MOSCOW. June 7 (Interfax) - Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has caught Ukrainian citizen Oleksiy Semenyaka collaborating with the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), and he has been deported from Russia and will be unable to come back for the next 25 years.
"As a result of investigative procedures, Russia's Federal Security Service has put an end to the reconnaissance and sabotage activity conducted by Ukrainian citizen Oleksiy Petrovych Semenyaka to the benefit of the Ukrainian security services," the FSB public relations center told Interfax.
Semenyaka's activities "were coordinated by Ukrainian counterintelligence officers for a long time," the FSB said.
"The rapid response and prompt measures undertaken by the FSB of Russia prevented Semenyaka from damaging the external security of the Russian Federation. The presence of this foreigner in Russian territory has been found undesirable, and he has been prohibited from visiting Russia for the next 25 years. The Ukrainian citizen left the territory of the Russian Federation on June 3, 2021," it said.
Sr. Lt. Tymur Hasymov, senior criminal investigator for high profile cases from Unit 2, Division 1 of the Ukrainian Security Service Department for Counterintelligence Protection of State Interests in the Field of Information Security, and Lt. Col. Ihor Chernyak, deputy head of Unit 2, Division 1 of the Ukrainian Security Service Department for Counterintelligence Protection of State Interests in the Field of Information Security, served as Semenyaka's case officers, the FSB said.
"Urgent investigative procedures resulted in the seizure of the Ukrainian citizen's personal electronic devices, which contained messages from SBU officers who invited him to assist in their operations with the ultimate goal of damaging the security of the Russian Federation," the FSB said.
In the course of his interrogation, Semenyaka confirmed his long-standing relationship with Ukrainian Security Service officers and said he was providing diverse consultations.
"While the investigative procedures regarding Semenyaka were in progress, an attempt by third parties stationed in Kyiv to delete data from his mobile device was observed," the FSB said.
This was an attempt by Semenyaka's SBU handlers to protect him, yet the data was not successfully deleted, it said.
The Russian security service did not say what exactly Semenyaka was doing in Russia.
According to public sources, a person with the same name, who looks like the man in the FSB video, was working in the field of cybersecurity.
Over the years, Semenyaka worked at Yandex, Megafon, and Qrator Labs, specializing in the deterrence of DDos attacks.
At the moment of his detention, Semenyaka was in the employ of one of five regional Internet registrars, Ripe NCC.