The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) arrested two individuals believed to have helped Ukrainian forces carry out cyberattacks to disrupt Russian critical infrastructure targets.
Both suspects were taken into custody one same day in two different regions of Siberia (Tomsk and Kemerovo) and are facing high treason charges that carry a punishment of up to 20 years in prison.
Russian critical networks disrupted
Russia’s security agency published a press release on Tuesday saying that its officers detained two hackers who either assisted or joined Ukraine’s hackers in cyber operations.
One suspect is a student at the Tomsk State University of Control Systems and Radio Electronics. Russian media says that the investigation found that he assisted Ukraine hacker groups in carrying out cyberattacks on networks of Russian information structures.
He was taken to an airplane and transported to a pre-trial detention center in Lefortovo, Moscow, known as an infamous KGB prison and interrogation site for political prisoners in the past.
The second suspect is a 36-year-old man from the small town of Belovo, believed to be a member of a Ukrainian cyber unit.
According to the Russian FSB, he was involved in hacking operations directed by Ukrainian forces that deployed malware and disrupted critical infrastructure networks in Russia.
The press release from the FSB says that the suspect joined a cyber division serving Ukrainian interests and communicated with fellow members over an online messaging solution.
In a video released by the FSB, two officers step out of a vehicle and immobilize the suspect, handcuffing him.
According to Kommersant, a criminal case has been opened against each of the two hackers under Article 275 of the Russian Federation Criminal Code:
High treason, that is espionage, disclosure of state secrets, or any other assistance rendered to a foreign State, a foreign organization, or their representatives in hostile activities to the detriment of the external security of the Russian Federation, committed by a citizen of the Russian Federation, shall be punishable by deprivation of liberty for a term of 12 to 20 years […]
The FSB arrested in the past other individuals for providing information to Ukrainian forces, either in support of the cause or for financial benefits.
One of them, who says in a confession video that he came from the Donetsk region in Ukraine to the Russian Krasnoyarsk, is accused of offering the coordinates of the infrastructure for the closed city of Zelenogorsk.
He also said that he filmed infrastructure facilities in Krasnoyarsk, collected data on the location of military personnel of the Russian Armed Forces in Khartsyzsk, and indicated them to Ukrainian intelligence officers.