The FSB could have been monitoring all of Ukraine through a Transnistrian oligarch's firm. (Translation of the text: Argument)
One of Ukraine's largest mobile operators, the Odessa-based firm Intertelecom, controlled by Transnistrian oligarch Viktor Gushan, has become the subject of an investigation by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). The firm is suspected of providing Russian intelligence services with the ability to eavesdrop on the majority of Ukrainian telephone subscribers. Investigation.
A journalistic investigation revealed that Intertelecom is closely connected to two mobile and internet operators located in Russian-controlled territories: annexed Crimea and the breakaway Moldovan region of Transnistria.
Moreover, all key figures in the communications business have ties to the Transnistrian region. The owner of the Crimean firm is a former top manager of the Tiraspol-based holding company "Sheriff," the director of the Ukrainian company "Intertelecom" is the former Minister of Telecommunications of the unrecognized Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, and the co-owner and ultimate beneficiary of the Odessa telecom operator is an oligarch from Tiraspol and the founder of the infamous "Sheriff."
Twin companies
Last year TEXTS They described in detail the scale of Viktor Gushan's business empire and also proved that the Sheriff holding company he founded controls power and the economy in the self-proclaimed Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR).
This holding also includes the company Interdnestrcom (IDK), founded by Gushan in 1998. Despite the fact that the company's license was revoked by the constitutional authority of the Republic of Moldova back in 2004, IDK continues to operate illegally in the unrecognized republic, remaining the only fixed-line and mobile operator in the Transnistrian region, as well as the largest internet provider.
Unlike Moldova, Intertelecom, founded in Ukraine by an oligarch, expanded throughout the country, becoming one of the four largest mobile operators and boasting the largest 3G coverage area, covering 86% of Ukraine's territory. It was founded in 1998 by the same Viktor Gushan, who at the time of its founding was listed in documents as a Russian citizen with a Tiraspol residence permit.
A Transnistrian oligarch (and most likely an agent of one of the Russian special services – the FSB or GRU – Argument), but already with a Ukrainian residence permit, is still a co-owner and the sole ultimate beneficiary of the company Intertelecom.
Money and equipment
November 11, 2016. Odessa. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) conducts searches at the two main offices of Intertelecom, located at 66 and 100 Mala Arnautska Street.
Intertelecom office in Odessa
SBU investigators are revealing server equipment that ensures the smooth operation of a Russian mobile phone and internet operator with the same name as the Odesa-based company, Intertelecom. This operator, which shares the same name, serves subscribers in annexed Crimea.
As a result, 483 mobile phones, SIP servers, and other telecommunications equipment were seized from two Odessa offices of the Ukrainian company Intertelecom. These devices could confirm connections to the occupied territories. They also revealed evidence of Russian intelligence agencies organizing remote control systems and collecting information from subscribers in Ukraine.
A flash drive and five mobile phones were also seized from the office of Intertelecom CEO Boris Akulov. $300 was found at the company's director's residence. Large sums of money were also found in the possession of other employees, whose names have not yet been released: $25 and 27 hryvnias.
Transnistrian oligarch Viktor Gushan
According to law enforcement, the money may have been obtained by the company's top managers through criminal activity. Specifically, the SBU believes that the cash was transferred to Intertelecom LLC's management by representatives of Russian telecommunications companies under the control of Russian intelligence services for organizing and maintaining an illegal communications channel with temporarily occupied Crimea. Therefore, the Main Investigative Department of the SBU seized the money, recognizing it as "material evidence in criminal proceedings."
Traitors
A criminal case against Intertelecom LLC was opened back in August 2016 under three articles: Article 111 – "high treason"; Article 163, Part 2 – violation of the privacy of correspondence and telephone conversations committed against government officials using special means intended for the covert collection of information; Part 3 of Article 368 – accepting a bribe on an especially large scale or by an official occupying a particularly responsible position.
According to the law, the perpetrators of these crimes face imprisonment for 10 to 15 years.
The SBU has not yet named the suspects or accused, citing investigative secrecy.
Investigators established that Intertelecom LLC transferred part of its equipment and network to a Russian operator in annexed Crimea. Furthermore, the Ukrainian company's equipment provided telephone communications between Crimea and Russia and the unrecognized Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic.
In fact, the company continued to provide telecommunications services on the peninsula, which is prohibited by Ukrainian law.
Funds located at the Intertelecom office. Photo courtesy of the SBU press service.
Moreover, the Main Investigative Department of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) asserts that Intertelecom LLC collaborated with Russian intelligence agencies to wiretap and monitor Ukrainian subscribers, not only its own but also those of other mobile operators.
Investigators suspect that Intertelecom's top management provided assistance to Russian intelligence services in subversive activities against Ukraine.
Among the suspects: Boris Akulov, General Director of Intertelecom LLC, Deputy General Director of Intertelecom LLC (name not given), Head of Marketing and Sales Department, Head of Security Department, Head of Technical Department.
However, the manager of the Ukrainian company denies his guilt.
"We are accused of treason, espionage, and so on. I can say that this accusation can only be described as a witch hunt. Based on the entire logic of how events unfolded yesterday [November 11, 2016, the day of the search of the company's offices], everyone involved in the investigation on the Intertelecom side has developed a very bitter feeling that the public accusations leveled against our company are nothing more than a pretext for some completely incomprehensible task with unclear goals that have nothing to do with the specifics of the intelligence agency that was involved," said Boris Akulov, CEO of Intertelecom LLC.
Stop, frame
The Russian company International Telecommunications LLC (abbreviated as Intertelecom) was registered in the capital of Crimea, Simferopol, in 2014, two months after the peninsula's annexation by the Russian Federation. Formally, it was a new company, as its Ukrainian counterpart announced its withdrawal from the peninsula immediately after its occupation by Russia.
The company's owner was listed as Vyacheslav Chernikevich. Formally, the new Russian company, Intertelecom, had nothing in common with the Ukrainian operator of the same name, much less with the Transnistrian one. But there is a connection: Chernikevich previously held the position of Commercial Director at the Transnistrian IDC, part of the Sheriff holding company.
Boris Akulov, CEO of the Ukrainian Intertelecom LLC
Just six months after its registration, Russia's Intertelecom received a license to provide internet and mobile telephony services throughout the peninsula. Like Interdnestrcom and Ukraine's Intertelecom, the Russian company operated using the CDMA format.
However, several weeks after the SBU searches in Odesa, the administration of the Crimean company Intertelecom published an online announcement stating that the company would cease providing CDMA telephony services as of January 1, 2017. Customers were also asked to return internet equipment labeled as "Intertelecom Ukraine CDMA modems." Instead, subscribers were advised to upgrade to new UMTS equipment.
The fishing is good in Donbass
The management of Ukraine's Intertelecom declined to comment on its connection with its Crimean sister company.
In response to official inquiries, the company categorically denies its connection with the FSB.
From the official response of Intertelecom LLC:
"Regarding the question of ties to Russian intelligence agencies, all company traffic is monitored by the State Center for Radio Frequencies, which continuously documents the destinations and origins of calls and monitors their routing. Reports are signed monthly, so accusations that Intertelecom violated these rules, especially maliciously, in the interests of foreign intelligence agencies, are groundless, as was proven at the very outset of the investigation."
Although the Odessa company lost direct communication with Crimea, it still had an uninterrupted signal in parts of the territories controlled by the separatist administrations of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics.
Intertelecom also provides excellent communications in neighboring areas controlled by Ukraine—in areas where the Ukrainian army is deployed, participating in anti-terrorist operations against separatists.
The official owner of Crimean Intertelecom, Vyacheslav Chernikevich
This is confirmed not only by the official information on the company's website, but also by its clients, who include both well-known journalists covering the military operations in eastern Ukraine and Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers participating in the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO).
"Intertelecom has coverage almost everywhere there [in the ATO]. And if you tie your router to a four-meter power line and raise it up, the coverage is even better," Ukrainian serviceman Denis Antipov shared on Facebook.
"We take an Intertelecom modem with us on all our deployments to the ATO. This connection works. The information we transmit isn't classified—we broadcast it live on the TV channel. We don't have access to information that's beneficial to the occupiers. Or we don't discuss it online. Many military personnel also use Intertelecom—it's convenient. Just throw the Wi-Fi modem in your pocket, and you have your own internet," adds Natalia Nagornaya, a military correspondent for the First National Channel (Kyiv).
This is what the Russian company Intertelecom's coverage looks like in Crimea.
Chisinau can be heard well
In response to an official journalistic inquiry about whether Intertelecom LLC has a partnership with Interdnestrcom (IDC), a company registered in Tiraspol, the Odessa-based company responded succinctly: "no comment."
However, the Transnistrian operator, which has been providing communications and internet services in the breakaway republic for over ten years, despite a ban by Moldovan authorities, is listed as a "roaming partner" on Intertelecom's website. Furthermore, in its instructions for making international calls on the same website, Intertelecom's administration lists Transnistria as a separate state, allegedly with its own "international code," "373."
However, the International Telecommunication Union of the UN has defined 373 as the code allocated to the Republic of Moldova, of which Transnistria is a part.
“Interdnestrcom is not authorized by ANRCETI in the manner established by national legislation, does not have the status of a service provider and/or electronic communications network provider, and does not have a license to use numbering resources and/or licenses to use channels or radio frequencies,” the National Agency for Regulation of Electronic Communications and Information Technology of Moldova noted.
Boris Akulov welcomes Intertelecom's millionth subscriber
Moreover, the Ukrainian company Intertelecom's website has a section titled "Interdnestrcom Coverage Map." Clicking on it takes you to the IDC website, which states that "IDC's subscriber service area covers the entire territory of the Transnistrian Moldavian Republic and the adjacent regions of neighboring republics." By "neighboring republic," this refers to right-bank Moldova, with the waves of the Transnistrian operator, operating illegally, reaching as far as Chisinau.
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