They were collecting secret technologies for the production of “Neptune” missiles. SBU detained Chinese citizens in Kyiv

Author:
Anastasiia Mohylevets
Date:

Counterintelligence of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) detained two Chinese citizens in the capital. According to law enforcement officers, they wanted to illegally export secret documentation regarding the Ukrainian RK-360MC "Neptune" missile complex to China.

This is reported by SBU.

"Neptune" is in service with the Defense Forces, it is designed to fire on all types of combat and landing ships. It was from "Neptune" that the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the missile cruiser "Moskva", was destroyed, the press release says.

The investigation revealed that one of the detainees is a 24-year-old former student at a technical university in Kyiv who continued to live in the city after being expelled in 2023 for academic failure.

Another person involved is his father, who lived in China. According to the investigation, he periodically visited Ukraine to personally coordinate his sonʼs intelligence work. The former Chinese student was supposed to obtain technical documentation on the production of the “Neptunes”, SBU writes. To do this, he tried to recruit a Ukrainian associated with the development of the latest weapons for the Defense Forces.

The counterintelligence of the Security Service exposed the possible spy at the beginning of the operation and caught him red-handed while he was being given secret documents. Later, his father was detained, who was supposed to pass the data to the special services in Beijing. The phones of both suspects were seized — their correspondence with evidence of criminal activity was found there.

Based on the collected evidence, the SBU investigators informed the detainees of suspicion under Part 1 of Article 114 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. They face up to 15 years in prison with confiscation of property.

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