Russian intelligence agencies are actively recruiting financially vulnerable Ukrainian teenagers to carry out espionage and sabotage inside Ukraine in exchange for cash, The Financial Times (FT) reported on Monday, citing senior officials in Kyiv.
Ukrainian officials told the FT they are witnessing the “systematic grooming of teenagers and young adults, including those orphaned and displaced by the fighting,” by Kremlin operatives.
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Russian agents reportedly offer vulnerable youth financial incentives in exchange for tasks ranging from surveillance to arson.
Kyiv has described Moscow’s strategy as “turning Ukraine’s adolescents into weapons of war against their own country.”The Guardian reported that an unemployed 19-year-old was offered $1,000 for a paint attack on a police station – but the bag he was given contained a bomb, which would have killed him if his Russia-linked handlers had been able to explode the device.
Last week, the Ukrainian security forces arrested a 19-year-old in Kharkiv accused of committing a terrorist attack in the city using a booby-trapped electric scooter that killed a soldier.
From arson to suicide bombings
Since spring 2024, Ukrainian authorities have arrested more than 700 people for acts linked to Russian intelligence, including espionage, arson and the placement of explosives, SBU spokesperson Artem Dekhtiarenko told the FT.
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About 25% of those detained were under the age of 18, he added.“Underage people cannot foresee the consequences of their actions,” Dekhtiarenko said, adding this makes them particularly vulnerable to Russian recruitment.
He said that Russia’s campaign “started last spring with tasks of burning cars [and] electricity hubs along the railway,” before evolving into attacks on military recruitment centers.
By early 2025, “they switched to using Ukrainians as suicide bombers,” he added.‘Don’t burn your own! Burn the enemy!’As the problem grows, Ukrainian authorities have launched a nationwide awareness campaign. Mass text messages, highway billboards and on-board train videos now warn young people against being lured by the FSB.SBU agents have also begun visiting schools to teach students how to recognize recruitment tactics. The campaign’s slogan urges resistance: “
Don’t burn your own! Burn the enemy!
”By the end of May, around 50 Ukrainian minors had reported attempts to bribe them through messenger apps, according to Ukraine’s juvenile police, which is involved in the prevention efforts.
A Europe-wide campaign
Following the 2022 expulsion of around 600 Russian diplomats from Western countries, many suspected of operating undercover as spies, Russia’s intelligence network has reportedly turned to more covert methods, including recruiting minors.
Russia’s sabotage conspiracies extend beyond Ukraine, it is alleged.
Reuters reported earlier this month that at least 12 teenagers had been arrested across Europe in recent months in connection with Russian-linked sabotage cases, including in the UK, Germany, Poland, and Lithuania.
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