DONETSK. July 2 (Interfax) - A man from the self-proclaimed Donetsk people republic (DPR) has been sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment for espionage and collaboration with Ukrainian secret services, the DPR state security ministry said on Friday.
The ministry "detained a DPR resident, Sergei Viktorovich Robak, born 1979, who was recruited by Ukrainian special services for gathering intelligence and carrying out acts of sabotage and terrorism in the DPR," the ministry stated on its website.
Further inquiries revealed that Robak was recruited by the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) while crossing the border between the DPR and Ukraine, the ministry said.
"Between the summer of 2016 and November 2017 Robak used messengers to pass on to the SBU information about the location of DPR military bases, was involved in a transfer, through a cache, of a cell phone intended for a subversive scout group which operated in our Republic, and was involved in organizing kidnap of DPR servicemen. Also, the DPR state security ministry has identified the SBU handler under whose immediate supervision Robak was operating in the republic," the statement said.
Robak was apprehended after completing a mission of gathering intelligence about the DPR military and charged with espionage under the DPR Criminal Code.
"In April 2019 the Supreme Court found Sergei Robak guilty of having committed the crime and sentenced him to 12 years of imprisonment, with partial confiscation of property in the favor of the state," the ministry said.