The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reported the arrest of a traitor whom the Russian special services called “the master”, Ukrainian Pravda reports.

“As a result of a large-scale special operation in the Ocean, an agent of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (better known as the GRU), who was collecting information for the seizure of the Ukrainian city, was detained, the SBU press release says.

According to the investigation, the 55-year-old man is a former commander of one of the special operations centers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who at the beginning of the war became an adviser to the mayor of Okeanu, the town of Mykolayiv region

The SBU claims that he voluntarily agreed to cooperate with the Russian special services and constantly received assignments from the Russian special services under the pseudonym “master”.

How Russian special services try to recruit Ukrainian officials

Ukrainian intelligence officers say that earlier this year, the man was instructed to recruit the mayor of Okean and secure his loyalty to the “surrender” of the city to the Russian armed forces.

According to the SBU, the first stage of the plan involved a “workshop” conversation mediated by the mayor with representatives of Russia, when the former Ukrainian commander was instructed to prepare the mayor for it.

“At the end of January, the suspect informed the mayor that representatives of Russia were going to talk to him. On the same day, he reported to his liaison officer about the interim results of the attempt to recruit the mayor,” the SBU said in a statement.

However, the mayor informed the SBU regional office about the recruitment plan, which led to the arrest of his adviser.

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