The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) seized equipment from large telecommunications provider Intertelecom, slapping the company with separatism charges.
On Nov. 11, the SBU searched the Odesa headquarters of Intertelecom, a telecommunications and internet provider with more than 1.3 million subscribers across Ukraine.
The loss of equipment forced Intertelecom to halt operations, according to Ukrainian media reports.
All of the company’s subscribers have been left without phone and internet connection.
“The system is collapsing because its core systems have been turned off, which will possibly lead to voice communications of subscribers across Ukraine being switched off,” the company wrote on its Facebook page. “Our lawyers have not been given the possibility to fulfill their duties.”
Intertelecom is accused of collaborating with Russian intelligence services, eavesdropping on its own subscribers and on those of other telecom providers.
Although the SBU has not yet specified that it has targeted Intertelecom, on its website, it wrote, “One of the Ukrainian telecommunications providers gave Russian companies a part of its equipment with the network in annexed Crimea.”
According to the SBU’s statement, Russian secret services had the opportunity to interfere with the network of Ukrainian telecoms providers via Intertelekom. The SBU said that it seized hardware that was allegedly used to route traffic from Crimea. It also confiscated a large amount of cash.
According to Intertelecom CEO Borys Akulov, the company has been trying to prove its innocence by providing Ukrainian law enforcement with all relevant information, but the SBU decided anyway to seize the equipment to turn off the company’s network in Ukraine.
“The charges are absolutely absurd,” said Akulov in a telephone interview with Ukrainian news organization Reporter. “We have provided the SBU with all the necessary materials in order to eliminate any suspicion of the crimes with which we have been charged.”
The provider’s website intertelecom.ua is currently not available.
Earlier, on Sept. 8, in the first reading, Verkhovna Rada approved the bill №1580, one of the articles of which prevents from equipment seizure during a law enforcement search. However, the law has not been passed yet.
Kyiv Post staff writer Denys Krasnikov can be reached at [email protected].
