Ukrainian and Russian intelligence services traded accusations on Tuesday after Ukraine said it had expelled four Russians for spying and detained another on espionage charges.
The row emerged between rounds of a tense election for president in Ukraine in which relations with the former Soviet master, Russia, is an issue. It also followed closely the arrival of Russia’s new ambassador to Kiev, Mikhail Zurabov, ending a five-month diplomatic rift.
Ukrainian spy chief Valentyn Nalyvaychenko said the Russians, who included members of the Russian FSB state security service, had been caught "red-handed" in southern Ukraine trying to obtain military secrets from a Ukrainian citizen.
"Ukraine’s security services (SBU) intercepted a Russian intelligence operation on Jan. 27 in the region of Odessa," SBU chief Nalyvaychenko was quoted as saying by Interfax Ukraine.
"We caught all five operatives red-handed who, with blackmail and threats, tried illegally to obtain Ukrainian state secrets from a Ukrainian citizen," he said in comments confirmed by an SBU spokeswoman.
In Moscow, a spokesman for the FSB confirmed that one of its employees had been detained in Ukraine.
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But it offered a different explanation for contacts with the Ukrainian, saying he had been held, but later released, at a Russian military post in the Moldovan breakaway region of Transdniestria.
That territory borders the Odessa region and is home to a large Russian peacekeeping force.
"It is surprising that the SBU has hurried to make this incident public since this sort of situation is usually dealt with between the intelligence services themselves," said the FSB.
Relations with Moscow had deteriorated under President Viktor Yushchenko but he failed to gain re-election in a first round of voting, prompting Moscow to finalise Ambassador Zurabov’s appointment which had been delayed.
Nalyvaychenko said the spy group — which included officers from Russia’s FSB and a Russian soldier stationed in Transdniestria — had kidnapped a Ukrainian in an attempt to gain secrets.
He said four of the Russians had been expelled from Ukraine while an FSB colonel had been arrested on espionage charges. Digital recorders, a video camera disguised as a fountain pen, flash cards, notebooks, instructions and $2,000 intended to bribe the Ukrainian were found, the security chief said.
