How the Kremlin will get Ukrainians to betray their nation

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Two younger individuals had been desperately wanting money. Then the Kremlin stepped in to assist.

By VERONIKA MELKOZEROVA in Kyiv

Illustration by Hokyoung Kim for POLITICO

Olena, 19, and Bohdan, 22, smile fortunately as they enter the room; they’re in handcuffs and are accompanied by armed Safety Service of Ukraine brokers.

It’s the primary time the couple has seen one another in a month; each are being held in a detention heart till their trial on treason costs.

Olena is blonde with tender, infantile options, and Bohdan is an athletic younger man. Each admit that they colluded with Russia in hopes of getting a 15-year jail sentence as a substitute of spending life behind bars. They weren't recognized by their final names.

The safety service, or SBU, accused Olena and Bohdan of utilizing spy cameras to look at Western weapons deliveries and a police station, and that they had been making ready to disclose air protection places in Kyiv and the northern Chernihiv areas to the Russians‬. They had been caught by SBU brokers.

Bohdan and Olena will not be alone. The SBU has investigated greater than 24,000 instances of crimes towards Ukrainian nationwide safety since February 2022, and greater than 4,100 instances of state treason, with greater than 2,300 being at the moment earlier than the courts, mentioned the SBU press service.

Crimes and misdemeanors

“It began after we discovered an advert in a Telegram channel known as Jobs in Kyiv. The advert promised straightforward cash. We began doing it, as a result of we actually wanted some money, like most people in Ukraine these days,” mentioned Olena.

“We actually wished to stay collectively, however we had been in debt, labored so much, fought so much as a result of we nonetheless had no cash,” Bohdan mentioned.

First, Olena and Bohdan had been requested to scout out native supermarkets, taking photos of cabinets and value tags and checking store schedules. However over time, the duties modified.

They obtained orders to set cameras subsequent to a police station after which on a railroad used to hold shipments of Western weapons into Ukraine. Then there was the ultimate activity — arrange spy cameras to identify air protection places within the Kyiv area.

Bohdan admitted he found out they had been working for Russia after the primary two jobs, however most popular to “suppose positively.”

There was additionally worry about what Russia might do to them in the event that they tried to cease. “These guys wouldn't allow you to soar off that simply,” Olena mentioned.

Normally, Russians promise completely different sums to their recruits in Ukraine, relying on the complexity of the job, an SBU official mentioned on situation of anonymity to disclose particulars of investigations.

<img width="1024" height="785" src="https://www.politico.eu/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/06/GettyImages-1038230082-1024x785.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-7458948" srcset="https://www.politico.eu/cdn-cgi/image/width=1024,quality=80,onerror=redirect,format=auto/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/06/GettyImages-1038230082.jpg 1024w, https://www.politico.eu/cdn-cgi/image/width=300,quality=80,onerror=redirect,format=auto/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/06/GettyImages-1038230082.jpg 300w" /> The SBU mentioned that Russia is directing a variety of assets to destabilize Ukraine from inside. | Igor Golovniov/LightRocket by way of Getty Photographs

The duties can fluctuate: from taking photos of army factories, railways, electrical energy infrastructure and oil refineries — which helps Russians find targets and direct missiles and drones — to bombing army recruitment workplaces and police stations, and burning army vehicles.

4 years right into a brutal struggle, the motivation for turncoats is more cash than ideology. There are few Russian allies left in territory held by Ukraine, as a substitute, Russia hunts for brokers among the many poor and determined who want money, a number of SBU officers mentioned.

Olena and Bohdan admit that they had been serving to Russia for cash. She labored as a fast-food cook dinner, generally for 12 to 16 hours a day for little pay, whereas he labored non permanent jobs.

“The reward can begin from a number of hundred to a number of thousand hryvnias, with no assure that they'd truly receives a commission,” the SBU official mentioned. “Olena and Bohdan had been getting 400-3,000 hryvnias (€8-€62) for a mission.”

Even the cash Moscow was paying left them struggling to outlive.

The Kremlin’s recreation

The SBU mentioned that Russia is directing a variety of assets to destabilize Ukraine from the within.

Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigation, the nation’s prime legislation enforcement company, has registered 1,500 legal proceedings for treason towards Ukrainian officers, judges, army personnel and legislation enforcement officers since 2022.

“Every reality of excessive treason, collaboration, aiding the aggressor state, and different crimes is completely investigated by legislation enforcers in accordance with their jurisdiction,” the SBU mentioned.

Then there's the difficulty of Ukrainians residing underneath Russian occupation, the place the battle to outlive can put them on the unsuitable facet of Ukrainian legislation.

“Under no circumstances am I justifying actual collaborators. However lots of these on trial for collaborationism are simply individuals attempting to outlive underneath Russian occupation,” mentioned Hanna Rassamakhina, head of the Warfare and Justice Division on the Media Initiative for Human Rights nongovernmental group. “We see that any one that remained within the occupied territory, who's compelled to search for work, technique of livelihood, after all, he's in touch with the occupation authorities towards his will, such an individual can't be 100% positive that he won't be accused of collaborationism later.”

Whereas some extra high-profile defendants can rent costly attorneys to attempt to get them off the hook and minimize their sentences, that’s unlikely to occur for Bohdan and Olena.

“Knowledgeable lawyer is usually sufficient to destroy the accusation. However many of those individuals are not capable of rent knowledgeable lawyer. Ultimately, courts truly settle for all of the arguments of the prosecution, and these individuals are convicted,” Rassamakhina mentioned.

That prompts many accused to go for plea offers to cut back the harshness of the sentence.

Olena and Bohdan have made peace with the truth that they are going to doubtless not see one another for at the very least 15 years. They're planning to fulfill once more after they've served their time.

When reminded a couple of chance of being launched from jail if a convict agrees to serve within the Ukrainian military, Bohdan mentioned he would somewhat keep in jail.

“I already talked to some inmates about that and, you already know … Individuals don’t come again from there … And I don’t wish to waste my life in useless,” Bohdan mentioned.