Russian Collaborator Jailed After Attempt to Collect Social Security Payments in Kyiv

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said a woman who collaborated with Russian occupying authorities and helped organize pseudo-referendums in Ukraine’s Luhansk region has been sentenced to prison after attempting to claim social benefits in Kyiv.

The SBU said the woman was a resident of Starobilsk, a city located in the Luhansk region. She was arrested in the spring of 2023 when she tried to claim social benefits as an internally displaced person from the occupied territories.

She and her mother were appointed to the occupation electoral committee in Starobilsk as they supported and cooperated with Russian forces and were paid with rubles for their work.

She was found guilty of involvement with the falsifying of election results during Russia’s staged referendum designed to endorse Moscow’s annexation of the Luhansk region.

“There, she was part of the so-called ‘mobile groups’ that compiled lists of potential ‘voters’ and monitored their arrival at the ‘voting’ stations to create the appearance of an election process.

“She also falsified the results of the fake plebiscite and certified it with her signature in the illegal ‘protocols’ of the pseudo-referendum,” read the SBU press release.

She was found guilty and was sentenced to five and a half years in prison with confiscation of property.