A Russian court in occupied Sevastopol sentenced Ukrainian former military expert Dmitry Shtyblykov, on November 16, to five years imprisonment in a strict penal colony (Regnum, November 16). Shtyblykov worked at the think tank Nomos, which, prior to the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, operated in Sevastopol. On November 9, 2016, he was apprehended in that Black Sea port city, together with two other suspects—Vladimir Dudtko and Alexey Bessarabov (the latter had also worked at Nomos) (Krymr.com, November 10, 2016). All three men are former Ukrainian officers. According to the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), these “subversive and terrorist groups” of the Ukrainian Intelligence Service “were aiming to commit acts of sabotage on the military infrastructure facilities and livelihood of the Crimean peninsula” (Fsb.ru, November 10, 2016). The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense denied these allegations, labeling the Russian charges “fake-omania.” The defense ministry in Kyiv further asserted that the Russian authorities were using a database of former Ukrainian officers to claim they were detaining spies and active-duty Ukrainian military personnel on the Crimean peninsula (Ukrinform.ua, November 24).

The Russian-Ukrainian spy war in and around Crimea dates all the way back to the initial annexation. Both sides have repeatedly accused each other of conducting such provocative acts; but because of the secrecy and sensitivity surrounding intelligence operations, it is particularly difficult for independent analysts to judge the veracity of any individual incident. Official allegations and counterclaims by the authorities are often all one can go by. Moreover, the reported cases appear in the media sporadically and tend to be analyzed only in terms of the human rights situation in Crimea. Nevertheless, it is possible to provide at least a partial list of the episodes reported on in the media over the past few years and try to draw some conclusions about the ongoing intelligence and counter-intelligence operations in Crimea.

Possibly the first reported case dates back to May 2014, when the FSB apprehended four Ukrainians members of the far-right group Right Sector—O. Sentsov, S. Afanasyev, A. Chirny and A. Kolchenko. They were convicted of attempting to commit “acts of sabotage and terrorism” (Fsb.ru, May 30, 2014), but Kyiv considers them political prisoners (Mfa.gov.ua, November 17, 2017).