By Tom Balmforth

ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine (Reuters) – Spying runs within the household for Oleh Kolesnikov.

The Ukrainian citizen mentioned his father was a Soviet intelligence agent in Cuba throughout the Chilly Battle, posing as a translator, and his cousin works with the Russian safety service.

That made him a major candidate for wartime espionage.

Kolesnikov advised Reuters he agreed to produce the Russians with details about army websites and troop actions in his house metropolis of Zaporizhzhia, and report again on the place their missiles had landed.

He had supported the idea of the “Russian World”, a doctrine backed by President Vladimir Putin that emphasizes Moscow’s historic and cultural ties to neighbouring nations, and one which some hardliners in Moscow have used to justify intervention overseas in defence of Russian audio system.

“I didn’t do this for money,” he mentioned.

However he had regrets: That the inaccuracy of some missile strikes led to civilians being killed, and that the conflict – which he had assumed can be a swift, scientific affair – has dragged on for nearly three years, devastating his homeland.

“I thought they (the Russians) would advance rapidly,” mentioned the 52-year-old, a former state land supervisor who grew up in a Soviet Ukraine. “It turned out like it always does. They plan one thing and another thing happens entirely.”

His spouse left him when he was arrested for treason, taking their 11-year-old baby along with her.

Reuters spoke to Kolesnikov in a police facility in Zaporizhzhia in April, within the presence of an officer from the Safety Service of Ukraine (SBU), 5 months earlier than he was sentenced to life in jail for treason.

His is amongst greater than 3,200 state treason instances launched by Ukrainian authorities since Russia’s full-scale invasion, together with feeding info to Moscow to help missile strikes and spreading Russian propaganda, in keeping with the SBU.

Reuters interviews with three informants convicted by Ukraine and two SBU Ukrainian counter-intelligence officers spoke to the divided loyalties felt by some folks in Ukraine, the place older generations grew up as a part of the Soviet Union earlier than the bloc’s breakup in 1991 ended the Chilly Battle.

Vasyl Maliuk, the pinnacle of the SBU, advised Reuters that Ukrainian counter-espionage work to root out Russian brokers was key to victory within the conflict, including that the Kremlin had been “secretly infiltrating” the nation and recruiting property for many years.

“Our systematic approach is yielding results,” he added. “We have purged enemy agents in all spheres of life and continue to do so.”

Russia’s overseas ministry and Federal Safety Service (FSB) did not reply to requests for remark for this text.

Ukrainian spies have additionally performed a outstanding function within the battle, which erupted in February 2022 when Russia launched a full-scale invasion.

Final week, the SBU orchestrated a bomb blast outdoors a Moscow house block that killed Lieutenant Normal Igor Kirillov, chief of Russia’s Nuclear, Organic and Chemical Safety Troops, in keeping with a supply on the company.

This was the newest in a string of focused assassinations that Moscow says Ukraine has carried out throughout the conflict.

In November 2022, Reuters interviewed a number of residents of Kherson who provided info to assist Kyiv conduct strikes on Russian targets to assist Ukraine recapture the southern metropolis.

HOW TO CATCH A SPY

SBU counter-espionage work has recognized totally different classes of residents vulnerable to being recruited by the enemy, in keeping with an SBU officer interviewed by Reuters in Zaporizhzhia who recognized himself by the decision signal “Fanat”.

They’re individuals who have been overtly pro-Russian or have household hyperlinks to Soviet or Russian intelligence; kin of captured Ukrainian troopers; and the household of individuals residing in occupied territory.

Kolesnikov was class one, he added.

He was convicted in September of supplying the Russians with the coordinates and different details about dozens of primarily army websites, in keeping with his treason verdict, which was seen by Reuters. It did not say what number of of these places have been hit by strikes.

Kolesnikov’s lawyer mentioned he primarily helped confirm the aftermath of strikes fairly than serving to determine targets.

Kolesnikov advised Reuters that in September 2022 he handed info to the Russians a few assembly of native officers that was meant to occur on the Dawn Lodge in Zaporizhzhia.

The constructing was struck by a Russian missile the next day, on Sept. 22, 2022, in keeping with the decision. The assembly did not happen, for undetermined causes, although the strike devastated the constructing in Zaporizhzhia’s previous city, killing a civilian and hurting 5 others, the decision mentioned.

The lodge convention corridor and cratered summer time terrace remained strewn with rubble throughout a Reuters go to to the location in April this yr.

Fanat mentioned SBU brokers started closing in on Kolesnikov after the suspect’s automotive was noticed by witnesses on the website of a Russian strike in March final yr that narrowly missed a tv tower and hit an house block, killing a number of civilians. Kolesnikov advised Reuters he was there afterwards checking on the outcomes of the assault.

Ukrainian brokers traced Kolesnikov’s cellphone to quite a few affect websites, in keeping with Fanat. The breakthrough within the case got here after they planted a bug in his automotive and overhead him discussing his plans with Vitaly Kusakin, a good friend who labored as a chauffeur for a neighborhood official, and whom Kolesnikov had recruited to assist collect intelligence, the SBU officer mentioned.

Kolesnikov was arrested at his house on Might 5, 2023.

Testifying at his trial at a district court docket behind closed doorways in Zaporizhzhia, Kolesnikov mentioned he was against the Ukrainian authorities, however not Ukraine itself, the decision mentioned.

He pleaded “partially” responsible to the treason fees towards him, saying he had not identified that his cousin who requested him to produce info was a member of the FSB on the time, in keeping with the decision. A panel of judges rejected that plea and located him responsible of “intentional actions” involving “providing assistance to a representative of a foreign state in conducting subversive activities”.

Kusakin has been jailed for 15 years.

SPY RINGS AND PRISONER SWAPS

Maliuk, the pinnacle of the SBU, mentioned his company had uncovered 47 Russian agent networks final yr and 46 extra this yr, comprising folks starting from lawmakers to lively servicemen, he added, with out figuring out the suspects.

Because the conflict has raged on, lowering the benefit of journey from one facet of the entrance to the opposite, recruitment strategies have needed to change, safety officers mentioned.

Earlier than the full-scale invasion, Ukrainian nationals have been primarily recruited throughout journeys to Russia, however approaches are extra usually made on-line now utilizing social networks, the SBU mentioned.

“People who express pro-Kremlin views are identified and found based on their comments, and then contacted,” it mentioned.

The motives for performing as an informant vary from ideological to guarantees of monetary or different rewards and blackmail or different threats, the SBU mentioned.

For Kolesnikov, who says he offered his providers freely, the long run appears to be like bleak. He advised Reuters his solely hope of salvaging his life was to be launched in a future prisoner swap with Russia.

“I would like to be exchanged,” he sighed. “But that doesn’t depend on me.”