The SBU detained the former head of the SSO forces center, who, according to the investigation, worked for the Russian special services.

The goal of the occupiers was to surrender the town of Ochakiv, in Mykolaiv Oblast, without weapons and with the consent of the town's mayor.

According to TSN, the recruitment took place at the end of last year, when Russian troops had already been trying to capture Ukrainian cities and villages for 10 months.

Details of the special operation to detain a military man with the call sign "Master" and the exclusive comment of the person accused of high treason in the material of TSN correspondent Margarita Potapova.

"As a result of a large-scale special operation, an agent of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (better known as the GRU) was detained in Ochakiv, who was collecting intelligence for the capture of the Ukrainian city," law enforcement officers say.

Counter-intelligence exposed the mayor's advisor Ochakov, who, according to preliminary data, planned to persuade the city's head to cooperate with Russia in order to surrender the city without a fight.

"In the course of documenting the illegal actions of the specified person, the fact of communication with a citizen of the Russian Federation, a native of the city of Kramatorskpa, Serhiy Oleksandrovych Kolesnikov, a staff member of the State Security Service of the Russian Federation, was established," - notes the operational officer of the SBU.

According to the investigation, Russian military intelligence gave him the task of inducing the leadership of the local military-civilian administration to cooperate with the occupiers.

According to TSN, this conversation took place at the end of December 2022:

- The only thing is that tomorrow try to make sure that your friend (this is about Mayor Ochakov - ed.) has a phone, because a very influential person wants to talk to him.

- You understand that it depends on him, whether he wants to give or not.

- And where will he go from the submarine?

- And what kind of person?

- The general will call him

- General of what?

- Three letters, the first G

- I realized 

For this, in order to surrender the city to the Russians, the mayor of the city was offered to "choose a position" in the event of the capture of the southern region. 

As TSN learned, we are talking about Eduard Shevchenko - ex-commander of the 73rd Naval Special Forces Center.

Since 2020, the 55-year-old man has been the head of the video surveillance department of the housing and communal services department of the Ochakiv City Council.

The mayor of the city, Serhiy Bychkov, could not even think that a former soldier, who has orders for combat merits, could be a traitor.

"After certain questions were put to me, I simply turned to the authorities, realizing that the questions were not asked just like that," says Mayor Ochakova.

According to the plan of the Russian special services, the mayor of the city had to voluntarily surrender the city without a fight.

TSN managed to communicate with the arrested suspect in the case, Eduard Shevchenko.

"In which law does it say that I do not have the right to communicate by phone, is there such a law?

There is no such law, none of the evidence written there was given to me, everything is based on assumptions," the suspect assures. 

"According to the conversations and correspondence, it was established that Kolesnikov tried to liberate Ukraine and constantly drew the attention of his interlocutor to this," - notes the SBU operative.

A year before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the former military man was already involved in a case involving Russian special services that wanted to kidnap the then commander of special operations forces, but thanks to his testimony, the special operation failed.

In an interview with TSN, he mentioned the amount that Russian agents offered him for the Ukrainian commander - 100,000 dollars. 

Then he refused to cooperate with the aggressor, but the second attempt was successful, say law enforcement officers.

Eduard Shevchenko now prefers not to mention his military past in the special forces.

He says he turned that page of life.

The fact of the conversation with the citizen of the Russian Federation confirms, as well as the fact that he gave the contacts of the head of the city to the Russians.

"Recruiting the mayor of the city in three minutes, it's not done that quickly, either I'm very professional or I'm very bad.

It cannot be done in three minutes," says the suspect. 

During the detention, the SBU discovered a "secret" phone, which he used for conspiratorial correspondence with the occupiers. Thermal imagers and unregistered weapons were also seized.

The law enforcement officers say that they themselves did not expect that the former commander of the 73rd naval center of special forces could defame the honor of the fighters who are now heroically defending Ukrainian cities by his actions.

Eduard Shevchenko is currently in custody, if the investigators prove his guilt, the suspect faces life imprisonment.

Full video interview with the suspect.

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