{"id":18074,"date":"2026-05-12T18:04:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T18:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/18074\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T18:04:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T18:04:13","slug":"scottish-man-who-spied-on-ukraine-military-for-russia-jailed-for-eight-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/18074\/","title":{"rendered":"Scottish man who spied on Ukraine military for Russia jailed for eight years"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Scottish man who worked as a military instructor in Ukraine<\/a> has been jailed for eight-and-a-half years after pleading guilty to spying for Russia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ross David Cutmore<\/a>, from the city of Dunfermline in Fife, was recruited by a member of the Russian special services and transmitted information about the Ukrainian military in return for payment.<\/p>\n

The Ukrainian prosecutor general\u2019s office said that he had \u201cacted out of selfish motives and with the intent to transmit this data to the aggressor country\u201d.<\/p>\n

Cutmore was jailed for eight years and six months after admitting his guilt in a plea deal at the Kyiv district court of Odesa on 30 April.<\/p>\n

Cutmore arrived in the country in January 2024, according to prosecutors. He ran classes for Ukrainian service personnel in the city of Mykolaiv.<\/p>\n

In September that year, he moved to Odesa, where he established contact with a member of the Russian special services and agreed to transmit military information in return for payment.<\/p>\n

\"Ross<\/p>\n

Ross David Cutmore has been sentenced in Ukraine (Slidstvo.info)<\/p>\n

In May 2025, an investigation by the Ukrainian security service (SBU) found that Cutmore had transmitted the co-ordinates of Ukrainian units and photographs of a training area, as well as information that could lead to the identification of service personnel.<\/p>\n

The Scottish man was also found to have collected data on facilities in Odesa.<\/p>\n

He was also found to have \u201cdiscussed the possibility of using explosive devices, and attempted to gain access to the command of military units\u201d.<\/p>\n

One of the tasks is said to have netted him US $6,000 (\u00a34,500).<\/p>\n

He was also found to possess a Makarov pistol and combat cartridges, which he is said to have acquired and stored illegally.<\/p>\n

Cutmore was \u201cexposed and detained\u201d in October 2025.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors submitted an indictment to the court on 27 March 2026, along with a plea agreement.<\/p>\n

A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said: \u201cWe are providing consular assistance to a British man who is detained in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe remain in close contact with the Ukrainian authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Scottish man who worked as a military instructor in Ukraine has been jailed for eight-and-a-half years after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18075,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[9431,759,9430,5,25,9432,9433],"class_list":{"0":"post-18074","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-russia","8":"tag-military-instructor","9":"tag-odesa","10":"tag-ross-david-cutmore","11":"tag-russia","12":"tag-ukraine","13":"tag-ukrainian-security-service","14":"tag-ukrainian-service"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}