Ukrainian servicewoman from Sevastopol convicted of working for FSB

The court found guilty of high treason and desertion a former Ukrainian servicewoman who defected to the Russian special services after the occupation of Crimea. According to the evidence of the Security Service of Ukraine, she was sentenced to 15 years in prison in absentia.

This was reported by the press service of the SBU Office in Poltava region.

According to the investigation, the convict is a resident of Sevastopol and at the time of the occupation of the peninsula served in the military unit of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine, which was stationed in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. She held the position of the head of the artillery and technical weapons warehouse and had access to the unit's material resources.

According to the pre-trial investigation, in May 2014, after the beginning of the Russian aggression and the annexation of Crimea, the servicewoman ignored the order of her superiors to relocate the personnel to the territory controlled by Ukraine. Instead, she voluntarily joined the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation.

The SBU classified the servicewoman's actions as deliberate assistance to the aggressor state and undermining Ukraine's defense capabilities. The collected evidence became the basis for bringing her to criminal responsibility.

The court found the defendant guilty of high treason and desertion. Taking into account that the convicted person is in the temporarily occupied territory and is evading justice, the verdict was passed in absentia.

Also, two former SBU officers in Crimea, who joined the Russian Federal Security Service after the occupation of the peninsula, were accused of torture. According to the investigation, they illegally detained and tortured a civilian for more than six hours, forcing him to confess to involvement in a "banned" organization.

In particular, they helped the occupation authorities fabricate cases against local residents for alleged involvement in the Hizb ut-Tahrir organization, which is recognized as a terrorist organization in Russia.

Анна Бальчінос