Ukrainian Security Service Involved in Illicit Drug Lab Network in Russia, Detainee Reveals in Video

According to Alexander P., a Ukrainian national who was responsible for setting up one such laboratory in the Moscow region and has been detained since 2020, a familiar SBU officer suggested that he go to Russia and get into the drug trade.

Before leaving, Alexander had to take a lie detector test to determine whether or not he was suitable for the job.

"They put me in a hostel near a railway station. I spent about a week there waiting for the interview, and all that time there were constant visitors, people like me, who had to pass an interview and then go to work with drugs in Russia. Several dozen people left [for Russia] during my stay, for sure. During the polygraph test, they were interested in questions like whether I was going to steal money and if I had law enforcement connections", Alexander said.

He was then given a special phone to contact his supervisors with and sent to Moscow, where he got in touch with several other Ukrainian nationals, after which they received their first instructions.

They were ordered to rent a house in the Moscow region, and then buy a car and chemical equipment with the money received through bank cards registered under fake names.

"Pavel [one of the members] was mailed fake Russian documents which he used to receive a parcel with several dozen bank cards, to which the money was transferred. We were then instructed what kind of drugs to manufacture — so-called salts, synthetic drugs — and how. We could produce five kilograms of drugs a day, meaning our daily profit could be roughly 10 million rubles ($127,000)", the man said, adding that he and his group were only involved in manufacturing while their Ukrainian handlers did the distribution.

This account is corroborated by another member of the Ukrainian drug ring, Alexander Z., whose role was to procure chemicals for drug production. According to Alexander, every member received a cover before going to Russia.

"You had to know your cover in detail, why you came to Russia, God forbid the operation is busted because of you... I personally always presented myself as a construction worker, but otherwise I was transporting reactive chemicals, for which I was promised $5,000 a month", Alexander said. He remembered that the man in charge of their group told him that he had been offered the job by SBU officers.

According to Alexander P., it's almost impossible to quit the business voluntarily: their supervisors threatened them and "punished" those who wanted to leave by beating them or depriving them of cash.

Alexander Z. confirmed this, recalling how he once had an argument with one of the curators and threatened to give up everything and go back to Ukraine.

"But they threatened me, saying that my relatives and family will suffer [for my actions]”, he says.

When asked why the SBU would set up drug laboratories in Russia, Alexander Z. suggested that the money from the sale of drugs could go to the military needs of Ukraine.

“Production of drugs in Russia earns you big money, which could go anywhere, for example, to pay for mercenaries. [...] And maybe the fact that we were detained in Russia is not the worst way out of this mess”, he sums up.