Russian agent, who called himself elusive, convicted in Odesa region

The Kiliya District Court of Odesa Region found a local resident guilty of high treason and sentenced him to 15 years in prison.

As stated in the court' s verdict, the man was detained last year.

A woman who was a witness recalled that in his correspondence with the Russians, the accused called himself elusive.

In July 2024, in the interests of the Russian Federation, he took a photo of the entry-exit checkpoint to the territory of the Izmail Sea Commercial Port and handed it over to a representative of the Russian Federation, promising to monitor other strategic facilities.

He also decided to forge a fake identity and contacted the FSB representatives and voluntarily offered his services. In addition to information about strategic facilities, he also began to report on the movements of the military, alert groups of territorial recruitment and social support centers, and said that he had the ability and plan to set fire to military vehicles. He told the FSB representative about his plan, and the latter, in turn, provided him with video instructions on how to set fire to the car.

However, his hunt for military vehicles was unsuccessful, so he suggested setting fire to the power distribution cabinet of Ukrzaliznytsia. The curator replied that he agreed if it was on a section where a train with military equipment was running. In the end, nothing was set on fire, so on July 12, 2024, the man sent a photo of the checkpoint to the territory of the Izmail seaport and the coordinates from Googlemaps. On the same day, in the evening, he sent a photo of the positions of air defense units.

At the court hearing, the man did not admit his guilt, and explained his pictures of military movements and locations as a desire to show off. However, he also stated that he was not satisfied with the state of Ukraine, so he could have transmitted the coordinates in 2023.

Кирило Бойко