The Security Service of Ukraine prevented the Russians from creating "peopleʼs republics" in the western regions of Ukraine.
The SSU announced this on its Telegram channel.
According to the agency, one of the group members cooperated with the investigation. According to him, work on overthrowing the constitutional order in Ukraine began in the summer of 2021.
He was approached by a retired enemy intelligence officer who turned out to be the organizer of the "scheme". He announced his intention to create a new democracy in Ukraine, and if the current government "does not resign itself", the group had to move to a force scenario.
The group planned to recruit 500 militants, preferably former ATO veterans, and provide them with weapons to seize power. They wanted to implement this plan simultaneously with the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In early March, the Security Service exposed the perpetrators and detained the organizer and key figures in Ivano-Frankivsk and Khmelnytskyi oblast.