Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) has dismantled a 14-member Russian intelligence network accused of gathering information on Ukrainian airfields hosting F-16 and Mirage 2000 fighter jets.
Axar.az reports, citing Kyiv Post, that Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU, recruited a Lviv-based blogger who ran an aviation-focused Telegram channel. He then recruited 13 subscribers, without telling them they were working for Russian intelligence.
The suspects photographed airfields, aircraft, crews and maintenance personnel and tracked takeoff and landing times. The information was passed to a Russian handler and could have been used to plan strikes on Ukrainian air bases.
The SBU said investigators seized phones, cameras and photographs during searches and blocked Telegram channels and groups used to distribute the information.
Three people, including the Lviv-based agent and a Ukrainian serviceman accused of providing military flight schedules, have been charged. The investigation is ongoing.
Source: en.axar.az
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