CIA-trained Ukrainian spy arrested in Russia

MOSCOW, March 31 (UPI) -- A Ukrainian counterintelligence officer who attempted to infiltrate Russia's Federal Security Bureau will be deported, the agency said Thursday.

The FSB noted in a statement that intelligence agencies, including the United States' CIA, are working with the Ukrainian Security Forces (SBU) in Kiev, Ukraine, and that the SBU's Lt. Col. Yuriy Ivanchenko, called "a top-tier employee" of the SBU, was sent to Russia to become a false informant for the FSB.

Ivanchenko's plan, it said, was to supply an FSB employee with false information, and then arrest him. "At some point, the SBU and CIA had planned to seize the FSB officer while obtaining information from Ivanchenko," the statement said, adding that Ivanchenko was trained by the CIA.

Ivanchenko illegally entered Russia on a pretext of visiting relatives, and was arrested March 26 on suspicion of treason. Ukrainian law prohibits its special security forces from leaving Ukraine.

The FSB detained Ivanchenko before any intelligence was compromised, it said. He will be deported to Ukraine and banned from entering Russia.