Main image: On the left, a leaked SBU document relating to the investigation into Ivan Ivanovich Zotchik, sourced from Palantir’s Foundry tool. In the centre, the insignia of the Belarusian KGB and the FSB. © Intelligence Online - Photo editing and assembly: Bénédicte Gouttebroze/Indigo Publications
The territory of Belarus has become a key hub for clandestine agent networks operated by the FSB’s Fifth Service and used to infiltrate European Union countries, according to the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU), citing Intelligence Online.
Ukrainian counterintelligence services are conducting extensive work to track and uncover the logistical and operational routes established by the Russian security service. To organise the investigation and reconstruct the full chain of connections, Ukrainian investigators have used Foundry, a specialised analytical platform developed by Palantir.
Analysis of leaked SSU documents related to the investigation into Ivan Ivanovich Zotchik reportedly established that the FSB’s Fifth Service actively uses the Belarusian route to organise and carry out acts of sabotage and contract killings in Ukraine and EU member states.
Investigators are specifically tracking and documenting a direct transit route from Belarus into Poland. According to the report, Russian intelligence structures conduct these clandestine activities in close coordination with and with the support of Belarus’s State Security Committee (KGB).
Ukrainian counterintelligence continues working to identify all elements of the agent network and prevent planned Russian operations. Information gathered on the methods used by the FSB’s Fifth Service, which allegedly uses Belarus as a staging ground for hybrid operations and destabilisation activities, enables Ukrainian services to track routes used to move operatives and equipment intended for sabotage.
The report also states that Belarusian security service infrastructure is fully integrated into Russian intelligence operations targeting the security of Ukraine and European countries.
