The FSB released video and documents claiming that in autumn 2024 Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR), with support from British handlers, attempted to recruit Russian aircrew to hijack a MiG-31 fighter jet equipped with a Kinzhal hypersonic missile and fly it into the airspace near a major NATO airbase in Romania.
Initial Contact via Fake Journalist and Bellingcat Claim
According to the FSB, a man posing as a journalist from Bellingcat first contacted the MiG-31 commander, later sending a press card and proposing paid consultations on military matters. The supposed journalist raised the prospect of payment for alleged military information to compromise the pilot, offering transfers to his personal bank card. When the commander refused, intelligence operatives shifted focus to the aircraft’s navigator.
Millions Offered and Promises of Western Citizenship
On video released by the FSB, the navigator describes offers that escalated from $1 million for an initial hijack to $3 million for delivering the plane with its Kinzhal. Recruiters also dangled Western citizenship and used motivational imagery — including photos and videos of large sums of cash and a picture of the defector Maxim Kuzminov — to entice the target, even promising light-hearted rewards such as drinking beer in Munich.
“Everything will go smoothly — we’ll even drink beer in Munich with pretty girls and smile about this story later,” the recruiter allegedly wrote to the navigator.
Plan Included Poisoning and a NATO Provocation
The FSB says GUR operatives discussed neutralizing the MiG-31 commander by contaminating his oxygen mask and questioned the crew in detail about cockpit systems and oxygen use. Intercepts, the FSB asserts, showed that the ultimate aim was a provocation: direct the armed MiG-31 into European airspace where air defenses could shoot it down.
Military bloggers cited by the FSB warned that the plot — if executed — would have provided a pretext for NATO members to escalate. The Telegram project Zapiski Veterana commented that if NATO participants seek a reason to enter the war, they will find one
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FSB Warns of Unpredictable Consequences
The Russian service concluded that, given the tense international context, the operation could have produced unpredictable and grave outcomes. According to the FSB, Russian counterintelligence had already monitored the scheme and contacted the targeted crew, preventing the plan from advancing.
