Since the beginning of the undeclared Russian-Ukrainian war in early 2014, the secret services of both countries have been key players in the conflict, particularly due to its “hybrid” nature. Covert operations, sabotage and espionage naturally all increased significantly compared to the pre-war years. Russian agents carried out numerous assassinations of Ukrainian officers, not only near the frontlines but also away from the combat zone—such as the car bomb killings, in 2017, of Colonel Oleksandr Kharaberyush, a counter-intelligence officer of the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU), in Mariupol (Ssu.gov.ua, March 31, 2017), and Colonel Maksym Shapoval, a commander of an elite special forces unit, in Kyiv (Radio Liberty, April 27, 2017). Moreover, in between these two murders, Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov held a press briefing in response to an explosions at a military ammunition depot in Balakliya, declaring that it was a terrorist attack, planned and executed by Russia (Espreso TV, April 2, 2017). Together, those and other such incidents demonstrated the SSU’s clearly inadequate focus on leaks of critical classified information. Since 2014, many SSU officers were fired because of their suspected ties to the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB). But according to the Ukrainian special service’s former deputy head, General Victor Yagun, the SSU never adopted strict-enough security and background-check measures (Nrcu.gov.ua, April 14).
Russia's War Against Ukraine
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Major General Valery Shaitanov is walked out in handcuffs by Security Service officers, in Kyiv on April 14, 2020.
