A citizen of the People’s Republic of China, Shu Yuanjie, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison in Ukraine on espionage charges, the Security Service of Ukraine reports.
The investigation proved that the spy, a Ph.D. in Technical Sciences, had been gathering intelligence under the pretext of official technical sci-tech cooperation between China and Ukraine.
During his business trips to Ukraine, the foreigner attempted to recruit a group of Ukrainian scientists into confidential cooperation, the report says, adding that for a monetary reward the man planned to get access to classified projects of Ukraine's rocket and space industry.
SBU operatives caught the perpetrator red-handed during a sting raid upon his attempt to obtain classified papers.
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The court found the man guilty of committing a crime under Part 1 Article 114 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The verdict has come into force.
It's not the first time Ukrainian research institutions are targeted by foreign intelligence, the SBU notes.
In July 2011, counterintel operatives detained two officials with North Korea's Economics and Trade Mission, who had tried to acquire classified documents on rocket projects. They have been sentenced to eight years of imprisonment for espionage.
