SSU Accuses Byelorussian Border Guard Of Recruiting Ukrainian

He's facing five to eight years in prison.

The Ukrainian Security Service is investigating a criminal case against a Belarusian border guard. Radio Svaboda reports about it.

An employee of the operational and search department of the Pinsk frontier detachment of the State Border Committee of Belarus is suspected of impeding "the legitimate activities of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and other military formations in a certain period". He faces five to eight years in prison for this.

The case was initiated in October 2019, after a citizen of Ukraine, allegedly recruited by a Belarusian to obtain information about the activities, armament and equipment of the Lutsk group of border guards, as well as the peculiarities of the Belarusian-Ukrainian border protection in Volyn and Rivne regions.

The Ukrainian applied to the SSU in July 2018 and confessed to assisting "the Republic of Belarus in conducting subversive activities against Ukraine. He said that he had been recruited in October 2017 at the Belarusian checkpoint "Nevel". The SSU found out that the Belarusian border guard used 11 mobile numbers to coordinate activities.

At least six cases of alleged recruitment of Ukrainians by the Belarusian special services have become known since 2016.