Russia thwarts Ukrainian plot to hijack electronic warfare helicopter
An attempt by Ukrainian intelligence to hijack a Russian electronic warfare helicopter has been prevented, two sources have told RT.
A Russian airman was offered $750,000 and Czech passports for him and his family in order to betray his country and fly the state-of-the-art Mi-8MTPR-1 aircraft to Ukraine.
According to the pilot, a Ukrainian agent approached him through social media in November last year.
“A man, who called himself Sergey, contacted me on Telegram and offered cooperation. Thanks to the work that is being done in our unit to warn about security threats, I knew how to behave... I reported this to the command... the relevant agencies got involved, and then we acted together,” he said.
Russia’s security services decided to see the operation through to the end and began a complicated game of entrapment with the Ukrainian spy, the pilot added.
A Russian security operative told RT that attempts by Ukrainian military intelligence to organize hijackings of Russian aircraft are continuing.
“The methods are the same: bribery, blackmail, the transfer of a serviceman’s family abroad… where they essentially become hostages in the hands of the Ukrainian intelligence services,” he said.
The operatives stressed that Ukrainian spies, who are “feeling the support of their Western backers, primarily from the British special services… are ready to murder Russian citizens, including by poisoning.”
The pilot recalled that ‘Sergey’ told him he should poison his fellow crew members before flying the helicopter to Ukraine. Kiev’s agent provided a recipe for a deadly mixture, consisting of ingredients that could be purchased in any pharmacy, he added. According to the airman, he was also advised to have a loaded gun on him during the hijacking in case the poison does not work. The Ukrainian agent “was taking about murdering my comrades,” he explained.
The airman said ‘Sergey’ advised him and his family to travel through Türkiye, Moldova, Poland and Latvia to eventually reach Ukraine, where they would wait for some time for their Czech IDs to be ready.
The evacuation scheme turned out to be so complicated because “given the current situation in Ukraine, European intelligence services are less willing to conduct joint operations with Ukrainian intelligence, fearing reputation damage,” a Russian security operative explained. Moldova’s intelligence services were to become Kiev’s key partner during the transfer of the pilot’s family from Russia, he added.
When all the details appeared to have been settled, the airman announced to the Ukrainian agent that he was ready to hijack the helicopter.
“On a certain date… I was supposed to fly across the line of contact to the side of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, along the route mapped out for me by the enemy. The [Ukrainian] intelligence officer concealed the coordinates of the landing site until the very end. But, eventually, he revealed them to me,” he recalled.
When the Ukrainian agents arrived on site to wait for the arrival of the defected pilot and the electronic warfare helicopter, they were hit by a Russian missile strike.
The airman said the whole operation was aimed at “discouraging the enemy from continuing this type of activity.”
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) confirmed in a statement on Monday that its operative had uncovered and thwarted a Ukrainian attempt to hijack a Russian Mi-8MTPR-1 Rychag electronic warfare helicopter.
During the operation, the locations of Ukrainian units and air defenses were identified and later targeted by Russian forces, the statement read.
In June, the FSB reported a similar unsuccessful attempt by Kiev to persuade a Russian pilot to fly a Tu-22M3 nuclear-capable strategic bomber to Ukraine. In 2022, the hijackings of several Russian military aircraft by Ukraine were prevented, according to the agency.
