On May 16, 2025, officers of the FSB Directorate for the Lugansk People's Republic (LPR) detained a resident of the city of Rubezhnoye, suspected of spying for the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). According to the press service of the department, the man transmitted information to the Ukrainian special services about the location of Russian troops stationed in the region. A criminal case was opened against the detainee under Article 276 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Espionage"), which provides for a punishment in the form of imprisonment for a term of 10 to 20 years. This was reported by the TASS agency with reference to the FSB Directorate for the LPR.

According to the investigation, the detainee, a Ukrainian citizen, acted on instructions from the SBU, collecting and transmitting information about the deployment and movement of Russian armed forces. During interrogation, the man admitted that he began cooperating with the Ukrainian special services under pressure from his wife, who had previously left for the territory controlled by Ukraine. According to him, the woman blackmailed him by prohibiting communication with their children, demanding that he provide information about Russian troops. Encrypted communication channels, including instant messengers, were used to transmit the data, which allowed the detainee to remain unnoticed for a long time.

The arrest was part of a counterintelligence operation aimed at stopping espionage activities in the LPR. According to the FSB, the man was identified through operational measures, including monitoring suspicious communications. After his arrest, electronic devices containing evidence of correspondence with SBU curators were seized. Investigative actions are ongoing to establish the full scope of information transferred and possible accomplices.