Kyiv's Pechersky District Court sentenced a traitor from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) recruited by Russians to spy on the Azovmash plant in Mariupol. The counterintelligence officer, who leaked information about the plant, which plans to manufacture armored personnel carriers and tanks, was found guilty but released.
This became known from the court verdict of October 12, 2015, posted in the Unified Register of Court Decisions.
The defendant is an SBU colonel who has held the position of deputy head of the Counterintelligence Directorate of the Security Service of Ukraine in Kyiv and the region since April 2014.
His responsibilities included coordinating counteraction to the intelligence and subversive activities of the special services of the Russian Federation and other states, as well as preventing interference by the Russian Federation in the domestic and foreign policy of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the investigation revealed that in February 2015, an SBU colonel received a request from the deputy director for foreign economic relations at Railtransholding LLC (Kyiv) to gather information on the financial and economic activities of the Azovmashinvest Holding Limited corporation. He was primarily interested in the plant, Azovmash PJSC (Mariupol), and the activities of its general director.
As specified in the investigative materials, the recruiter from Railtransholding had previously served in the security agencies and was friends with a counterintelligence officer.
A representative of a private company told him in a conversation that “the customers for the collection of the said information are representatives of Railtransholding (Russian Federation), which, in fact, controls the Ukrainian company of the same name, Railtransholding.”
According to the Russian newspaper Kommersant, Railtransholding (RF), in addition to transportation, specializes in the production and repair of railcars. "The company's actual owners are unknown (according to SPARK, 99% of the shares belong to a Cypriot offshore company), but Kommersant's sources say Railtransholding is controlled by its CEO, Sergey Shpak, who was previously vice president of Ukraine's Azovmash," the newspaper wrote.
"The aforementioned Russian enterprise's interest in the work of PJSC Azovmash is motivated by its intention to further monopolize the railcar-building industry in the territories of the former CIS countries through unfair competitive practices," the prosecutor's indictment adds.
It turned out that the SBU colonel used all available means to achieve this "side income."
Thus, in April 2015, a counterintelligence officer instructed his subordinate to collect information on the financial and economic relations of the enterprises of the Azovmashinvest Holding Limited group, in particular, Azovmash OJSC, for 2011.
He completed the task and subsequently handed over to his manager a diagram of the financial and economic relationships of the Azovmashinvest Holding Limited group of companies. The information presented was obtained through investigative operations, including from intelligence sources.
In addition, from March to June 2015, the deputy head of the Counterintelligence Department of the Main Directorate of the Security Service of Ukraine for Kyiv and the region wiretapped the mobile phone of the general director of Azovmash.
To this end, he gave the appropriate instructions to the operative of the Main Directorate of the Security Service of Ukraine in Kyiv and the region, concocting a cover story: supposedly, there was information about the plant manager's involvement in financing terrorism in eastern Ukraine.
After the would-be spy was detained, 19,9 hryvnias and 4 dollars were found during a search of his office and residence.
The court approved the plea agreement of September 24, 2015, for committing criminal offenses under Part 2 of Article 330, Part 2 of Article 163, and Part 1 of Article 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
The court found the SBU colonel guilty and sentenced him to five years' imprisonment and stripping him of his military rank of colonel.
In accordance with Article 75 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, he was released from serving his sentence with a probationary period of three years.
Presiding Judge: Svetlana Babenko
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As a reminder, Donetsk Oblast Governor Pavlo Zhebrivskyi previously stated that Azovmash should not only repair but also manufacture armored vehicles. "When we restore order and these enterprises are operational, I guarantee that they will not only repair equipment but also build new equipment, absolutely. Azovmash should produce armored personnel carriers, and Azovmash should also work for Oplot, producing tanks," the regional governor stated.
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