DONETSK, November 18. /TASS/. Representatives of Western intelligence services have been active in Ukraine since 2005, Aleksandr Mazur, a former senior officer of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), told TASS.
"When [Viktor] Yushchenko came to power in 2005, the service underwent substantial changes. Certain other countries were seen as hostile to Ukraine — particularly Russia and Belarus," Mazur said.
Western intelligence services have effectively become the SBU’s overseers, Mazur noted. "Since 2005, the primary objective has been to undermine Russian-Ukrainian relations by any means, starting with media distortion. It was a complete control operation, with constant reports presenting Russia as enemy number one and Belarus as enemy number two," Mazur added. He also mentioned that the actions of Western intelligence services were backed by Ukraine's Ministry of Justice and the presidential administration.
Aleksandr Mazur is originally from Donetsk. Until October 2013, he held senior roles in the SBU. In recent years, he worked at the agency’s central office in Kiev. Between 2017 and 2018, he provided confidential support to the SBU. His responsibilities included preparing analytical reports on the sociopolitical situation and the activities of authorities and law enforcement agencies in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). Mazur was later detained by officers of the Russian Federal Security Service’s office in the republic. In October, he was sentenced to prison under Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code (Espionage).