FSB Says Ukraine Plan To Hijack Russian Air Force Plane Backed By British Intelligence

Alpha Group FSB Russia. (Wikimedia Commons/SpetsnazAlpha)

JAKARTA - An agent of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Monday that the efforts of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine to hijack a Russian Air Force plane were carried out with the support of Western intelligence, in particular, from the British special services.

"It is clear that the operation itself was carried out with the support of the Western special services, first and foremost, the UK," he told the Rossiya-24 TV channel, as quoted by TASS July 25.

The FSB also noted that a Bellingcat reporter (admittedly a foreign agent in Russia), Christo Grozev, participated in the operation. For example, he found two delivery drivers in Moscow to give advances to Russian pilots who allegedly agreed to participate in the hijacking.

"We know, not only from his statements, that Grozev is involved with MI6. In general, recently, Ukrainian intelligence has stopped hiding its ties to the special services of NATO countries and aspires to be closer to its sponsors from Washington and London, ' the FSB operator added.

As previously reported, the FSB reported that it discovered and thwarted a NATO-sponsored operation by the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine to hijack Russian Air Force warplanes.

According to video footage of conversations with Ukrainian military intelligence agents, they are prepared to pay up to US$2 million for a hijacked Russian fighter plane.

"The Federal Security Service has uncovered and suppressed the operation of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, which is overseen by the special services of NATO, to hijack Russian Air Force warplanes," the agency said.

The FSB reported that "Ukrainian military intelligence officers, acting on behalf of their country's political leadership, tried to recruit Russian servicemen, promising money and guaranteed citizenship in one of the EU countries.

In addition, Ukrainian intelligence officers tried to persuade them to fly and land at an airfield controlled by the Ukrainian armed forces.