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CIA chief in Moscow warns Russians not to escalate against NATO… Top container shipper pauses voyages to Russia in Black Sea… Moscow threatens to bomb UK military bases… Five drones entered Moldova during the latest Russian attack…
Editor’s note:
This week, our newsletters will take a deep dive into how services actually work, starting today, with an FSB scandal.
Below the article, you’ll find Tim’s interview with the investigative reporter that dug into the mystery of a Russian spy shot dead by the FBI.
And — oops, spoiler — on Saturday, we’re taking you inside how NABU — Ukraine’s independent anti-corruption bureau — investigates corruption crimes committed by high-ranking officials and top government officials.
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OUR LEAD STORY:
KYIV, Ukraine – Dzhygit heard his friend’s voice uttering what almost sounded like a final farewell in a video message he received just after leaving his position on the frontline.
“Stay safe. You have a wonderful daughter and a wife. Stay safe, brother,” his friend said in the brief message.
There was no internet at the front lines, so Artur Hasparian (call sign — Dzhygit) hadn’t been able to get this video before. Now that he was safe and had finally watched it, he understood that his close friend Mykhailo was in danger; he was being blackmailed by Russia’s FSB.
And, what’s worse, he had gone to Russia himself in a desperate bid to save his son from the certain death his blackmailers were promising.
Dzhygit first learned about Mykhailo Puryshev’s situation, like many others, through social media. On August 17, Mykhailo’s team published a video revealing the insidious scheme that had prompted him to embark on his dangerous trip to Russia: the FSB demanded that he either cooperate with them and inform on Ukrainian troops’ positions — or watch his own son, who resides in Russia, be forcefully sent to the frontline to fight.
The only thing more shocking than Mykhailo’s situation is that this is happening all the time. This is just the latest example of a scheme Russian security services like the Federal Security Service (FSB) have been using to recruit spies and saboteurs. The FSB has been using relatives who live in Russia or temporarily occupied territories to blackmail Ukrainians into conducting operations for Moscow. Prisoners of war have also been used as leverage, with their loved ones told the only way to keep them free from harm in captivity is by spying or carrying out tasks for Russia.
This tactic of threatening loved ones, especially children, should set off alarm bells far beyond Ukraine, as the Kremlin has already expanded this practice to the West. Intelligence officials warned earlier this year of Russia’s Wagner Group targeting vulnerable people in Europe to recruit them for acts of sabotage meant to create chaos in NATO countries.
Dzhygit is now watching the disturbing tactic be used against his close friend. Having served in the military since 2008, Dzhygit took a break in 2015 but rejoined when the full-scale invasion started. He served in the Donetsk region: near the villages of Volodymyrivka, Hrafske, Zaitseve, Klischiivka, Andriivka and the cities of Bakhmut and Avdiivka. In 2023, he volunteered for a rescue operation to save people in the aftermath of the Kakhovka Dam destruction on June 6, 2023.
Map showing some of the localities where Dzhygit served.
That’s how he met Mykhailo. At that time, Mykhailo was determined to rescue people trapped in Oleshky on the flooded left bank of the Kherson region.
Dzhygit remembers Mykhailo getting upset and pushing back when the Red Cross and the UN tried to block people from going to the left bank after the Russians, who were in control of the area, refused to make a safety corridor for evacuations. They had deemed the operation too dangerous and cautioned others against it. But Mykhailo simply could not sit still while people in Oleshky needed help.
Footage of the evacuation of children from Oleshky filmed by Dzhygit. Source: his Instagram account.
“Misha was insisting and saying that he’d go on his own anyway, but I was convinced that it was a completely ridiculous and stupid idea,” said Dzhygit.
But the operation didn’t seem so stupid when Mykhailo’s red-colored boats reappeared with ten rescued children aboard. Another ten adults and some animals were also saved.
Since then, Dzhygit and Mykhailo have stayed close.
Mykhailo Puryshev was well known to many people long before the meeting with Dzhygit, being a former Ukrainian serviceman and volunteer who helped people in de-occupied and frontline cities and evacuated more than 200 people from Mariupol when it was under siege in 2022.
Dzhygit said there’s no special trick to this – Mykhailo just does these things selflessly, and somehow he manages to stay alive: “His guardian angel and the Higher Powers — God was with him.”
This time, though, he wasn’t the one at risk — his son was. And Mykhailo was seen by the Russians as a person with military connections and access to information they needed. For them, it was perhaps just a bonus that his teenage son happened to be living in Russia with his mom, an unwitting pawn to be used for coercion.
The FSB first contacted Mykhailo on July 16. He answered a call from his son that day, only for the teen to tell him someone wanted to speak with him.
“I’d like to make friends with you,” an FSB officer told Mykhailo, who recorded the whole conversation. “We aren’t enemies. We need certain information. You need your kid not to be drafted into the army.”
Although Russian security services threaten negative consequences if the person they’re trying to recruit alerts anyone to the situation, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense recommends contacting police. Carrying out the smallest tasks even under duress will still be considered treason during wartime and lead to criminal charges. Mykhailo’s team confirmed that he contacted Ukrainian law enforcement regarding the blackmail, but said the solutions proposed put other people, including his son, at risk.
According to Mykhailo’s team, he didn’t give any information to the FSB during their conversations.
There were five such phone calls overall, with the FSB repeatedly promising Mykhailo he’d soon be able to speak with his son. When the blackmailers failed to keep that promise, he decided to go and try to save his son himself.
“That was just like him,” Dzhygit said. “If anyone is going to suffer for him, he will go himself and say, ‘Here I am; take me.’”
Mykhailo landed at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport on August 17, and for two days, the Ukrainian public was left to wonder if he’d been quietly tossed in a cell or had suffered an even worse fate.
He resurfaced with another video posted on August 19 announcing that he was safe and out of Russia. It’s still unclear what happened during his trip.
Mykhailo announced he is safe. Posted on his Instagram account.
While Mykhailo’s case drew widespread attention, there are many cases that go largely unnoticed, as the FSB’s recruitment of Ukrainians is systematic.
In 2025, 120 minors contacted police about attempts by the Russian security services to recruit them, and about 60 other minors cooperated with the FSB and were subsequently charged. So far, the Security Service of Ukraine has recorded more than 300 acts of sabotage and terrorism by Russia in 2026 alone.
The FSB usually tries to recruit people by offering them money, blackmailing them, or convincing them, through false representations, that they are taking part in a “secret mission” done for the benefit of their country.
Military personnel and their families are especially vulnerable to these schemes, along with internally displaced persons and young people — those who are considered the easiest to manipulate or those who are useful for their access to valuable information.
In Mykhailo’s case, he was both vulnerable and useful, with an 18-year-old son from his first marriage in Russia and knowledge of the Ukrainian military.
Mykhailo has left Russia, but the outcome of his trip is still a mystery: his whereabouts following his departure from Russia have not been made public yet, and it’s unclear if he managed to save his son.
But Dzhygit was very happy to hear his friend had made it out.
He believes Mykhailo did what any real father would do: “There are people who criticize him, but they haven’t been in his position,” Dzhygit said.
Interested in more stories about Russian security services? Take a look at these stories:
Peter Strzok on Kash Patel’s “ill-advised” trip to Russia by Mariana Lastovyria and Tim Mak
Russia uses video games to recruit kids by Oleksandra Khelemendyk
How I unmasked a Russian agent, one of Ukraine’s greatest enemies by Tim Mak and Anastasiia Kryvoruchenko
Editor’s Note:
If today’s story pulled you in, you’ll want this one too — a full livestream where Tim and Isabelle from CNN go even deeper into how the special services operate!
Want to help us keep doing this?
Investigating the Russian spy killed by the FBI
Thank you Olga Koutseridi, Paul Glickman, Jacqueline Cole, Kris O, Winterish for Ukraine, and many others for tuning into my live video with Isabelle! Join me for my next live video in the app.
THE LATEST NEWS AT THIS HOUR:
By: Petro Gordon
Good morning to readers; Kyiv remains in Ukrainian hands.
CIA CHIEF IN MOSCOW WARNS RUSSIANS NOT TO ESCALATE AGAINST NATO: The unannounced visit of CIA chief John Ratcliffe to Moscow earlier this week was meant to press Russia to not escalate against NATO, particularly in the Baltics, as well as to reduce its support for Iran, according to Politico. The warning against escalation came after Moscow issued a series of threats against NATO’s, and particularly the UK’s, support of Ukraine.
The visit, which was the first known visit of a CIA director to Moscow under Trump, comes as Russia is still failing to achieve any significant military gains in Ukraine, with both sides intensifying strikes deep into their adversaries territory.
The CIA director’s last Moscow visit was in November of 2021, when Ratcliffe’s predecessor, William Burns met with Putin. Just three months after the visit, Russia invaded Ukraine.
TOP CONTAINER SHIPPER PAUSES VOYAGES TO RUSSIA IN BLACK SEA: The largest container shipping company Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC) has suspended ships going to and from Russian Novorossiysk port in the Black Sea, after one of the company’s vessels was attacked by a drone, Bloomberg reports.
The Black Sea became increasingly dangerous for vessels in July, as both Russia and Ukraine targeted commercial ships, aiming to strain each other’s economies. The attacks on these vessels have driven up prices of wheat to record highs.
MOSCOW THREATENS TO BOMB UK MILITARY BASES: Russia’s Foreign Ministry warned that it could target UK military bases in response to the country’s support for Ukraine, the Independent reports.
The statement comes after the UK announced a significant deepening of military cooperation with Ukraine, including the transfer of classified UK data to Ukraine, which would allow Ukraine to produce SCALP cruise missiles. The UK also became the first country to receive access to Ukraine’s AI Avengers Lab which contains troves of secret battlefield intelligence.
FIVE DRONES ENTERED MOLDOVA DURING THE LATEST RUSSIAN ATTACK: According to Moldovan Defense Ministry, five drones crossed into Moldovan airspace during the latest Russian attack on Ukraine. The Moldovan military took no action against drones, monitoring them until they left the country’s airspace.
The incident is the latest in what has become frequent violations of Moldovan airspace during Russia’s attacks on Ukraine. Russia has also intensified strikes on Ukraine-Moldovan border, disturbing its ability to export grain.
DOG OF WAR:
Dara, Petro’s friend’s dog, is also committed to staying up to date with the news.
Stay safe out there!
Best,
Mariana.
The practice of blackmailing family members is gut-wrenching. But you can't negotiate with bullies, murderers, and thugs. You'll never have any assurance that doing what they ask will lead to a good outcome. More likely they'll just keep asking for more. And your loved ones will continue to be in Russian hands.
I’m not surprised by the Moldovan incursions, and I expect more of the same. Unlike the Baltics, Moldova is not covered by the NATO umbrella. That makes it far more vulnerable. It also has one of those notorious Russian breakaway provinces, creating a staging ground for further chaos.