Chinese father and son caught stealing Neptune missile secrets in Kyiv – SBU
Counterintelligence agents of Ukraine’s State Security Service (SBU) have detained two citizens of the People's Republic of China in Kyiv who were trying to illegally export secret documentation regarding the Ukrainian RK-360MC Neptune missile complex to China (PRC).
"This is a unique weapon of the Defense Forces of Ukraine, which is designed to fire all types of combat and landing ships. Let us recall that it was that Neptune that sunch the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the missile cruiser "Moscow," the message on the Telegram channel said on Wednesday.
As the investigation established, one of the Chinese spies is a 24-year-old former student of one of the Kyiv’s technical universities. He remained in Kyiv after he was expelled in 2023 for academic failure. Another person involved is his father, who permanently resided in the PRC, but periodically visited Ukraine to personally coordinate his son's agent work.
"According to the case materials, the former Chinese student was supposed to obtain technical documentation on the production of Ukrainian Neptune missiles. To do this, he tried to recruit a Ukrainian citizen who is involved in the development of the latest weapons of the Defense Forces," the report states.
The SBU counterintelligence exposed the spy at the initial stage of his intelligence activity and detained him while he was handing over secret documents.
The next stage was the detention of his father, who was supposed to pass on secret information to the special services of the PRC.
During the searches, phones with evidence of their correspondence with each other, where they coordinate their espionage activities, were seized from both suspects.
Based on the evidence collected, the Security Service investigators informed the detainees of suspicion under Part 1 of Article 114 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (espionage). The suspects face up to 15 years in prison with confiscation of property.