Viktor Medvedchuk, ‘The Professor’ – SBU recalls some of its biggest catches after nabbing 300 Russian agents since Feb. 2022
Vasyl Malyuk (Photo:ssu.gov.ua)
Ukraine’s SBU Security Service has identified more than 300 Russian agents since the beginning of the full-scale war, SBU head Vasyl Malyuk told journalist Dmytro Komarov with the project “Year” in a YouTube interview published May 27.
“Counterintelligence is a constant job, a search for a needle in a haystack.” Some enemy agents are recruited and utilized for disinformation and intelligence gathering, while others face prison sentences ranging from 13 to 15 years.
Malyuk highlighted the case of Viktor Medvedchuk, a suspect in state treason and a close associate of Russian dictator Putin, who worked with the 5th Service of the Russian FSB (Department for Operational Information – ed.).
“They even had a plan called ‘Promin’, where Medvedchuk personally adjusted how they ‘worked’ in Ukraine — referring to their (hostile) deep infiltration, the creation of occupation regimes on Ukrainian territory, and so on,” he said.
During the investigation into Medvedchuk’s case, the security service uncovered numerous additional enemy sources.
Malyuk recalled the arrest of a prominent agent known as “Professor” in Odesa. Russian agents from different regions shared information with him, which he passed on to the aggressor country. The “Professor” was apprehended while “engaging in activities” related to military-civil management and SBU management with the intention of planning missile strikes, at the behest of the FSB.
Malyuk also mentioned the discovery of another agent network in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, involving seven spies who gathered information about Ukrainian defenders and civilians and helped prepare missile strikes on the region.
He also cited the arrests of SBU Colonel Oleh Kulinich, who worked for the FSB; Colonel Yuriy Riabukha, head of the Kharkiv Institute for SBU Staff Training; and the leader of a division in the SBU’s Zaporizhzhya Oblast office, all of whom were found to be working for the enemy.
The SBU Chair emphasized that counter-intelligence efforts extend to other law enforcement agencies as well. For example, at the onset of the full-scale invasion, a prosecutor from the Mykolaiv District Prosecutor’s Office was arrested for gathering information about the Defense Forces and law enforcement officers on behalf of the occupiers.
Malyuk underlined that these incidents do not indicate a wholesale shift to the enemy’s side. Recognizing Putin’s expertise as a security service specialist who infiltrated Ukraine for two decades, he stressed the importance of effectively identifying, documenting, and holding such individuals accountable.
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