Russia has created a mechanism for coordination and direct involvement of its troops in the aggression against Ukraine, said Chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Vasyl Grytsak today during his joint press conference with Chairman the State Border Guard Service Viktor Nazarenko regarding the arrest of an officer of Russia’s Armed Forces in Donbas on July 25, an UNIAN correspondent reports.
According to Grytsak, at about 22:00 Kyiv time on July 25, the border guards detained a KamAZ truck at the Berezove checkpoint. Citizen of the Russian Federation Vladimir Starkov, born in 1978, a native of Khabarovsk region, was riding in the cabin.
"The testimony provided by Starkov, as well as his Russian-made notepad and other documents seized during his arrest once again confirm the existence of a well-established mechanism for coordination and direct involvement of military personnel from Russia’s Armed Forces in Russian aggression against our country," said Grytsak.
Grytsak explained the mechanism as follows: the servicemen of Russian Armed Forces are offered further military service in the illegal armed groups of the so-called "DPR" and "LPR" [Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, respectively] and are promised triple allowance.
"Those who agree are stripped of all the documents that may identify them as citizens of the Russian Federation and as military personnel of Russian Armed Forces on active duty – passports, military IDs and personal badges," said the head of the SBU.
During a joint press conference, a video was shown to the journalists with details of intercepted conversations between militants regarding the capture of Starkov by Ukrainian authorities.
Attention: The video contains explicit language [in Russian].
As UNIAN reported earlier with reference to the State Border Service of Ukraine, about 22:00 Kyiv time on July 25, the State Border Service officers detained a KamAZ truck loaded with ammunition at the Berexove checkpoint (Donetsk region). Two men in military uniform were in the vehicle, which was moving from the occupied territory.
Following the detention of the truck, border guards made a preliminary report that that one of the detained men was a Major of Russia’s Armed Forces, while the other detainee was a militant from an illegal armed group.
