Security Service of Ukraine detains Belarusian journalist accused of working for KGB
The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) and the Main Directorate of Intelligence (MDI) of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence reported on the evening of 27 January the detention of a Belarusian journalist suspected of espionage and working for the Belarusian Committee for State Security (KGB).
MDI did not name the detainee. However, Ukrainian media reported it concerns 35-year-old Inna Kardash, who had collaborated with several Ukrainian media outlets. The journalist was detained in Kyiv as part of a joint operation by Ukrainian special services under the direction of the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.
MDI accused the detainee of attempting to «infiltrate» a unit of Ukrainian military intelligence and pass certain data to the KGB, for which, according to Ukrainian special services, the woman had worked since 2015.
Ukrainian special services believe the primary task of the detained journalist was to gather information on Belarusians and Russians who are taking part in military actions against Russia on the side of Ukraine. A secondary task, according to MDI, was to collect information on the activities of Chinese diplomats and staff at the embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Kyiv.
The journalist has currently been remanded in custody. HUR stated she could face up to 15 years’ imprisonment with confiscation of property for espionage.
Neither the Belarusian KGB nor official Minsk in general have yet commented on the detention of the Belarusian journalist.
It is worth recalling that previously, the KGB, conversely, accused the Ukrainian authorities of attempting to move sabotage groups into Russia through Belarusian territory, as well as of recruiting Belarusians to carry out high-profile terrorist acts. Furthermore, last autumn, the First Deputy Chairman of the Belarusian Committee for State Security, Siarhei Tserabow, accused EU countries of preparing a so-called Belarusian «liberation army,» the aim of which, according to Belarusian special services, is an invasion of the Republic’s territory.