SBU: Court sentences Russian agent to 15 years in prison

A Ukrainian court has sentenced a man accused of being a Russian agent to 15 years in prison, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said on March 13.

Allegedly, the convict is a former vice-rector of one of Kyiv's higher medical education institutions. 

In 2020, he moved to Russian-occupied Crimea, where he was recruited by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), according to the SBU.

A month before the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, he returned to Kyiv to carry out his missions, the SBU said. 

The agent was gathering information about Ukrainian soldiers who were undergoing treatment in hospitals in the Kyiv region, according to the SBU.

Furthermore, the agent established contacts with Ukrainian and foreign scientists for their further recruitment by the FSB. 

As a reward for his espionage, the FSB promised to appoint the agent as a deputy health minister in the illegal occupation administration of Russian-annexed Crimea, the SBU added.