Ukrainian SBU Detains Pro-Russian Agitator in Odesa for War Crimes

The Security Service of Ukraine detained a man in Odesa on suspicion of pro-Russian agitation, as well as justifying the armed aggression of the Russian Federation and war crimes of Russians.

This was reported by the SBU press service.

The Security Service of Ukraine claims that it has collected evidence against another pro-Russian propagandist who publicly justified the armed aggression of the Russian Federation and the crimes of the occupiers. The suspect was a citizen of a Southern European country. With the beginning of the full-scale invasion, he intensified his activities in social networks and began actively spreading fakes of Moscow propaganda, positioning himself as a so-called eyewitness of the events.

It was also established that he gave an interview to one of the leading radio stations in his country, in which he called Russia's war against Ukraine an "internal civil conflict" and justified Russia's crimes, including missile and drone strikes on civilian infrastructure. The semantic and linguistic examination initiated by the SBU confirmed the facts of the criminal actions of the defendant.

During the search of the enemy accomplice's residence, the SBU found a mobile phone and computer equipment with evidence of illegal activity. Based on the collected evidence, the SBU investigators served the offender a notice of suspicion under Part 3 of Article 436-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (justification, recognition as lawful, denial of Russian armed aggression against Ukraine, glorification of its participants, using the media).

The court imposed on him a pre-trial restraint in the form of detention.

Earlier, the Prymorskyi Court of Odesa found a 76-year-old Odesa resident guilty of inciting national hatred and justifying the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. The pensioner was sentenced to a probationary period of two years, which was replaced by a four-year prison sentence.

Кирило Бойко