Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said Wednesday that it had arrested a man in the Far Eastern Amur region on suspicion of treason for allegedly helping Ukraine.
The FSB said the man had transferred money to a pro-Ukrainian organization banned in Russia and passed along information about military train movements along the Trans-Siberian Railway toward the combat zone.
It did not identify the man other than his birth year of 1977.
In an FSB video shared by state news agencies, the detained man said he had notified the unidentified Ukrainian organization about the military equipment movements via Telegram while he was working in the summer and fall of 2023.
The man, his face blurred, mentioned being aware that Russia had labeled the organization “extremist” in 2017 and “terrorist” in 2021, suggesting that the Ukrainian organization referred to could be the Right Sector paramilitary organization.
He was charged with treason, financing extremist activity and participation in an extremist organization, and was placed in pre-trial detention. The charges carry penalties of up to life imprisonment if found guilty.
The FSB claimed the man was recruited by a representative of the pro-Ukrainian organization via Telegram.
The FSB accused Ukrainian intelligence services of intensifying online recruitment efforts on Telegram and WhatsApp, urging Russians to report suspected outreach to authorities.
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