After the arrest in Moscow of anti-war activist and systems analyst Kirill Parubets, FSB officers installed Monokle spyware on his phone, developed by a manufacturer and supplier of special equipment to security forces. The First Department reported this in a video on YouTube, noting that this is the first known case of the use of Monokle against anti-war activists.
Parubets is an ethnic Ukrainian, born and raised in Moscow. In 2020, he moved with his wife to Kyiv. Since that time, including after the full-scale invasion, Parubets has been volunteering: sending money for humanitarian aid, helping victims of the war as part of charitable organizations.
In the summer of 2022, he returned to Russia to collect the necessary documents to move to another country. The young man noted that he had no problems when entering: he continued to work and collected documents. However, on April 18 this year, six operatives came to his home.
“Did you transfer money to Ukrainians?” asked the unknown people.
Parubets admitted that he was involved in charity work. They showed him a warrant to inspect the premises, and when they took the phone and tried to unlock it, they started beating him. The young man did not want to tell the password.
While the security forces called contacts from his phone book, saying that they had “found” a device that contained data about money transfers to Ukraine, Parubets was forced to squat and sit in a half-squat. The operatives threatened that they would beat him in the legs if he stopped, called the programmer a “traitor,” and said that they would “shoot him in Belarus” and he and his wife would “go to prison for life.”
Security forces seized equipment, Ukrainian documents and Russian passports of the couple. Parubets and his wife were taken to the department, where they drew up a report on disobedience to police officers (Part 2 of Article 20.1 of the Administrative Code) due to “violating public order in the apartment” and allegedly using obscene language. Later, by court decision, he was taken to a special detention center in Khoroshevo-Mnevniki for 15 days.
After a week of serving his arrest, he was met in the meeting room by two men in dark suits and carrying suitcases. They stated that Kirill Parubets is suspected of treason (Article 275 of the Criminal Code) due to transfers of money to Ukraine. Unknown people offered cooperation to the Muscovite: in exchange for the freedom to denounce their friend “Ivan,” who is also suspected of treason, by starting a correspondence with him on social networks. Parubets told human rights activists that he agreed because he was afraid that problems would follow his refusal.
On May 3, when the young man and his wife returned home, he called the number that unknown people had given him in the special detention center. They ordered us to come to Lubyanka and promised to hand over the equipment. If “Ivan” got in touch, Parubets had to find out if he had a job offer and agree to it. The young man had to report all his actions to the security forces.
Later Parubets checked the phone given back to him. It had an ARM Cortex system application installed with an “inconceivable amount of rights” to record calls, determine geolocation and other functions. The programmer checked the code and realized that it was Monokle spyware. At the end of 2016, its manufacturer, Special Technical Center, was added to the list of sanctions by the US authorities and accused of “cyber operations aimed against elections” in the country.
Citizen Lab, an independent laboratory at the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto, confirmed to First Department that an updated version of the Monokle program was installed on the Muscovite’s phone.
After this, Parubets and his wife left Russia. Now they are abroad.
The programmer explained that, most likely, they began to follow him as soon as he returned to Russia: unknown devices were connected to the Wi-Fi network, codes were received to enter the telegram, which Parubets did not request. In addition, an acquaintance of a Muscovite reported that his telegram could have been hacked by security forces. In correspondence, the young people discussed charity. Kirill Parubets still receives activation codes on WhatsApp and Viber.
- After the start of the war in Ukraine, the Russian authorities began to react sharply to protest sentiments. The list of articles under which those who oppose the war are prosecuted is quite wide. Those involved in “anti-war cases” are often charged with hooliganism, vandalism, violence against government officials, and other violations. A significant element of pressure was also the articles introduced into the Criminal Code after the outbreak of hostilities - the spread of “fakes” about the Russian army and discrediting the armed forces.
- At the moment, more than 1,100 people have become defendants in criminal cases initiated due to protest against the war with Ukraine. Read more about this in our infographic .