The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) on Monday tied the July arrest of an anti-corruption agent to a clandestine group of moles in senior Ukrainian government positions controlled by Russian spies.
In its press release the SBU, without naming the suspected mole in the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), tied him to a spy cell known as “D-2” operating under Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).
“According to the case materials, the agents’ criminal activities were supervised by Igor Yegorov, an employee of the 1st Service of the Counterintelligence Operations Department of the FSB of the Russian Federation,” the press release says.
The cell reportedly includes three other Russian moles whose identities were established earlier, including former SBU Major General Valery Shaitanov, former deputy head of ousted president Viktor Yanukovych’s security team Dmitry Ivantsov, and an unnamed serviceman from the National Guard.
The SBU said the NABU official and unnamed National Guard serviceman worked under Ivantsov.
Political implication
In July, the government used the arrest of a NABU agent to pass a controversial law curbing the independence of the anti-graft agencies. The move triggered major protests, prompting Kyiv to reverse the bill.
The SBU and NABU, as well as the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), accused each other of political targeting, with NABU having also arrested an SBU general linked to a 2024 corruption case.
However, the SBU said the case against the NABU suspect referred to in the latest press release is not linked to NABU’s anti-corruption work.
“We would like to emphasize that this criminal proceeding concerns an individual employee of the Anti-Corruption Bureau and has no bearing on the effective work of NABU as a state institution of Ukraine as a whole. As before, the SBU advocates constructive cooperation to strengthen institutional capabilities, cleanse it of pro-Russian influence, and strengthen the independence of our state,” the press release states.
Accusations against the NABU official
The SBU said the suspect used to work at the Ministry of Internal Affairs when he was recruited in 2012 but was working for NABU at the time of his arrest in July 2025.
The SBU said the NABU suspect talked with Ivantsov in 2014 after the ousting of Yanukovych, three days after Russia held an illegal referendum to annex the Crimean Peninsula, the content of which is unclear.
The suspect is then accused of sending classified information to Ivantsov on more than 60 occasions, including “the constituent data of Ukrainian security forces and other citizens against whom the enemy planned recruitment activities and special information operations.”
The suspect has been served a suspicion notice for high treason and unauthorized transfer of classified information, according to the SBU. He is currently detained and faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
The SBU previously announced the arrest of Ruslan Mahamedrasulov, a senior NABU detective, and accused him of maintaining ties with a lawmaker wanted for treason and continuing hemp trade with companies in Russia’s Dagestan.
But it is unclear if Mahamedrasulov is the suspect in the latest press release.
Clandestine spy cell
The SBU said the NABU suspect, alongside three other alleged moles, worked as part of a Russian spy cell led by FSB officer Yegorov.
SBU Major General Shaitanov, part of the cell, was arrested in 2020 for “[planning] a series of terrorist attacks on the territory of Ukraine, as well as the murder of a well-known military volunteer, [collecting] and [transmitting] to the Russian Federation information about secret operations in the ATO area, etc,” according to the press release.
ATO stands for anti-terrorist operation – Kyiv’s official term for the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014 that saw Moscow-backed proxies combating Ukrainian forces.
Shaitanov is already sentenced to 12 years in prison.
The SBU then said it identified Ivantsov, the NABU suspect’s handler, after Shaitanov’s arrest.
The intelligence agency said Ivantsov is living in occupied Crimea and is working as a resident FSB agent – a term referring to spies working without diplomatic cover.
“Among his tasks is the coordination of subversive activities of other Russian agents in Ukraine,” the press release says.
The last person identified as a spy is an unnamed National Guard serviceman working under Ivantsov, whom the SBU said has been “passing on to Ivantsov data on Ukrainian activists, high-ranking officials, prisoners of war, information on the consequences of shelling on the territory of Ukraine, etc.”
The National Guard serviceman has been detained, according to the SBU.