How Ukraine planned to lure Russian mercenaries into a trap

It was less than two weeks before Belarus’ presidential election last year, and authorities suspected that the outsiders had been sent from Russia to interfere. The men were indeed part of a mission. But the target was not Belarus, and they were not under orders from any Russian entity. They were being set up. The 32, along with one other man detained in southern Belarus, were the target of an elaborate intelligence sting by Ukraine, with the knowledge and alleged support of the United States.But according to CNN’s Ukrainian sources, the failure was a serious blow to Ukrainian intelligence who they say had worked on hooking the Russian suspects for close to 18 months. “If these people would have ended up here in Ukraine, the details of their criminal acts would have become known around the world,” one of the sources told CNN.”Ukraine could have brought them to justice and shown that our fight with Russia is serious and that we won’t raise our hands in surrender,” the source added. CNN’s Matthew Chance reported from Kiev and Zahra Ullah reported from Minsk. Katharina Krebs contributed from Kiev.