Prison instead of a Russian passport: How a spotter from Zaporizhia "betrayed" the Ukrainian Armed Forces and aided the occupiers.

Since the beginning of the large-scale war, over 800 people in Ukraine have been convicted for assisting the Russians. One of them – a spotter from Zaporizhzhia – is currently sitting in a pre-trial detention center and could soon receive his sentence for treason. How do people become traitors, what do the enemies promise for assistance, and what motivates spotters? – in this article by RBC-Ukraine.

The full-scale war of Russia against Ukraine has been ongoing for nearly three years. The Kremlin seems to have crossed all boundaries of humanity, morality, and common sense, not to mention that the goals of the Russian leadership are painfully transparent. Ukrainian cities are shelled daily, people are dying from the bombardments, and the military is repelling attacks from the Russian army at the front every day.

Despite this, there are still people in the country willing to aid the aggressor. They guide missiles to military and civilian targets, photograph equipment and air defense systems, and report on the concentration of personnel. Predominantly, there are two motives driving these traitors – either financial gain or ideology. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) regularly apprehends them, and courts impose prison sentences under the articles of "treason" or "illegal transfer of data about the Armed Forces of Ukraine."

Since February 24, 2022, the Security Service has opened more than 3,100 criminal cases for treason and over 580 for transferring coordinates of military positions to the enemy and adjusting fire. Nearly 800 people have already been convicted under these two articles.

One such spotter is currently sitting in a detention center in Zaporizhzhia. In 2022, six months after the war began, he began collaborating with a Russian agent and passing on necessary information. With the help of the special services, RBC-Ukraine managed to speak with the spotter and learn why he took this step.

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– If the army of another state has entered your territory, what should you do?

– I will say this. I was there in 2014, I didn't see the army, I saw Russian volunteers. But I also saw many locals who took up arms.

– And what were the Russians doing there?

– That's a different question.

The man we will refer to in this text as Vitaliy (for anonymity reasons – ed.) sits before us, crossing one leg over the other, occasionally rustling a file with papers and cigarettes inside. He is suspected of treason, and he was brought to the interview straight from the detention center. "A complicated character. Very cunning. At least, he thinks he’s very cunning," describe him the SBU officers.

An hour earlier, Vitaliy enters the room prepared for filming. We obtained permission for the interview and the consent of the suspect a few days before arriving in Zaporizhzhia, so there should be no mistakes. Vitaliy enters, places the file with papers on the table, lounges back in his chair, and states that he has no intention of giving an interview.

For a while, we try to convince him to participate in the filming while getting to know him. Then one of the SBU officers enters the room. "Vitalik, what's the matter? You agreed. Tell people so they know how wrong it is, so they don’t repeat your mistakes." Vitaliy shrugs and hisses: "Maybe it’s worth it, but I’m not ready. I don’t want to."

We remain with Vitaliy in the room and gradually establish a dialogue. After an hour of rather exhausting conversation, we go out into the yard. Vitaliy is handcuffed and taken back to the detention center, while the SBU officer waiting at the door smiles. "I told you he only thinks he’s cunning."

Like-minded Individuals

A local chat for residents of Zaporizhzhia appeared on Telegram a few days after the large-scale invasion. People got acquainted, shared details about what was happening, and how to protect themselves. The chat was named "Like-minded Individuals" and gradually began to fill with users. Who they are and where they come from is unknown, at least according to Vitaliy.

"I don’t want you to film me, but I can tell my story, and you can retell it as you remember it," the man tells us, relaxing a bit.

Vitaliy immediately denies the allegations against him. According to his version, in the "Like-minded Individuals" chat, he was just chatting and didn’t say anything to anyone. His first words are – "we were just chatting." Even when we ask who "Misha Kulikov" is (the name changed for anonymity reasons – ed.), not a muscle on his face twitches. "He introduced himself as a resident of Zaporizhzhia or the region, and that’s all."

"I shared everything with him; I even made him a recipe for bread. He asked, and I did it with a video, step by step. I communicated with him like an ordinary person, I didn’t even think about it. That’s why I told him things I probably shouldn’t have…", Vitaliy hesitates at one point.

Detained Vitaliy (photo: screenshot from RBC-Ukraine video)

The things that "perhaps" he shouldn't have said include coordinates of military units, concentrations of equipment, and air defense systems. Especially the air defense. The Russians are quite inventive in hunting for air defense. One of them is Mikhail (or Misha) Kulikov, a participant, and, as it will later turn out, the creator of the "Like-minded Individuals" chat and, simultaneously, a representative of the Russian military intelligence.

Initially, Vitaliy presents a coherent logic – he loves Ukraine, hasn't communicated with anyone, hasn’t passed anything to anyone, and there’s no doubt about his patriotism. He was born in Donetsk and moved to Kyiv in 2000. Of his 55 years, he worked in an auto service for 35. In 2014, he returned to Donetsk to "fix the fences on the graves of relatives."

"It was clear to me even then that this war wouldn’t end well. You can’t resolve a dispute with war if one person chooses one point of view, and another chooses another. I served in Azerbaijan from '87 to '89, right when all those events were happening in Nagorno-Karabakh and Sumgait. I saw people in Lenin Square, the so-called Maidan. I saw how it ended."

From this point on, Vitaliy begins to "drift." His stance – initially strictly "yellow-blue" – gradually takes on entirely different hues. Simultaneously, the story with the "Zaporizhzhian" Kulikov emerges. From being a local resident, he suddenly becomes a Russian, and Vitaliy, who previously claimed not to know his interlocutor's nationality, unexpectedly slips.

"There were many Russians there (in the "Like-minded Individuals" chat – ed.). Moreover, when I communicated with this guy, I asked him what you are doing when there was shelling, and it hit Krivaya Bay and struck multi-story buildings on the embankment; I asked – where did you shoot at all? He, as always, – missed, etc."

Vitaliy constantly jumps from topic to topic – from the bread recipe he gave to the Russian intelligence officer to the "referendum" in Donetsk. His position is flexible and soft; he is ready to adapt to the moods of his interlocutor. If during the SBU interrogation the man answered strictly and factually, then here – in the space where he was allowed to reflect, Vitaliy philosophizes. Ultimately, he comes to the conclusion that in Ukraine, "to a certain extent," there is a civil war.

Vitaliy struggles to determine what to say and which rhetoric suits him best. Initially, he refers to Ukrainians as "Makhnoists" because "we are freedom-loving and unyielding." And Vladimir Putin, if he had understood this from the start, would not have invaded. Then he states that Russians are the same as Ukrainians, and if an army from another state entered their territory, they would stand "as a whole country."

– Well, we went into Kursk. And not everyone stood up as a country.

– Well, that’s their business; maybe they think that Kursk is a small part…

In this rather chaotic dialogue, it was challenging to keep returning to his primary subject – the case for which Vitaliy is currently sitting in the detention center. But by the end of the conversation, the man travels from being someone who remarks on being spoken to in Russian to someone who referred to the military of the Armed Forces of Ukraine as "not finished off." He even mentions this himself. Then comes the confession.

"Invite as many observers as you want, but just take and hold referendums. If many in Donetsk are really 'for' –