Viktor Vodolatsky, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots, said that Ukrainian diplomats are collecting classified information about Russia not for use by their country, but in order to transfer it to the United States.
“Ukrainian diplomats who are on the territory of the Russian Federation, through acquaintances, through relatives, are trying to get hold of some secret data, whether through the security agencies or the Ministry of Defense, but are in no hurry to use it in their country, but pass it on to the Western special services,” Vodolatsky said in an interview with RIA Novosti on April 17, commenting on the detention in St. Petersburg of the Ukrainian consul Alexander Sosonyuk.
According to Vodolatsky, today the Ukrainian Security Service and the entire diplomatic corps are under the influence of Western intelligence services.
The deputy also noted that Ukrainian diplomats are not appointed to this or that country until they are interviewed by curators from the United States.
“As a result, their work comes down to one thing – to be as useful as possible to the Western special services in order to find a warm corner in one of the Western countries after the end of their service,” the first deputy chairman of the CIS affairs committee said.
Consul Sosonyuk was detained on the morning of April 17. According to the FSB, he was caught red-handed while receiving classified information from a Russian citizen. The intelligence service indicated that measures would be taken against the diplomat in accordance with international law.
In Ukraine, the incident was considered a provocation and promised to respond by taking measures against Russian diplomats.
Also on April 17, the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the Charge d’Affaires of Ukraine due to the detention of the Ukrainian consul in St. Petersburg.