What do spies hunt in the countries of the former USSR?
Oddly enough, foreign intelligence services continue to hunt for the national secrets of the former republics of the Soviet Union to this day, extracting important information in the military-political sphere, and also try to persuade the local population to cooperate. Indeed, it’s easier to bribe a specialist than to understand the most complex technologies and set up serial production of the same tanks or airplanes. So, according to the President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev, in 2011 about 200 spies were discovered in the country, among which 26 people were citizens of the Russian Federation. He also noted that recently, foreign intelligence agencies are increasingly interested in the political sphere. Therefore, he instructed the security service to stop the slightest attempt to influence the socio-political processes from the outside.
In addition, 8 terrorist attacks were prevented in Russia and 94 prevented crimes of this nature. But to reduce the number of terrorist crimes has not yet succeeded.
By the way, another spyware is associated with Russia story. It is associated with the British Council (this is a non-governmental organization, which is funded by the UK and operates in Russia). This organization is located on the territory of the British Consulate, therefore it is immune. And when the second secretary of the British embassy was accused of transmitting secret information to spies, they also could not take him into custody, since Russian laws did not apply to him either.
The British Ambassador himself actively advised certain State Duma deputies on the adoption of a law ...
Another vivid example, this time of military espionage, is the activity of Lieutenant Colonel V. Nesterts, a senior tester at the Plesetsk cosmodrome, who was sentenced to imprisonment on 3 for transferring data on testing of the latest missile systems.
The situation is not much better in neighboring Ukraine and Belarus.
For twenty years of independence, the Ukrainian special services exposed dozens or even hundreds of secret foreign agents. Some were simply expelled from the state, limited to notes of protest. Others were sentenced to long prison terms. Another part was exchanged for domestic spies, who obtained valuable information abroad, and also not very successfully.
Every year in Ukraine, espionage charges are brought against 10-12 to foreigners, about 50 people are expelled from the country, prevent approximately 100 from attempts to involve Ukrainian citizens in cooperation with Western special services. Only 2-3 criminal cases of espionage and high treason are brought to court.
On the capture of a foreign spy in Ukraine can not be heard very often. Either there are no more secrets left in this state, or the Security Service does not work very well ... It is all the more interesting to watch the development of a real espionage story. And this is not a simple student who stole a secret document from the archive in exchange for a small grant, or a military man who, during a trip to Ukraine to exchange experience, tried to buy secret information. As it turned out, the whole director of the enterprise of the military industry was implicated in the business, who handed over to the Western special services practically all the documentation for products developed over decades.
It all started with a small business. Yu.Starov was the director of a small enterprise “Special Tactical Equipment”, which was engaged in tailoring equipment for the military. In the middle of 2000, he began to actively cooperate with Chinese manufacturers of military equipment. But, as it turned out, these Chinese manufacturers had close contacts with the special services ... Moreover, three-quarters of the employees of this Chinese company were quite officially engaged in military and industrial espionage. At first, Starov transferred his own developments, then secret documents of other companies also went into the course, and later, secret documents of the Union times. Selling secrets was much more profitable than manufacturing equipment. Then he was asked to provide a package of documents on parachutes and on everything related to them. But since there was no such information for Starov, he decided to transfer to “NII AUS” as director and at the same time chief designer. Employees repeatedly saw their new chief not only photographing secret documentation, but also carrying it outside the enterprise, and then transferring it in parts to Chinese spies.
The Chinese were also particularly interested in the “Thread” facility (a ground test and training complex aviation), which is located in the Crimea. The Chinese are building something similar, though without much success. Therefore, data on the features of the construction would help them save millions of dollars.
It may take a long time to list the “exploits” of this official, but the situation will not change. The SBU, despite repeated allegations of a breach of secrecy in the enterprise he heads, does not take absolutely any steps ...
The Ukrainian intelligence services turned out to be more active in relation to two Czech citizens who were engaged in espionage on the territory of Ukraine. Two representatives of the Czech diplomatic corps were recognized as non-grata persons and expelled from the state. According to the head of the press service of the SBU, they were excessively interested in military developments, many of which are state secrets.
A few months later, the General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine issued a conviction in the criminal case of espionage against two Korean citizens. In July, 2011, they arrived on the Ukrainian territory and tried to buy secret information about the equipment of aircraft. Detained them at the time of photographing secret documentation.
Just the other day, it was reported that the quite famous Ukrainian scientist Vladimir Strelko was accused of espionage, who allegedly passed on to Americans confidential research information regarding endoecology and sorption. At the moment, the investigation of the circumstances of the case.
According to the State Security Committee of Belarus, over the past year in the country were able to find more than twenty employees of foreign intelligence services. But, unlike the neighboring states, the main attention of Western spies in Belarus is aimed at changing the vector of foreign and domestic policy, as well as preparing optimal conditions for changing the constitutional order. The most effective tool in this direction is recognized by international organizations whose main activity is reduced to the preparation of “antisocial revolutions”. The fruits of such organizations can already be seen in Georgia and Ukraine. The United States Agency for International Development, the Eurasia Foundation, the Swedish International Development Agency and many others operate on the Belarusian territory. It is noteworthy that every state whose organizations operate in Belarus quite officially allocates considerable funds from the state budget for their maintenance.
Despite the fact that the years of the Cold War are long gone, the number of secret agents has not diminished, they are still being sent across the borders of states in order to obtain secret information. Moreover, not only specially trained agents are involved in underground activities, but also entire corporations, terrorist organizations and even private investigators. And it may very well be that this trend will continue in the future.
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