The Bihus.Info team found themselves under illegal surveillance orchestrated by the Security Service of Ukraine, specifically, the Department of National Security Protection.
Back on December 27, 2023, security forces kept a close eye on the journalists' team at the "Ukrainian Village" ethnocomplex near Kyiv. Prior to this, they made several "preparatory" visits, booking rooms with disposable SIM cards, using vehicles with inconspicuous license plates, setting up surveillance cameras on the premises, and even sneaking their own cameras into the team's rooms.
Bihus.Info managed to get hold of video footage from the complex a day before the SSU seized the recording disk. The team identified the participants in the operation, some of whom were later spotted near the SSU building. We also had a chat with the former head of this department, Roman Semenchenko, who didn't deny its involvement in the operation.
Discover who was behind the surveillance and how these actions pose a threat to Ukrainian sovereignty in the video.
00:00 - Who was surveilling the editorial office?
07:02 - Stage 1: Preparation and camera installation
17:26 - The weirdest "corporate event"
21:08 - Advertisement
23:31 - Surveillance of the editorial office on the day of training
38:27 - Stage 3: How the SSU covered tracks, but not entirely
47:25 - Ihor Kravchenko, the "quest organizer"
51:35 - Other characters from the surveillance cameras
58:28 - Dismissal of the head of the SSU DPNS
01:01:21 - Who had the authority to give orders
01:06:35 - How SSU's actions harm Ukrainian sovereignty