A court has handed down a guilty verdict to the head of a laboratory at one of Kharkiv’s universities who manufactured explosives for a terrorist attack on instructions from a representative of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).
"The court sentenced him to 15 years in prison with confiscation of property," the press service of the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office said.
As established, in January of last year, the man made contact with a representative of the Russian special service via Telegram because he wanted to earn money and receive assistance in traveling to temporarily occupied Khartsyzk (Donetsk region), where his father is buried and his mother lives. The intelligence officer promised to help him with the trip, obtaining a Russian passport, and protection from mobilization, but in return demanded that the man manufacture explosives and gather intelligence on the Ukrainian military. Following the curator’s instructions, the accused purchased the necessary components and, using improvised tools in his office at the university, assembled three improvised explosive devices (IEDs). To increase lethality, he packed them with nails, self-tapping screws, bolts, and nuts. The accused left these IEDs, disguised as a volleyball, a thermos, and polymer pipes, in pre-arranged locations in Kharkiv, from where an immediate perpetrator was to pick them up to carry out a terrorist attack at one of the police departments.
In addition, the laboratory head spied on higher education institutions in Kharkiv, checked whether Ukrainian military personnel and equipment were stationed there, filmed the objects, recorded geolocations, and sent detailed reports to his curator. For this, the accused managed to receive UAH 16,000 from the Russian intelligence operative.
In June of last year, law enforcement officers detained the man while he was attempting to plant another explosive device near a residential complex. The discovered device was neutralized by specialists.
During the court hearing, the accused pleaded guilty.
The court found him guilty of high treason (Part 2 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine); illegal manufacture of explosives (Parts 1 and 2 of Article 263-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine); illegal acquisition, carrying, and storage of explosives without a statutory permit (Part 1 of Article 263 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine); and aiding and abetting the commission of a terrorist attack (Part 2 of Article 15, Part 5 of Article 27, Part 2 of Article 258 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
