April 17, 2025

From Moscow Lawyer to Ukrainian Spy


From Moscow Lawyer to Ukrainian Spy
Russian military vehicles with Z symbols during the invasion of Ukraine. Anonymous author, Wikimedia Commons

The independent publication Verstka interviewed a Moscow lawyer who abandoned a successful career and family to fight alongside the Armed Forces of Ukraine and ended up working as a Ukrainian intelligence agent inside the Russian army. For the safety of those involved, Verstka changed the subjects’ names.

Dmitry Vorobyov, 43, had a successful legal career, his own business in Moscow, a wife, and two young children before the start of Russia’s War on Ukraine. Politically active, he supported opposition causes, including Alexei Navalny.

According to Vorobyov, the full-scale invasion shocked him. “I looked at people in the subway, at people in court hearings deciding bankruptcy cases, and thought: ‘Guys, what are you doing? Are you idiots or something? You need to go to Red Square,’” Vorobyov told Verstka.

By the summer 2022, Vorobyov decided he "could no longer remain inactive" and resolved to join Ukrainian forces. He studied maps and found a route to cross the Belarus-Ukraine border unnoticed. Ukrainian authorities detained him for illegally crossing the border, fined him, and sentenced him to eight days of administrative arrest. oVerstka confirmed these details through court documents.

Vorobyov, however, never served the sentence. Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) officers took him directly from court to Lutsk, where he was held and interrogated with polygraph tests for two weeks.

Unable to join Ukrainian forces, Vorobyov returned to Russia via Belarus, maintaining contacts with SBU agents through WhatsApp. Then Vorobyov developed a plan: he would join the Russian army to relay frontline intelligence to Ukraine. The plan was approved in SBU, and in June 2023, he enlisted through a Moscow recruitment center.

After two weeks of training in Volgograd, Vorobyov’s unit deployed to Crimea. Vorobyov described approximately 70% to 80% of his fellow soldiers as having criminal backgrounds. “Lost people. Like me, a lost person trying to find himself by going to war,” he reflected.

Vorobyov's company was later transferred to Krynki village in Ukraine's occupied Kherson region, site of a significant Ukrainian breakthrough in 2023. Vorobyov believes he contributed to Ukraine’s success: “I don't know exactly why they went through Krynki, but I think my role wasn’t insignificant.”

He provided Ukrainian forces with details about troop locations, weaponry, and targets for strikes. Vorobyov believes other Ukrainian agents were also present, citing an officer from a neighboring company who reportedly swam across the Dnieper River to defect.

Russian losses in Krynki were heavy, according to Vorobyov. “From October to December, 80% of our personnel were lost. The ratio was one killed to three wounded. Of 96 people, only 20 remained active,” he stated.

Counterintelligence arrived later to investigate the breach in Krynki. Vorobyov narrowly avoided detection. "They checked my phone, which contained all my communications with coordinates. I calmly handed it over; they didn’t find anything because I had a hidden space," he explained.

In February 2024, Vorobyov was wounded in a drone attack and hospitalized in Moscow. In spring 2024, following his recovery, he again sought to join Ukrainian forces. "My family fell apart—my wife couldn’t handle it. I didn't want to return to war from Russia. I told my contacts in Lutsk I was tired of playing Stirlitz (a famous fictional Soviet spy) and preferred joining them. They agreed," Vorobyov recounted.

He bought tickets to Yerevan and Simferopol as a cover and successfully left Russia. However, Ukraine rejected his request to enter, prompting him to explore other options. After interviewing with the Freedom of Russia Legion, Vorobyov moved to another undisclosed country, where he is looking for a way to officially join Ukrainian forces.

During his interview with Verstka, Vorobyov turned on his frontline phone to share wartime photos and found warnings from former comrades: "Be careful, you've been declared AWOL."

You Might Also Like

A Deserter's Dilemma
  • March 30, 2025

A Deserter's Dilemma

A Ukrainian man who had served with Russian forces in the  Donetsk People's Republic and was discharged has been sentenced for desertion.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
The Moscow Eccentric

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.
The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The fables of Ivan Krylov are rich fonts of Russian cultural wisdom and experience – reading and understanding them is vital to grasping the Russian worldview. This new edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations by Lydia Razran Stone are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina.
Jews in Service to the Tsar

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.
Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.
The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
Russian Rules

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955