Scottish military instructor jailed for 8.5 years in Ukraine for Russian espionage
Ross David Cutmore admitted to sharing classified military information and cooperating with FSB in plea deal
Quick Look
- Ross David Cutmore, a Scottish former military instructor from Dunfermline, has been sentenced to 8.5 years imprisonment by Kyiv District Court in Odesa for espionage and cooperation with Russia's FSB.
- Cutmore admitted to disclosing unauthorized information about Ukrainian military deployments, discussing terrorist attacks, and illegally possessing a Russian-supplied pistol.
AI-generated summary
A Scottish man who worked as a military instructor in Ukraine but was recruited to work as a Russian spy has been jailed in the country for eight-and-a-half years.
Ross David Cutmore, from Dunfermline in Fife, admitted disclosing "unauthorised information" on the deployment of Ukrainian forces and foreign military instructors. Cutmore, who arrived in Ukraine in early 2024, was also accused of discussing terrorist attacks and illegally possessing a pistol supplied by the Russians.
He admitted his guilt at the Kyiv District Court in Odesa on 30 April under a plea deal and had cooperated with the investigation, according to the Ukrainian authorities. Cutmore was arrested last year after an investigation by the Ukrainian security service.
The probe found he had passed on the location coordinates of Ukrainian units, photographs of training areas and information about military personnel. He also collected data on facilities in Odesa, discussed the possibility of using explosive devices and attempted to gain access to the command of military units.
For one of the tasks he is said to have received 6,000 US dollars (£4,400).
The Ukrainian security service said he initially travelled to Ukraine to work as an instructor in January 2024 but gave up this work in September and began looking for "easy money" in pro-Kremlin online communities. He was then recruited by an officer from Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) who offered him cash in exchange for cooperation.
The Ukrainian authorities said Cutmore also received instructions from the FSB to prepare a series of terrorist attacks. They said he was given instructions for making an improvised explosive device, as well as the coordinates of a weapons cache from which he took a Makarov pistol with two loaded magazines.
Cutmore was detained in October 2025, with the detention becoming public in December 2025. The plea agreement was signed on 23 March 2026, and the court sentence began from his detention date of 28 October 2025.
