Ukraine says security service general is secret agent for Russia

Ukraine detained a security service general on suspicion of secretly working for Russia, officials in Kyiv said Tuesday. The accused man is Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Maj. Gen. Valery Shaitanov. 

Counterintelligence agents from the SBU found evidence that Shaitanov worked for the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, the SBU press service reported.

The arrest followed a lengthy investigation, according to Ukraine security officials.

“We conducted a complex, long-lasting, multi-level special operation,” said the head of the SBU, Ivan Bakanov, in a statement translated by Just the News. “Unfortunately, the man who received the rank of general after the Revolution of Dignity and had to defend Ukraine actually worked against it.”

Shaitanov’s Russian handler, officials said, was a colonel with the FSB. 

The SBU claimed that Shaitanov plotted “terrorist acts” in exchange for money and a Russian passport, and that he revealed information related to national security and defense.

Shaitanov’s detention comes one week after another Ukrainian military officer, Colonel Ivan Bezyazykov, reportedly was sentenced to 13 years in prison for treason. 

Representatives for Shaitanov could not immediately be located. Russian government officials did not respond to a request for comment.