fanat. The breakthrough within the case got here after they planted a bug in his automotive and overhead him discussing his plans with Vitaly Kusakin, a good friend who labored as a chauffeur for an area official, and whom Kolesnikov had recruited to assist collect intelligence, the SBU officer mentioned.
Kolesnikov was arrested at his house on Might 5, 2023.
Testifying at his trial at a district courtroom behind closed doorways in Zaporizhzhia, Kolesnikov mentioned he was against the Ukrainian authorities, however not Ukraine itself, the decision mentioned.
He pleaded “partially” responsible to the treason costs in opposition to him, saying he had not recognized that his cousin who requested him to produce info was a member of the FSB on the time, in accordance with the decision. A panel of judges rejected that plea and located him responsible of “intentional actions” involving “offering help to a consultant of a international state in conducting subversive actions”.
Kusakin has been jailed for 15 years.
SPY RINGS AND PRISONER SWAPS
Maliuk, the pinnacle of the SBU, mentioned his company had uncovered 47 Russian agent networks final yr and 46 extra this yr, comprising folks starting from lawmakers to energetic servicemen, he added, with out figuring out the suspects.
Because the battle has raged on, decreasing the benefit of journey from one facet of the entrance to the opposite, recruitment strategies have needed to change, safety officers mentioned.
Earlier than the full-scale invasion, Ukrainian nationals have been primarily recruited throughout journeys to Russia, however approaches are extra typically made on-line now utilizing social networks, the SBU mentioned.
“Individuals who specific pro-Kremlin views are recognized and located primarily based on their feedback, after which contacted,” it mentioned.
The motives for performing as an informant vary from ideological to guarantees of monetary or different rewards and blackmail or different threats, the SBU mentioned.
For Kolesnikov, who says he supplied his companies freely, the longer term appears bleak. He advised Reuters his solely hope of salvaging his life was to be launched in a future prisoner swap with Russia.
“I want to be exchanged,” he sighed. “However that does not rely upon me.”
