This was reported by the SBU and Ukraine's State Bureau of Investigation.
Previously, the collaborators had already carried out a provocation in the city before the day of the national flag of the Russian Federation: they hung the Russian flag with the inscription "Odessa is a Russian city" and gave these photos to the Russian media.
The SBU says that the next provocation was supposed to be the so-called "congratulations to Putin on his birthday", during which the agents intended to create a picture as if Odesa was congratulating the President of the Russian Federation.
In addition, the SBU reports that the agents collected information about law enforcement officers, pro-Ukrainian activists, and ATO participants to form so-called "clearance lists" if the Russians succeeded in seizing the region, and bought weapons and related goods for Russian sabotage and intelligence groups that they planned to send to the city.
All these tasks required significant funds, so the agents tried to abduct one of the local pro-Ukrainian businessmen, for whom they planned to demand a ransom.
The message says that the traitors were going to keep the man in the basement with the help of drugs and, under the threat of physical violence, force him to re-register the real estate and give them other valuable things.
The agents managed to be detained during the attempted abduction of the businessman, and criminal proceedings have been opened under three articles: treason, collaborative activity, and abduction.
Ukraine's State Bureau of Investigation reports that the criminal group was organized by a local resident who, since 2014, has openly demonstrated his pro-Russian position and participated in pro-Russian political events in the city. After the start of the war, he formed a criminal group on the instructions of his curators from the special services of the Russian Federation.