MOSCOW, April 7. /TASS/. The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained a Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) agent and his accomplice, in the Kherson Region, who had been gathering data on the deployment and movement of Russian troops, the FSB’s Center for Public Relations (CPR) told TASS on Friday.
"The Federal Security Service has detained an agent of the Ukrainian secret services and a person acting on his instructions who were gathering data on the locations and numbers of Russian armed forces units in the Kherson Region," the CPR reported.
According to the FSB, the detainees were gathering data specifically on the routes of movement and types of military equipment and weapons used in the special military operation, as well as the geographical coordinates of troops, and were forwarding such data to the SBU via Internet messaging apps for the purpose of adjusting Ukrainian artillery and missile strikes on Russian positions.
Criminal charges were brought against the detained Ukrainian citizens under Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code ("Espionage") and both have been placed in pre-trial detention. Under the law, the crime of espionage is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.