Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has claimed that the majority of national security officials working under Kiev's former pro-Moscow administration were recruited by Russia's FSB, a news report said.
Poroshenko, speaking to students at a Kharkov university, said about 80 percent of officials working for the Ukrainian security services (SBU) in 2012 had also been recruited by the Russian Federal Security Service, the UkrInform news site reported Thursday.
No additional details were provided, but a report published this month by the Wall Street Journal suggested that Russian spies and Moscow sympathizers were firmly rooted in the Ukrainian Security Service's ranks when conflict broke out in eastern Ukraine last spring.
The report cited the example of three SBU agents who were captured by rebels after details of a classfied mission into eastern Ukraine were released. Government officials now believe the operation was foiled by a Moscow ally in the top ranks of Kiev's security agency, the report added.
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