The Kremlin was planning to create "people's republics" in the western oblasts - the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU)

ROMAN PETRENKO - TUESDAY, 12 APRIL 2022, 13:19

The Kremlin was planning to create "people's republics" in the western oblasts of Ukraine and actually started their work in the summer of 2021.

Source: SBU

Details: One of the members of the group decided to cooperate with the investigation.

He was approached by a retired Russian intelligence officer who turned out to be the organiser of the "scheme". This intelligence officer announced his intention to create a new democracy in Ukraine, and said that if the current government did not"resign by itself," the group would move to a scenario involving force.

In order to seize power, the group had to recruit 500 militants, preferably former ATO servicemen, and provide them with weapons.

The implementation of the plan was to coincide with Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

In early March, the SBU exposed this network and detained the organiser and key figures in Ivano-Frankivsk and Khmelnytskyi Oblasts.

One of the accomplices has admitted his guilt and has testified against the organiser.