Ukraine announces detention of Russian spies from Transnistria
Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) has detained five officers of the Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia at the moment when they were accepting state-secrecy information from a Ukraine citizen, SBU Chief Valentin Nalivaichenko announced at a news conference here.
He said the information handover took place in the Odessa oblast [region] of Ukraine, some 14 kilometers off the border with Transnistria. Covering measures were ensured by yet another three FSB officers on service at the Operative Group of Russian Troop (OGRV) deployed in Transnistria.
Nalivaichenko said the actions of the above officers were followed from a distance by their boss - a lieutenant colonel, the chief of the FSB military intelligence unit in the OGRV, who left the scene, having abandoned his detained subordinates. In his words, the detained men were preparing to receive Ukraine's state secrets for a reward of US$2,000 intended for the Ukrainian informer.
The SBU Chief said, all the detained men and their personal effects were examined, and the check revealed a whole arsenal of espionage equipment such as: digital dictaphones, a mini video camera built into a pen, a miniature container for storing digital data with instructions for the agent, a net-book, and flashcards.
The senior Russian officer was arrested, and a legal action on suspicion of espionage has been started against him. And the rest FSB officers were interrogated, expelled from the territory of Ukraine, and shall have no right to enter it for nearest 5 years.
The Russian side has recognized the detention fact, stating that the FSB actions were a response step.
According to the report made by the FSB Public Relations Center, the Ukrainian citizen concerned, Mr. Ruslan Pilipenko, is known to the FSB as an officer of the Intelligence Department of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense. Since 2006, he has been actively working to the detriment of the interests of the Russian armed forces' security. On October 29, 2009 he was detained in Tiraspol at a Russian military object, when he was carrying out intelligence actions - taking photographs of 'secret' and 'top secret' documents.
The FSB further reported that Pilipenko eventually produced evidence of confession, and voluntarily stated readiness to supply information about other intelligence activities and agents engaged in espionage against the Russian Federation. The man suggested meeting on January 27 in the Ukrainian territory, where he would handover information allegedly proving the availability of a threat to the security of Russian military objects in Transnistria, the Federal Security Service reported.
Infotag, Moldovan news agency
- Pro-Putin demonstration in Tiraspol
- STRATFOR: “Moldova's small size and strategic location is a main factor in the weakness of the state and its ability to balance between external powers”
- Leader of Transnistria changed his mind
- Moldova-Ukraine relations assessed as positive
- Putin to return to power with damaged credibility and legitimacy
- Moscow to use Shevchuk in Transnistria to politically dominate Moldova
- Moldova's Transnistria set for makeover from Smirnov to Shevchuk
- Russia might ban migrants who violate the immigration legislation
- Economic crisis behind ‘winds of change’ in post-Soviet states
- New York: Russian army out of Moldova! (VIDEO)
- 10 most important world events of 2005
- The rise and fall of Saddam Hussein
- Iraq: Saddam Hussein and another ex-senior officials sentenced to death by hanging
- Analysis: Black Sea Rivalry
- Report: Saddam Hussein has been executed
- On 31 August Moldova celebrates the Language Day
- Sexual humiliation and torture of female protesters reported
- Saddam Hussein handed over to Iraqi authorities, say lawyers
- Saddam Hussein's execution could be within next 48-36 hours
- Deadly blast at checkpoint near Peshawar