SBU detains associate professor in Odesa on suspicion of cooperation with Russia

The Security Service of Ukraine's military counterintelligence detained an associate professor at a local university in Odesa on suspicion of collaborating with the Russian federal security service.

According to the SBU press service, the woman was detained when she was about to catch a bus.

She was found to have tickets to an EU country from where she was planning to move to the Russian Federation. According to the case file, the 52-year-old associate professor came to the attention of the enemy special service when she called for the seizure of Odesa region in the banned social network VKontakte.

In exchange for her cooperation, the occupiers promised her a position as a lecturer in the Department of Russian Literature at a Moscow university. One of her main tasks in Ukraine was to identify the temporary deployment points of the Defense Forces in Odesa. First of all, the enemy was interested in operational airfields with combat helicopters and warehouses with weapons and ammunition of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

To gather intelligence, the agent tried to gain the trust of Ukrainian soldiers living in the neighborhood. Later, she was tasked with recruiting them into her own network of informants, through which the federal security service planned to spy on the defenders of the southern region.

SBU officers thwarted the occupiers' plans and detained the agent. During the searches, they seized her smartphone and a tablet with prepared reports for the FSB. Investigators notified the detainee of suspicion of high treason committed under martial law. The woman is currently in custody. If her guilt is proven, the associate professor faces imprisonment for a term of fifteen years or life imprisonment with confiscation of property.

Кирило Бойко