A court hearing is taking place in Kyiv, where two young Ukrainians – 19-year-old Olena and 22-year-old Bohdan – see each other in a month; they are accused of treason and could spend many years in prison, writes Politico.
Olena is a blonde with childish features, Bohdan is a young, athletic man. Both admit to collaborating with Russia, hoping to reduce their potential life sentences to 15 years in prison.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) accuses Olena and Bohdan of placing cameras so that the Russians could spy on Western arms deliveries and monitor a police station. Both are also accused of planning to reveal to Russia the locations of air defense systems in Kiev and the Chernihiv region. Before they could do so, both were captured by SBU agents. The two young men are not the only ones doing this. Since February 2022, the SBU has investigated 24,000 cases related to crimes against the state security of Ukraine and more than 4,100 cases of treason. More than 2,300 cases are currently under trial.
Olena said that it all started with the Jobs in Kyiv channel on the Telegram: “The ad promised easy money. We started doing it, because we really needed some cash, like most of the people in Ukraine nowadays.” Bohdan added that they wanted to start to live together, but were in debt, worked a lot and argued a lot because there was no money.
At first, the two were asked to scout local stores, photograph shelves and price tags,
and study store schedules, but later the tasks changed. They were instructed to install cameras near police stations, and later near the tracks along which weapons are delivered from the West. The last task was to place spy cameras to monitor the operation of air defense systems in the Kyiv area.
Bohdan admitted that after completing the first two tasks, he realized that he was working for Russia, but he chose to keep a positive mindset. He was also afraid of what the Russians might do if the two tried to end the tasks. Olena noted that these people would not let him leave so easily.
An SBU official, who wished to remain anonymous, said that the Russians offer different payments, depending on the complexity of the task. They vary – from taking photos of military factories, energy infrastructure and oil refineries (which helps the Russians determine precise targets), to planting bombs at army mobilization points and police stations.
After four years of brutal war, motivation is much more in the pay than in the ideology.
Several SBU officials said that currently there are few true allies of Russia in the territory controlled by Ukraine, and that is why the Russian special services are looking for agents among those living in poverty and in desperate need of funds. Olena and Bohdan also admitted that they collaborated with the Russians because they needed money. The young woman worked long hours for little pay in the fast food industry, while her boyfriend worked various temporary jobs.
The SBU representative said that the remuneration ranges from a few hundred to several thousand hryvnias per assignment, and there is no guarantee that they will actually be paid. Olena and Bohdan reportedly received from 400 to 3,000 hryvnias (8-62 euros) for each assignment. And even with this money it was difficult to survive.
The SBU noted that Russia is devoting a lot of resources to undermining the stability of Ukraine from within.
Ukrainians living in Russian-occupied territories are also a sore point. There, their efforts to survive can land them in the shadow of the law. Hanna Rassamakhina, head of the War and Justice Department at the Media Initiative for Human Rights, a non-governmental organization, said she was in no way excusing those who collaborate with Russia:
“But many of those on trial for collaborationism are just people trying to survive under Russian occupation.”
Rassamakhina said that anyone left in the occupied territories, forced to look for work and a means of survival, inevitably comes into contact with the occupying authorities against their will, and cannot be completely sure that they will not later be accused of collaborating with the occupiers.
High-profile and wealthy defendants can hire expensive lawyers to secure their release or a reduced prison sentence, but this is hardly the case for young people. Rassamakhina pointed out that often a professional lawyer is enough to get away with the charges, but many cannot afford it, and the courts accept all the arguments of the prosecution. Consequently, many defendants choose the plea deal to reduce the severity of the sentence.
Olena and Bohdan have accepted the fact that they will most likely not see each other for the next 15 years, but plan to meet again after serving their sentences. When Bohdan is reminded of the possibility of getting out of prison if he goes to war, the young man replies that he would rather stay in prison, because people do not return from war.
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