Spy scandals: what foreign intelligence services are looking for in Ukraine
Experts told Glavred that today it is espionage in Ukraine, to whom Ukrainian-Moldavian espionage scandal is beneficial, and also what secrets foreign intelligence agents find out in our country.Espionage is a common phenomenon all over the world, and Ukraine is no exception. However, spy scandals flare up much more often than there are messages in the media. According to experts, the authorities will publish information on spy games only in two cases: if a part of it has already been leaked to the press, and if publicity is capable of bringing specific political benefits.
The latest espionage scandal, a summary of which was made public by the media, concerned Ukraine and Moldova. On suspicion of espionage in Odessa, a Moldovan citizen, a former journalist from the Nezavisimaya Moldova newspaper, and a member of the press center of the joint control commission in Transnistria from the Moldovan delegation, Semen Nikulin, were arrested. The information about the detention was confirmed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration (MFAEI). Now Nikulin is kept in the Kiev Security Inspection Detention Center. He faces a penalty of imprisonment for 15 years.
Nikulin allegedly got information on supplies weapons across the Ukrainian-Transnistrian border, Ukrainian media reported. Representatives of the Security Service of Ukraine have not yet given official comments on this issue.
A resonant spy scandal broke out in May 2011 of the year between Ukraine and the Czech Republic. Two employees of the Czech Military Attachment in Kiev were declared persona non grata. At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine pointed out the incompatibility with the diplomatic status of the collection of information, which is a state secret in our country. Then the head of the press service of the Security Service of Ukraine, Marina Ostapenko, reported that the Czech attaches used two Ukrainian citizens in their espionage activities. “The defense attache of the Czech embassy, Colonel Zdenek Kubicek, and the military attache, Major Peter Navotna, carried out espionage activities to gather information of a military-technical and military-political nature with limited access. To fulfill their criminal intentions, Kubichek and Navotna established and maintained unlawful contacts with citizens of Ukraine who had access to information representing state secrets, ”Ostapenko said.
Within ten days after the Czech attaches were declared persona non grata in Ukraine, the Czech Republic expelled two Ukrainian diplomats.
In July of this year, the Solomensky District Court of Kiev sentenced to four years in prison a former high-ranking engineer who sold military information (secrets of the Ukrainian aircraft industry) to employees of the Czech Embassy in Ukraine, which ended the Ukrainian-Czech spy scandal 2011 of the year.
In addition, in June of this year, two Koreans were sentenced to eight years in prison for espionage in Ukraine. They were exposed by the SBU when trying to gain access to information containing state secrets. As reported by the media, Koreans were interested in secret data relating to rocket and space technology.
Often this kind of scandals erupt in all countries of the world. So, with enviable regularity, there are reports of spy scandals in Russia with the United States, Britain, Canada, etc. For example, on August 6, German security forces detained on suspicion of espionage a German citizen who might be an employee of the Russian special services.
Experts told Glavred that today it is espionage, how it affects bilateral relations between countries, what foreign secrets in Ukraine are trying to find out, who benefits from the Ukrainian-Moldovan spy scandal, and how it will affect further cooperation of states.
Simple practice
The subject of espionage, according to experts, is relevant to every country in the world. However, if for a country in which they are trying to find out economic, political, military, or other information, “mystery hunters” are spies, then for the state that authorizes them to do this, they are intelligence agents who extract useful information.
According to Sergey Zgurts, head of research programs at the Center for Army Studies, Conversion and Disarmament, espionage is one of the ways to obtain information or leverage over a particular country. Therefore, in his opinion, espionage will always inevitably accompany the activities of all states, such as diplomacy and military force. And Ukraine is no exception.
The expert recalled history about Melnichenko films, which, in his opinion, is an example of espionage. “It was not clear how the first person of the state could be eavesdropped, which devices were used, was it true that the case was limited to one tape recorder. These are all signs of espionage, which was not brought to its logical conclusion, ”said Zgurets.
Around these stories, large-scale information campaigns rarely unfold accidentally, as a result of which they turn into resonant spy scandals. As a rule, Sergey Zgurets believes, this is done by one of the sides consciously and with a very specific goal. “As a result, there is an influence on the leadership of a country through espionage or provocation. This is an element of the dark side of the cooperation of states in the international arena. Therefore, espionage is not surprising, ”said the expert.
Political analyst Alexander Paliy also stressed that everyone knows and understands that “countries follow each other, to put it mildly,”. Moreover, according to him, it is inherent not only to the competing states, but also to fairly close and friendly partner countries. “Governments, pursuing the interest of their country, always try to follow and find out something. Very few do without this practice, ”he added.
According to Nikolai Sungurovsky, director of the military programs at the Razumkov Center, the practice of espionage is used by many countries, but naturally this information is closed. After all, bringing the facts of espionage to a general discussion, a country can easily spoil relations with a neighboring state. “However, if such a goal is, then the story will be made public. If they want to improve relations and mitigate the situation, then such facts are trying to shut up, ”the expert said.
Spy scandals should be perceived as a regularity, the deputy head of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on National Security and Defense Valentin Zubov is convinced. “Either the Americans find Russians in themselves, the Russians find Americans or British, we find someone, etc. But when it comes to making state decisions of the highest degree of importance, they don’t pay special attention to the facts of espionage, ”the deputy said.
Secrets of Ukraine
Commenting on the recent Ukrainian-Moldavian spy scandal, deputy head of the parliamentary committee Valentin Zubov said: it is not clear what Moldovans could look for in Ukraine. Because, in his opinion, in the 20 years of independence, our country has lost all at least some significant military secrets. “This is due to the complete collapse of the military-industrial complex, with the destruction almost to the base of the army. And in pursuit of the results of the redistribution of national wealth between certain forces and clans in Ukraine, they completely forgot that the problems of the national security of the country were, are and will be, ”Zubov said.
Nevertheless, the deputy added, despite the fact that Ukraine has lost a lot, it still has high-tech military manufactures of interest to various intelligence services. “Intelligence has always existed: during the Cold War, and during the warming of relations. Intelligence agencies have always been and remain in all countries today, despite the fact that the world has become virtually unipolar, ”he believes.
Somewhat surprised by the espionage in Ukraine and Nikolay Sungurovsky: “What secrets could remain in Ukraine? Hard to say. It is not clear what might interest foreign intelligence, especially Czech, which was discovered in 2011 year. "
However, the expert is convinced that spies can not only hunt for any military, technical or economic secrets - a foreign country may well be interested in the political situation in the country as a whole. “For example, are there any risks in investing, with whom the country may or may not ally, etc. These data are general. Foreign offices here, as a rule, work across the whole spectrum, so it is difficult to draw the line between espionage and just research activities, ”he explained.
At the same time, according to Nikolai Sungurovsky, espionage is not necessarily disruptive. “Any state takes care of its defense. It is interesting for any country, even one that is not going to carry on military operations with Ukraine, to find out if any state is threatening from a military point of view (whether it is purchasing equipment, deploying troops, modernizing, teaching near borders, etc.). Such information simply helps the country sending intelligence officers to define their policies, objectives and goals, ”the expert believes. But if, after all, a state sees a potential enemy in Ukraine (and this, in Sungurovsky’s opinion, in principle, is not excluded), the tasks of disrupting plans or disrupting management systems may be set.
Since in Ukraine from time to time they detain people engaged in espionage activities, Sergey Zgurets concludes that the structures of other states show interest in various spheres related to defense, weapon development, individual documents or people capable of influencing the situation in Ukraine. “Espionage accompanies the activities of all states. When we talk about Ukraine, individual areas of activity related to the development of weapons or the formation of a country's views on various strategic processes may be of interest to other countries, which, given this, can either shape their policies or influence Ukraine’s actions, ”the expert said .
In turn, the director of the Ukrainian Institute of Public Policy, Viktor Chumak, believes that Ukraine has not yet lost its potential to be generally uninteresting for spies. “It pleases,” he said. Firstly, Ukraine, according to an expert, is a producer of a fairly powerful rocket and space technology, which already makes up certain secrets of the state. Secondly, the country produces “quite interesting and competitive” military electronic equipment. Thirdly, Ukraine is one of the few countries in the world that produces aviation technique. And fourthly, Ukrainian armored vehicles of a fairly high level, Chumak believes.
“Ukraine has no means to buy all this for its own army. But at the level of development, it is quite possible that there are still secrets that could interest not only our competitors, but also partners, ”the expert is convinced. At the same time, he added that today espionage has moved to the industrial plane, moving away from learning any military-technical secrets.
Non-book spies
According to the deputy general director of the Razumkov Center, ex-deputy foreign minister of Ukraine Valeriy Chaly, the decision to publicize the results of the work of the special services is usually taken at a high diplomatic level. “If the fact of the detention of a representative of another country or declaring him persona non grata became known, it means that not only the special services are involved, but also the leadership of the country. As soon as history becomes the subject of discussion by the media, the issue of the professional activities of the special services becomes political, ”the expert noted.
Thus, according to Valery Chaly, publicity of the fact of espionage and its active discussion in the press is either the result of lack of professionalism (when the story cannot be hidden), or in 90% of cases a conscious decision “in response to certain demarches of other countries, or aimed at specific further goals decision. "
Therefore, espionage scandals do not go at all to the benefit of bilateral relations, however, they do not stop the cooperation of countries, Chaly argues. “Espionage is an essential element in relations between any states. Most of them are between those countries that either compete or have a long, complex history of relations, ”the expert noted.
In turn, political analyst Alexander Paliy noted that often countries consciously try to avoid publicizing the fact of espionage in order to maintain good partnerships. “Yes, they periodically arrest someone, but gradually the history is quietly“ crushed ”, spies are sent home either in exchange for their own people, or simply sent out of the country. That is, as a rule, governments try to avoid resonance, ”the political analyst added.
In addition, Valery Chaly noted that the modern world lives in other realities, and those spies about whom books have been written and films made are much smaller, since now the leading role is played by the latest technologies. “Today, another country's intelligence officer is more focused on the collection of open information in the host country. Therefore, he can not be called a spy. Yes, he works under cover, but often he helps to avoid conflicts between countries, ”added Chaly.
Why did the Moldovan spy scandal flare up and what does it mean?
Nikolai Sungurovsky considers the Ukrainian-Moldavian spy scandal of this year to be an extremely “acute” and “sensitive” topic, since the settlement of the Transnistrian conflict has reached an impasse. “To defame Ukraine now is to blame on all the failures of the group’s work: allegedly because of Ukraine, nothing works, because it must be replaced and introduced to someone else. There may also be a counter offer - to remove the Russian peacekeeping contingent from there. So tangle and confused. Or, for example, Romania is trying to push its participation in the group there. It is beneficial to substitute Ukraine for it, ”the expert shared his possible explanations of what is happening. He noted that now it is very difficult to say what is really happening. However, it will not be easy to do this, even if the special services or the government provide some official information, since in the end "this can only be a sham game."
According to Sungurovsky, Ukraine should behave very carefully so as not to inflate this conflict, inadvertently not blame the countries, partnership with which it is beneficial, and not drop its own prestige. “Choosing the right path in this situation is an art. However, this could be a special operation in order to provoke Ukraine to take certain actions, or worsen its image in the world, ”the expert noted.
Viktor Chumak, Director of the Ukrainian Institute of Public Policy, was surprised that the Ukrainian-Moldovan scandal became public. “If such stories happen as with Moldova, then countries usually try not to advertise them. If states are interested in maintaining good relations between themselves, they do not inflame the scandal, limiting themselves to exchanging diplomatic notes or diplomatic messages, the spies are calmly expelled, ”the political scientist believes.
However, Ukraine, according to the expert, can derive a certain political benefit from the publicity of this spy scandal. According to Chumak, the Ukrainian government has repeatedly been told that Moldova is becoming the “favorite student” of the European Union in the post-Soviet space. “Moldova really goes ahead of Ukraine, builds a normal democratic society. And in the eyes of voters, such a scandal will not add democracy to the country. Therefore, it is beneficial from a purely political point of view: it will provide an opportunity to show that even in countries that are a model for democratic reforms, there are problems, they do not have a particularly clean policy towards Ukraine, and, moreover, they are also engaged in espionage. There is no other political connotation, ”he noted.
According to Alexander Palia, the spy scandal with Moldova created a resonance, and for the time being it is not clear why. “Either the sphere that the Moldovans invaded was so sensitive for Ukraine, or the relations with Moldova are not important for us today. As a rule, if the relations between countries are partnership, then such stories quietly reduce to nothing. If the Moldovans had something on us, then they could also make a big noise in response. National interests are primary, because countries resort to such methods as espionage, ”the political scientist believes.
New for Ukraine, according to Valentin Zubov, turned out to be the fact that she may become a victim of such espionage attacks from frontier and formerly friendly states, such as Moldova. “Spy scandals flare up periodically when the countries of the former Soviet Union begin to search for some secrets in those countries that were allies and friends yesterday. This is unpleasant, since espionage characterizes a country’s respect for us, ”he said.
The deputy added that from a purely human, everyday point of view, as a citizen of Ukraine, he will no longer feel sympathy for Moldova, which has demonstrated an “unfriendly stance”. However, at the state level, he said, these scandals will be perceived with a certain degree of caution.
Spy scandal with the Czech Republic - an obvious political motive publicity
Experts who shared their assessments with Glavred agreed that the spy scandal in Ukraine and the Czech Republic, which broke out in May 2011 and ended only this summer, clearly traces political overtones. So, Alexander Paliy is convinced that the publicity of facts about Czech spies by Ukraine is caused by political motives. “Before the Czech Republic granted asylum to some representatives of the Ukrainian opposition. And at that time, the general tone of relations between Ukraine and the Czech Republic deteriorated. In addition, the Polish spies affected a rather sensitive area for our country. However, what and how it really was - hardly anyone will say something clearly once, ”the political scientist believes.
I agree with my colleague and Viktor Chumak: the scandal with the Czech Republic broke out precisely when she took several demonstrative steps - provided shelter to Danylyshyn and other Ukrainian oppositionists. “These are absolutely unfriendly steps towards the Ukrainian authorities. Therefore, in response, we were shown that the Czech Republic is not only unfriendly to other states, but also spies. This is the same motivational part for the voter as in the Ukrainian-Moldavian spy scandal, ”the expert emphasized.
Ukraine is not sick with spy
Spy scandals in Ukraine, as a rule, do not have such a resonance as in other countries, for example, in neighboring Russia, where such stories are widely reported in the media, vividly discussed by the public, accompanied by courts and expulsions of diplomats. According to Nikolai Sungurovsky, those espionage scandals in Russia that we learn about are, in fact, “only one thousandth of what exists.” “We see that it is already impossible to hide: either the opposing party began to make public the data, or the information leaked somewhere. And in this case, hiding information will bring only harm. It is dangerous to close and open information, because it can have specific undesirable consequences, ”the expert added.
Spies in Russia can dig very deeply and relate to those that were of strategic importance to her, which is why these scandals could be accompanied by the expulsion of diplomats from the country and great resonance, said Valentin Zubov. “And finding out, for example, how many Ukraine sells weapons, is a spy scandal at the kitchen level,” he added.
Alexander Paliy believes that Russia plays the role of a “besieged fortress”. “For Russia, espionage topics are extremely sensitive. In this country, there is a serious setting up of public opinion against foreigners. Therefore, Russia for domestic and foreign policy reasons raises these cases. Russia is trying to fight for hegemony, if not in the world, then at least in its part. That is why a substantial aggravation of this struggle is taking place, ”the political scientist is convinced.
Ukraine is now, according to the expert, busy with its own problems of survival, because the stories of spies do not cause much public interest. “Ukrainians are not worried about spying, and the authorities are not inclined to warm it up. And in general, Ukrainian society is not serious enough about external security issues, and the elite is extremely irresponsible, ”Paly concluded.
How are spies fighting in Ukraine?
Very little attention is paid to combating espionage in Ukraine at the state level, stressed member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security and Defense Valentin Zubov. “I know the financial needs of foreign and military intelligence, the Security Service of Ukraine - they are financed on a residual basis. At the same time, our special services work quite effectively and intensively. But state bodies, asserting the budget, are significantly underfinancing their needs, especially technical ones. It is enough only for salaries and the necessary minimum, ”he assured.
The reason for this, according to the deputy, is the budget deficit. “Although, frankly, if we stole less, we would have financed the army and everything else properly,” he added.
At the same time, Zubov stressed that if the secret services are not able to prevent espionage, this will result in Ukraine losing "the last secrets that it may still have". “The task of the special services is not to disclose, but, above all, to warn, stop. If our special services work effectively, then hardly any spy will come here: they only come, and we already know what they want, and gently demonstrate their awareness of their tasks, and they quickly leave. This is happening all over the world, ”he said.
Special services, according to the people's deputy, can not work effectively if they do not have the necessary equipment. And with this, the Ukrainian special services have big problems due to underfunding, Zubov said: “The space reconnaissance service should work, but we actually don’t have it. Must be an effective communication service. After all, today it is the technology that solves almost all problems.
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