In Ukraine's Volyn region bordering Belarus, SBU counterintelligence operatives exposed and arrested a Belarusian citizen who is believed to have been working for the neighboring country's KGB to the detriment of Ukraine's national security.
The detainee had been recruited and sent to Ukraine to gather intelligence and perform other secret missions, the SBU press office reports.
"It has been documented that the foreign intelligence operatives have tasked their agent with collecting up-to-date information about the situation in the border area: measures to protect the state border and the relevant procedure, border guards' technical capabilities and personnel, and "kompromat" on border guards and customs officers. To this end, the Belarus KGB agent attempted to engage as human assets Ukrainian border guards with access to state secrets," the SBU said.
It is also reported that besides intelligence gathering, the culprit was required to set up channels for trafficking weapons and dual-use goods across the state border.
Read alsoUkraine's MFA: Claims of large-scale arms trafficking to Belarus "complete nonsense"The available evidence proves that among other things, such efforts were aimed at accusing Ukraine, through provocations and staged acts, of allegedly supplying weapons to Belarus to destabilize the country – an unsubstantiated claim voiced by Alexander Lukashenko amid massive protests back in 2020.
The SBU has pressed espionage charges against the arrested Belarus national.
Further investigation is underway.
