Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained three residents of annexed Crimea on suspicion of high treason, accusing them of passing military information to a woman it identified as an officer of Ukraine's military intelligence directorate (GUR). The men, born in 1988, 1994 and 1995, contacted the woman, named as Marina Kucheryak, through a popular dating website, the state news agency TASS reported, citing the FSB press service.
According to the FSB, Kucheryak used false names and posed as a Crimean resident forced to move to territory under Ukrainian government control. During their conversations, the men learned that their interlocutor was collecting information for Ukrainian intelligence services, the agency said.
The detainees allegedly handed over photographs, video materials and coordinates of military facilities, including air defense systems, an oil depot, fuel storage and loading points, as well as parking locations and movement routes of military equipment, Novaya Gazeta Europe reported.
The FSB's directorate opened criminal cases under Article 275 of the Russian Criminal Code on high treason, which carries a penalty of up to life imprisonment. A court has ordered all three men held in pre-trial detention, the security service said. The detainees have not commented publicly.
The FSB did not specify which dating website was involved, but said the platform is used by Ukrainian intelligence for recruitment. Photographs of Kucheryak were published by the state news agency RIA Novosti.
Crimea.Realities noted that the FSB opens such cases almost daily, whereas before 2014 there were no more than 10 per year. Human rights activists predict the number of cases on charges of treason, cooperation with Ukraine, espionage and sabotage in Crimea will grow.