Targeting Vulnerability: FSBs Recruitment of Ukrainian Minors for Espionage and Sabotage

Russian intelligence agencies are enlisting Ukrainian adolescents to conduct espionage and sabotage missions within the country, according to a report from the Financial Times on Monday, referencing high-ranking officials in Kyiv.

Ukrainian officials revealed to the Financial Times that Russia is targeting young people, including orphans, those displaced by conflict, and individuals experiencing financial difficulties or looking for extra income.

Recently, a 16-year-old boy was detained in Dnipro, Ukraine, after being recruited via Telegram by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), as reported by Ukrainian security officials.

The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) had been tracking the boy and apprehended him while he was trying to take photographs near a military site in Dnipro. Counterintelligence officials believe the information he collected was likely aimed at aiding the targeting of Russian missiles or drones.

Vasyl Maliuk, head of the SBU, told the Financial Times that Russia is acting aggressively and committing various acts against national security, which includes enlisting agents from within Ukraine.

Since the spring of 2024, the SBU has arrested over 700 individuals connected to espionage, arson, and the planting of explosive devices orchestrated by Russian intelligence, as SBU spokesperson Artem Dekhtiarenko informed the Financial Times.

Of those apprehended, 175, or about a quarter, were minors, he noted.

Dekhtiarenko explained that the recruitment efforts began last spring, initially focusing on tasks such as setting fire to vehicles and electricity hubs along railway lines.

The FSB then reportedly enhanced their approach, targeting military recruitment centers for arson, and earlier this year started employing Ukrainians as suicide bombers.

It has been reported that the FSB increased financial incentives for acts of espionage and sabotage as the number of Ukrainians sympathetic to Russia declined after the full-scale invasion.

Additionally, Moscow’s dependence on untrained operatives has reportedly intensified in the wake of the expulsion of around 600 Russian diplomats from Western nations in 2022, many of whom were thought to be working undercover as intelligence agents.

Reports have also indicated that minors in other European nations have been targeted by Russian intelligence as well.

In early June, Reuters reported that at least 12 teenagers in Europe were arrested for their involvement in sabotage and espionage activities linked to Russia, with cases reported in Britain, Germany, Poland, and Lithuania.

There are also indications from Reuters of numerous teenagers in Ukraine facing similar charges.