FSB sends its agents to Ukraine under guise of Belarusian refugees - Bellingcat rep

The agents of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) are acting in Ukraine under the guise of people who had to flee Belarus in fear of being persecuted by Belarusian regime, Christo Grozev, a Bulgarian journalist and the lead Russia investigator with Bellingcat, told Ukrainian Radio NV.

“Of course, there is a huge number of them [FSB agents]. Some of them have already been arrested. Some of them were recruited by the FSB in your [Ukrainian] special services at the beginning of the war, This is the first segment. The second segment is persons whom the FSB is infiltrating into, for example, the groups of migrants and refugees from Belarus. The latter consider Ukraine as one of the places where they can currently work freely. And among them there are now such ‘aides’ who are in practice agents of the FSB,” he said.

On September 16, officers of Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) detained 12 Belarusian migrants in Kyiv, including Alena Zharkevich, a volunteer at the Belarusian House in Ukraine, and former policeman Yahor Yemyalyanau. All of them were released on the same day; SBU spokesman Artiom Dekhterenko said that the Belarusians were detained as part of Operation Migrant.

On August 2, Vital Shyshou, a Belarusian activist who had left Belarus for Ukraine, went for a run and disappeared. A day later, he was found dead on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital city. Vital, who was also Head of the Belarusian House in Ukraine, was hanged on a tree in the forest in the vicinity of the village of Chayki near Kyiv. Vital Shyshou had been watched by unknown people during the runs; some suspicious persons had repeatedly approached him and his girlfriend and tried to talk, his acquaintances told Belsat.

According to Grozev, Bellingcat is now working with a group of Belarusian journalists and activists, aiming to establish the truth about the circumstances of Shyshou‘s death.

belsat.eu