This woman spied for a Russian agent. Now he is serving 15 years in a Ukrainian penal colony

Hrystyna Garkavenko, who spoke to CNN from prison, claims her contact with a Russian secret agent began as a casual acquaintance via Telegram

Just after noon on July 19, 2024, Hrystyna Garkavenko, the 19-year-old daughter of a priest, arrived at her father’s church in Pokrovsk, in eastern Ukraine. Despite being devout, she was not there to pray.

Familiar with the building thanks to her father’s role in the church, the young woman went up to the second floor and entered one of the rooms. There, in a window protected by shutters, he set up a cell phone as a live-streaming camera, pointing it at a road used by Ukrainian troops and vehicles heading to or returning from the front lines further east. The transmission was sent directly to Russian intelligence.

This was far from the only work Garkavenko did for Russia’s main intelligence service, the Federal Security Service (FSB), Ukrainian prosecutors said. Throughout that year, he exchanged messages with an FSB agent, transmitting information about the location of Ukrainian soldiers and equipment in Pokrovsk, a strategic center.

“I just wanted to talk to this person more. And just because I wanted to talk to him, I agreed to help him,” Garkavenko told CNN in a rare phone interview from prison, where he is serving a 15-year sentence for treason.

He refused to tell CNN if he had romantic feelings for the agent. But Pavlo Uhrovetsky, head of the Donetsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office, stated that “in addition to her active pro-Russian stance, the young woman developed a relationship that went beyond friendship with this person”.

Garkavenko is one of thousands of Ukrainians believed to have been recruited by the FSB and other Russian intelligence services to spy on their own country. According to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), investigators have opened more than 3800 treason cases since Russia launched the large-scale invasion in February 2022, with more than 1200 people already convicted. On average, those convicted face 12 to 13 years in prison, although some receive life sentences.

CNN has reached out to the FSB for comment.

Andrii Yakovliev, a defense lawyer and expert in international humanitarian and criminal law at the Media Initiative for Human Rights, a Ukrainian NGO, told CNN that Ukraine guarantees conditions for fair trials and that, in general, the country’s courts respect due process. He added that prosecutors typically only go to court when they have enough evidence and “are not going to call a black person white” just to get a conviction.

“Transmitting information to Russian intelligence services is the most common form of betrayal in wartime,” Ivan Kisilevych, department head at the Prosecutor General’s Office, told CNN.

The range of tasks carried out on behalf of the FSB is very broad, according to the SBU, and the geographical proximity to the combat front is not decisive.

“In front-line areas, we more frequently detain agents who collect and transmit information about movements or positions of the Ukrainian army,” the SBU said in a statement. “In western and central Ukraine, Russian agents more frequently collect and disseminate information about military installations, critical infrastructure and attempt to carry out sabotage near thermal power plants, police buildings and railway lines.”

Defense Ministry adviser Serhiy Beskrestnov warned this week that Russian agents were trying to recruit Ukrainians to register Starlink satellite internet terminals, which the Russian army could then use, after unauthorized Russian systems were blocked. According to what he said, the Russians offer 300 dollars to Ukrainians who agree to do so.

Why some Ukrainians accept spying

The profile of Ukrainians recruited by Russia is quite diverse. Although some are motivated by ideology, this group is dwindling, intelligence officials say. For most, money is the main motivation.

According to the SBU, Russian agents mainly recruit people desperate for money — such as the unemployed — or individuals with various addictions, such as drugs, alcohol or gambling.

“It’s important to understand that we’re not talking about thousands of dollars,” Kisilevych said. “For most, it’s a few hundred dollars or other material benefits… It’s easy money for traitors. They simply receive the money on their bank card, without thinking about where it comes from or who it belongs to.”

Andriy, an SBU counterintelligence officer, told CNN that Telegram channels are currently one of the most common recruitment tools. CNN is not releasing his last name due to the nature of his work.

“The Russians publish ads offering quick and easy money. Then they gradually start assigning tasks. Initially they are very simple — buy coffee, take a photo of the receipt in a cafe. So they transfer money to a bank card and the recruitment process starts slowly,” he explained.
“More sensitive tasks come later — installing cameras along railway lines, photographing military installations and so on.”

If, at one point, the person refuses to continue collaborating, the recruiters resort to blackmail, Andriy said, threatening to hand over the correspondence to the SBU. “At this point, people have no way back,” he explained.

Garkavenko says the contact started as a casual acquaintance on Telegram.
“At first it was just a normal introduction, a casual conversation. Then she introduced herself as an agent of the Russian Federation and suggested cooperation,” she said, speaking of a penal colony for women convicted of crimes against national security and treason.

Garkavenko stated that he even thought about giving up.

“I had doubts, I wanted to stop at a certain point and I told that person several times. But they told me that everything would be fine, that they would protect me and that nothing bad would happen. I believed.”

Although she was paid by the FSB for her actions, she told CNN that money was not her main motivation.

“Very good, I love you”

Almost every week, the SBU releases new arrests of people suspected of collaborating with Russia, from ordinary citizens to military personnel.

Cases of alleged betrayal involve a wide range of people. Among those already convicted are:

• a 50-year-old factory mechanic in Kramatorsk, recruited by the FSB, who sent coordinates of Ukrainian military personnel and heavy weapons;
• a 40-year-old former factory worker in Kramatorsk who helped guide Russian bombings in the region;
• a 21-year-old Kyiv resident who helped coordinate Russian missile strikes against the capital;
• and a 49-year-old resident of the Chernivtsi region, who worked in a delivery service.

According to the SBU, acting under the “cover” of courier work, this agent moved around the region registering military installations and critical infrastructure.

Uhrovetsky, from the Donetsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office, recalls what he described as the “cynical” case of Iryna Landuga, a woman convicted last year of passing on information about Ukrainian military positions to her son, who was fighting for the Russian army, receiving financial compensation in return.

“We heard her talking to her son after giving him the coordinates of the Ukrainian forces. After that, these positions were bombed and she herself went to check that there were dead and wounded. She thanked them and rejoiced, saying, ‘Very well, I love you,'” Uhrovetsky said.

According to the court decision, in August 2023, upon returning from the store, Landuga — who lived in Kurakhivka, in the Donetsk region — saw Ukrainian soldiers at the house of his son’s godmother and in the barracks of the Military Mining Rescue Unit. He told his son this, after which the area was bombed, resulting in at least one death.

A 59-year-old civilian woman, who lived in a nearby building, died under the rubble, according to the court document. The godmother was out of town at the time.

In audio provided by the Public Ministry to CNN, Landuga is heard saying about the attack:
“People died there. A woman died… Everything is fine, everything is great. Did they get the barracks right? Very good, I love you. Good job. For godmother, I kiss your hands… Very grateful for the barracks. And the rest we consider collateral damage.”

In October 2025, she was sentenced to life in prison, with the court highlighting her indifference to the consequences of her actions.

Waiting for an exchange

Garkavenko received a 15-year sentence in June after pleading guilty and expressing regret. Uhrovetsky said she came forward with this confession “because she wants to be exchanged.”

In the CNN interview, Garkavenko stated that, although he has never been to Russia, he has family there and wants to live with them.

Kisilevych noted that some Ukrainians are told that if something goes wrong, they could be exchanged for Ukrainian citizens held as prisoners of war by Russia. For some detainees, going to Russia is the only acceptable option, he said.
“But I have serious doubts that they will be better off there. I doubt they will arrive as heroes.”

While awaiting a possible exchange, Garkavenko’s father — the priest — remains in Ukraine. She said he was shocked when he found out what he had done, but he didn’t abandon her.

“He supports me and says everything will be fine. He accepted my decision to try to be included in a trade.”

Andriy, the SBU counterintelligence officer, stated that Russian intelligence doesn’t really care about the people they recruit from a distance.

“To them, they’re just disposable.”

He added that there will always be people trying to steal secrets — and that for intelligence agents, the search for traitors is never ending.

“It’s meticulous work, which involves studying an employee’s life in detail. Sometimes it gets to the point where we realize that we know that person’s life so well that we practically become part of it,” he said.

Garkavenko said he made a conscious choice to help Russia and now regrets what he did.

“I hurt people I care about and, to some extent, ruined my own life.”