The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has neutralized an agent network of the Federal Security Service (FSB) of the Russian Federation, which included former bodyguards of fugitive President Viktor Yanukovych and a current serviceman of the National Guard of Ukraine. The main agent of this network was 48-year-old Dmytro Ivantsov, a former head of the State Protection Department (UDO), who actively cooperated with the FSB until 2012.
This was reported by the press services of the Security Service of Ukraine and the Prosecutor General's Office. Among those detained is a person who faces up to 15 years in prison.
Investigation details
According to the SBU, the FSB agent network was engaged in collecting confidential information about Ukrainian special services and law enforcement agencies, as well as about high-ranking officials and public figures who were of interest to the enemy. The information collected by the agents was planned to be used for liquidation, recruitment, and for conducting information and psychological special operations against Ukrainian officials.
The network's chief agent, Dmitry Ivantsov, was a former head of the UDO unit and accompanied Viktor Yanukovych during his escape to Russia. After the occupation of Crimea, Ivantsov betrayed his oath, took Russian citizenship, and joined the Federal Security Service (FSO). The pre-trial investigation established that he continued to work actively for the FSB, involving Yanukovych's former deputy security chief, Roman Lapa, who remained in Crimea and works in Sevastopol, in his spying activities.
The role of an active National Guard service member
The spy group also included a 46-year-old Kyiv resident, a current serviceman of the National Guard of Ukraine. This National Guardsman, who had previously been Ivantsov's driver in the UDO, used his law enforcement acquaintances to obtain information from departmental information systems and look for "like-minded people" for recruitment. He planned to pass the collected information to Ivantsov through prepared spy communication channels.
Investigation results
The SBU documented the intelligence activities of each member of the intelligence group and detained the suspect, who was operating in Kyiv. During the searches, computer equipment, mobile phones, and other physical evidence of cooperation with the FSB were seized from him. The detainee was informed of suspicion of high treason.
The actions of Dmitry Ivantsov and his accomplice in Crimea were qualified as high treason committed under martial law by a prior conspiracy of a group of individuals. It was established that Ivantsov handed over to the FSB secret plans for the procedure for action in the event of a threat to the president's life, which he received while working in the UDO.
An investigation is underway to bring to justice all those involved in the crime.
