SBU security service detains over 1,000 Russian proxy soldiers since 2014
Ukraine’s SBU security service says it has identified 1,387 combatants from territories controlled by Russian proxy forces since the outbreak of armed conflict in Spring 2014, and more than 1,096 of them have since been detained.
The SBU also said it had seized 210 weapon caches, unmasked 133 foreign intelligence operatives; and neutralized six terrorist cells.
The SBU attributed its successes mainly to intelligence gathering and operation planning by its military counterintelligence branch. Intelligence material gathered during these operations has led to more than 7,000 criminal cases related to national security, 688 of which resulted in convictions, the SBU said.
The same department also provided some stats on state secrets cases:
● Foreign agents made 439 attempts to gain access to classified information.
● Administrative charges were levied against 1,642 individuals for wrongdoing related to informational security and state secrets.
● 507 officials have had their security clearances revoked.
● 22 entities dealing with state secrets have had their corresponding permits suspended.
After pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych fled Ukraine to Russia in early 2014, the Kremlin occupied the Crimean Peninsula and set up proxy separatist movements in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
Direct incursions by the Russian military followed in August 2014, as Ukrainian forces were about to crush the fake insurgency, and in February 2015, when Russia’s proxy forces seized the strategic town of Debaltseve and its vital road and rail junction.
The armed conflict in the Donbass region is being sustained with steady supplies of armaments and cash from the Russian Federation, though the Kremlin denies this. In fact, Moscow essentially runs a fully-fledged army in that area, comprised of Russian military personnel, bolstered by a mix of local separatists and Russian volunteers.
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