MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th August, 2022) The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has been massively recruiting Ukrainian citizens who often travel or have traveled to Russia since 2014, forcing them to pass on data about the Russian military in Crimea and other regions, an employee of the Russian law enforcement agencies told Sputnik.
"The special services of Ukraine are increasing pressure on Ukrainian citizens crossing the border with Russia-controlled territories, involving them in criminal terrorist activities. They have been forced to collect data on the movement of Russian troops in Crimea, transmit the coordinates of the troops' deployment and the number of Russian units, as well as significant sites on the Crimean peninsula," the law enforcement source said.
According to the source, the scheme continues to this day and Ukrainians who regularly enter the territories controlled by Russia often get targeted.
"Not only taxi drivers, deliverymen or people who regularly visit their relatives become victims of recruitment, but other citizens crossing the border face blackmail from the Kiev secret services," the employee of the Russian law enforcement agencies told Sputnik.
According to the source, the SBU and the Ukrainian border security blackmail people under any pretext, threatening them to deny them entry for five years or even to burn their car.
Crimea rejoined Russia in 2014, after a referendum determined that over 96 percent of the peninsula's voters were in favor of reunification. On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Kiev was going to retake Crimea.
Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, after the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR) appealed for help in defending themselves against Ukrainian provocations. Russia said that the aim of its special operation is to demilitarize and "denazify" Ukraine.
Russia was the first to recognize the republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in February.
