Director of Russian company that helped Moscow launch spy satellites detained in Kharkiv – video, photos

The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) and the cyber police have detained a Russian asset working for Russia's Aerospace Forces in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.

Source: SSU; Ukraine's National Police; Prosecutor General's Office

Details: The suspect, a 47-year-old resident of Kharkiv, is the CEO of a Russian company in Volgograd that is engaged in the configuration of the Kondor-FKA and Obzor-R spy satellites.

The Russians use these space systems to detect the current geolocation of Ukrainian forces, adjust fire and conduct reconnaissance, SSU noted.

In order to calibrate and adjust the Russian satellites, the suspect established agreements with Roscosmos, the Russian state corporation overseeing space flights, cosmonaut programmes and aerospace research.

While remaining in Kharkiv during 2023-2024, the suspect remotely installed, calibrated, and adjusted specialised radar equipment for the Russian Aerospace Forces, collaborating with other Russian institutions.

Under the terms of the signed agreement, the defendant instructed the transfer of his company's testing facility to the Russian Aerospace Forces.

The contractor signed all the necessary documents via email and gave instructions to his subordinates in Russia via messenger chats.

The investigation also revealed that before the outbreak of the full-scale war, the suspect had been living in Russia for a long time and even became a participant in a programme for resettlement to Russia.

Ukrainian law enforcement documented the subversive activities of the offender and detained him at his home in Kharkiv.

The police, with support from the TOR and BPOP special forces, conducted 14 authorised searches at the homes of the suspect and his potential accomplices in Kharkiv, Lviv, and Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Law enforcement officials seized documents, seals, computer equipment, electronic storage devices, and cash in foreign currency, particularly Russian roubles, amounting to approximately UAH 11 million [approx. US$266,000].

During the searches, the law enforcement officers seized the man's Russian passport.

The suspect has been remanded in custody without the right to be released on bail.

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