Free giveaway post linked to two Ukrainians charged with spying

A Telegram post offering a free Sony television and microwave is part of the investigation into two young Ukrainian men charged with espionage involving defence company MyDefence in Aalborg, DR reports.

The post appeared in a Danish-Ukrainian Telegram group with more than 5,000 members. It said an office in Aalborg was closing and offered items including plants, a 40-inch Sony television and a microwave. The post did not give an address and asked interested people to contact the user directly. DR says it was active from October 16 until it was deleted.

A woman wrote in the group at 6 a.m. on October 20 that she could not reach her 18-year-old son. She said he and an acquaintance had gone to respond to the giveaway the previous afternoon, and that her son had told her he was going to collect a television and microwave. The message came the morning after police arrested an 18-year-old Ukrainian man and a 21-year-old Ukrainian man outside MyDefence in Nørresundby.

The woman confirmed her son’s name to DR, which has not published it. She also described details that matched the charge against the 18-year-old, DR reports. Another group member told DR he remembered seeing the giveaway post and lived near Aalborg.

According to the charges read in court in Aalborg, the two men were arrested at about 4.50 p.m. on October 19. They are accused of taking photographs at MyDefence and sharing them with a Telegram user, ultimately linked to a Russian intelligence service. DR says it does not know what happened after the men responded to the post or what led to the alleged photographs.

The men have been in Denmark for a few months to work. Both deny the charges. One of their defence lawyers, Rasmus Amandusson, said they had been strongly affected by the arrests. Their detention has been extended for three 24-hour periods. Police say a third possible suspect remains at large.

A member of the same Telegram group also told DR about another post on October 19 asking for help in Aalborg to take “photos of architecture” for a person’s education. It is not known whether that post was connected to the case. PET, Denmark’s intelligence service, has warned people against accepting social-media assignments that seem too good to be true, saying even a simple photography task could help prepare sabotage. PET and North Jutland Police declined to comment on DR’s information because the investigation is ongoing.