Security Service of Ukraine accuses W-net internet provider of having ties to the Russian FSB
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) conducted searches in the offices of W-Net internet provider, as reported by Elena Hitlyanskaya, press secretary of the Security Service of Ukraine, on her Facebook page.
“The SBU confirms that it is conducting sanctioned searches in the office of internet provider W-net Ukraine LLC. The investigative activities are taking place in the framework of an open criminal case according to sec. 3 art. 110-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (financing actions committed with the goal of violent change or subversion of the constitutional system or capture of state authority, changing the territorial borders or the state borders of Ukraine),” she pointed out.
Later the SBU issued a press release relating to the searches, in which it accused W-net of illegally routing of traffic to the annexed Crimea in the interests of the Russian intelligence services.
“A segment of the network and telecommunication equipment of the provider’s owners was given a fictitious commercial structure, which the Russian FSB received control over, and established its own special technical facilities for the telecommunications equipment. In spite of this, the owners of the Ukrainian provider were continuing to route traffic to an access point in Simferopol,” the SBU report states.
According to the SBU, Russian FSB planned to use its means of illegally routing traffic to the Crimea to gain access and eavesdrop on the traffic from the Ukrainian segment of the provider’s network. Notably, W-net’s clients include state institutions, international organizations and major bank institutions.
The SBU also reports that thanks to the traffic received from the Ukrainian provider through the main channel, the Russian FSB in the Crimea and the Russian pseudo-public communications Voyentelekom received access to the traffic coming from W-Net.
Telecommunications equipment and documentation were confiscated from the internet provider’s office.
Law enforcement officers also established that the company had not blocked users from accessing the Russian internet resources and services which are under sanctions.
Previously the SBU carried out searches in the offices of Yandex-Ukraine in the context of a high treason case.