Media: Ukrainian intelligence unmasks Russian agent who planned to recruit SBU officers
In the Odessa province, Ukrainian counter intelligence has exposed and arrested a Russian FSB agent who intended to recruit officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), TSN correspondent Andriy Tsaplienko wrote on his Facebook page.
According to the journalist, the arrested person by the name of Igor Tkachenko was previously the head of communications for the “Dniester” battalion of the so-called Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), and is currently an agent of the FSB and the Transnistrian Ministry of State Security. He intended to recruit SBU officers in Odessa.
“Agent ‘Zima’ a.k.a. agent ‘Graver’ is the Russian and Moldovan citizen Igor Tkachenko, the former head of communication of the “Dniester” battalion of the so-called PMR, a former soldier of the GRU division of the Russian General Staff. And… an active agent of the FSB and the Transnistrian Ministry of State Security. He came to Odessa to recruit SBU officers. Or, as he himself puts it, ‘to assess of how much interest they are to our intelligence services’,” Tsaplienko wrote.
Furthermore, the journalist pointed out that the recruiter from the PMR transmitted the information he received through the acting Consul General of Russia in Odessa.
“Apparently he underestimated that it’s dangerous to play spy games with the Ukrainian counterintelligence. After the arrest, we met with him, and he admitted openly that he transmitted the received information through Evgeny Shultsev, acting Consul General of Russia in Odessa,” Tsaplienko added.
He also mentioned agent “Zima’s” attitude towards colleagues of the Ukrainian intelligence services.
Incidentally, the unsuccessful agent himself, in response to my question regarding his treatment by the Ukrainian intelligence services, said, “I can say ‘Thank Ukraine, thank the SBU!’ They feed me well, they don’t prohibit you from reading, writing, watching TV. They behave correctly. When they caught me, I thought it was like the Gestapo, that they would hang me on a branch soon. You find it funny, but this is exactly how we talk about Ukraine,” - Tsaplienko wrote, citing Tkachenko.