MOSCOW, July 8. /TASS/. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has foiled an attempt to steal a Tu-22M3 strategic bomber and bring it to Ukraine, the FSB said in a statement.
A Russian pilot was offered $3 mln to take the aircraft. The FSB caught wind of this in the planning stages, allowing it to gather information that led to a successful strike on a Ukrainian armed forces’ airfield.
TASS has gathered the main information about the incident.
Hijacking attempt
- Russia’s FSB foiled a NATO-backed attempt by Ukrainian intelligence to organize the theft of a Tu-22M3 strategic bomber to Ukraine, the FSB Public Relations Center stated.
- According to the FSB, "Ukrainian intelligence recruited a Russian military pilot by offering him money and Italian citizenship in exchange for his flying and landing the bomber in Ukraine."
- Evidence has been discovered showing that intelligence agencies from NATO countries were involved in preparing and carrying out the operation, the FSB added.
- The FSB’s operational game (operational activities aimed at misleading the enemy) made it possible to carry out a strike on a Ukrainian airfield.
Attempt to bribe pilot
- The Russian pilot was offered $3 mln to take the Tu-22M3 long-range strategic bomber, according to a screenshot of an exchange he had online with a Ukrainian intelligence officer released by the FSB.
- The correspondence revealed that the Ukroboronprom defense company was to pay $1 mln of this money. FSB video showed stacks of US cash.
- The pilot was contacted via the Telegram messenger. "No sense of morality or ethics. They asked me to set aviation equipment on fire and started to threaten my family members," the pilot said in the video.
- He was also asked to provide information about Russian planes, including their tail numbers, technical condition and regulation schedules. "I went to my commanders and told them everything," the pilot said.
- According to the pilot, the man who contacted him introduced himself as Pavlo and made no secret of being a Ukrainian intelligence officer. He tried to blackmail the pilot by threatening his wife and children but once he realized they were safe in Russia, he started trying to bribe the pilot and lure his family out of the country.
- The pilot noted that according to Ukrainian intelligence’s plan, his family was supposed to travel to Ukraine via Turkey and Moldova, while "initially, it was about the EU." "The actual plan was to kidnap them," the pilot said.
Strategic bomber
- The Tu-22M3 is a supersonic, variable-sweep wing, long-range strategic bomber designed to hit naval and ground targets with missiles and air bombs; it is capable of carrying nuclear and conventional weapons.