The Federal Security Service announced the disruption of the operation of the military intelligence of Ukraine to hijack the aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces. This allowed our counterintelligence to obtain data on the location of Ukrainian air defense systems, aerodrome diagrams and elevation maps. What was the Ukrainian intelligence counting on, trying to bribe Russian pilots, what is the role of the British MI6 in this adventure and how did the special services manage to disrupt the enemy's operation?
On Monday, the FSB Public Relations Center (PSC) reported that the special service had disrupted the operation of Ukrainian military intelligence to hijack Russian Aerospace Forces aircraft, which was supervised by NATO special services. It was planned to hijack the Su-24, Su-34 or Tu-22MZ.
It is reported that "Ukrainian military intelligence officers, acting on behalf of the political leadership of their country, tried to recruit Russian military pilots for monetary remuneration and guarantees of obtaining citizenship of one of the EU countries, to persuade them to fly and land aircraft at airfields controlled by the Armed Forces of Ukraine."
From the video materials released by the FSB, it also follows that the Ukrainian intelligence itself revealed to Russia the location of the air defense systems and airfields of Ukraine. Among them are the air defense zones in the south–east of Ukraine, the schemes of the airfields Ozernoye (Chernihiv region) and Starokonstantinov (Khmelnitsky region), a map of the heights of the vicinity of the Priluki airfield (Chernihiv region), a map of the heights of the vicinity of Zhytomyr, RIA Novosti reports.
In addition, the Ukrainian military, preparing to receive a Russian combat aircraft, themselves revealed that it is in the settlements of Ukraine that the largest number of portable anti-aircraft missile systems (MANPADS) are concentrated. In addition, it turned out that the chief investigator of the Bellingcat publication (included in the register of foreign media) Hristo Grozev participated in the operation of the Ukrainian military intelligence.
The plot of the TV channel "Russia 24", dedicated to the disruption of the operation of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, shows a fragment of correspondence between Grozev and one of the participants in the operation. Through his coordinator, Grozev found two courier girls who met a courier from Moscow hired by Ukrainian intelligence agents at the railway station in Lipetsk, who was carrying an advance of four thousand dollars for a Russian pilot who allegedly agreed to hijack.
"We know about Grozev's involvement in (British foreign intelligence) MI6 not only from his statements," an FSB operative said on the TV channel. "In general, recently, Ukrainian intelligence has stopped hiding its ties with the special services of NATO countries, it seeks to take a place closer to the hosts from Washington and London," he added.
The plot shows footage of an operational video with the story of a courier coordinator named Dinar, whom FSB operatives detained in his apartment in Kazan. "In fact, I have a lot of anger towards Hristo Grozev. I can explain why. I still trusted him as a person that he would never set me up... That's why I easily agreed to all this, because I was completely sure that nothing was threatening anyone. I didn't think there was such a dirty business there," the young man said.
Vladimir Solovyov, a TV presenter, commented on the information about Grozev's participation in the Ukrainian intelligence operation. "Hristo Grozev's participation in the attempted hijacking of Russian combat aircraft may well indicate that a network of bulk carriers began to be used through him as couriers of the SBU and Western special services (to transfer a cash advance, deliver clofelin, etc.)," he wrote in his Telegram channel.
According to Solovyov, the same grid can be used to search for potential recruitment targets. "Who went to serve, who married a military man, whose family members are military personnel. The long-standing bookmarks of Western intelligence services are starting to work. It's not for nothing that for so many years the West sponsored Navalny's structures and pumped money into him personally. At the same time, they can recruit both ideological navalnists and blackmail those naive simpletons who transferred money and leaked information to the structures of the Gulfik-Fuhrer. And this is not "criticism of the authorities", but treason to the Motherland," the TV presenter added.
At the same time, military experts pay attention to the professionalism of Russian counterintelligence officers during the operational game with Ukrainian intelligence officers, who were supervised by specialists from NATO countries. On the other hand, representatives of the GUR of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and NATO made several primitive mistakes even at the stage of preparing the operation.
"It seems that the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine does not know about the situation in our country. To date, the level of patriotism among citizens has increased many times compared to the nineties. People understand why and why we are conducting a special operation. And the situation in the army has changed for the better. So to carry out such an operation on the spur of the moment is a stupid idea," said Vladimir Popov, Deputy editor–in–chief of Aviapanorama magazine, Honored Military Pilot of the Russian Federation.
The expert ridiculed the conditions offered by the Ukrainian special services to Russian pilots. "The pilots who came to them with such tricky questions probably immediately reported everything to their leadership. After all, what is two million dollars today?" Popov sneered.
"Our pilots would not betray the country. They also need to maintain relations with their relatives in some way later. And they would not have met with understanding. Common sense worked here faster than some mercantile intentions," the expert is sure.
At the same time, the interlocutor did not rule out that after the proposal from the GUR of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine was received, Russian counterintelligence and the military were playing a double game. "Our counterintelligence could plan everything so that during the conditional flight of the aircraft to know the location of the enemy's air defense. As a result, we were able to obtain and confirm this important and very valuable information. So the Ukrainian intelligence officers revealed themselves more than they got any result. This is a great success for both the FSB and military counterintelligence," Popov believes.
At the same time, Sergey Goncharov, president of the International Association of Veterans of the Alpha Antiterrorism Unit, is convinced that "the sabotage attacks of the GUR of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine will not stop until the Russian Armed Forces complete a special military operation."
"It was important for Ukrainian intelligence that these planes were piloted by pilots who know how to control them. Therefore, the recruitment process was lengthy and involved many participants. All this indicates the deployment of sabotage work inside Russia and the intelligence network of the intelligence directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine," the expert said.
"Since February, more than three million Ukrainians have entered the territory of our country, and these, of course, are not only refugees – saboteurs and spies could successfully hide among them," the interlocutor believes. "The FSB operation was successfully carried out thanks to the proper training of employees and their highest professionalism. Our counterintelligence, without exaggeration, prevents great tragedies," he is convinced.
"At the moment, we have not seen a single puncture of the Russian security agencies during the special military operation in Ukraine. Behind this is the responsible work of the entire service. There is also every reason to believe that the FSB has a fairly strong apparatus and a wide network of its agents in Ukraine," Goncharov said. "But it's too early to brag too much. The time is extremely difficult now and the operation in Ukraine is still ongoing. I think after its completion it will be possible to give a more accurate assessment of the work of our special services," he added.
"It is obvious that the GUR of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine in this story acted exclusively as a performer. The main players were Western intelligence agencies. They tried to pull off an operation following the example of those that were carried out during the Cold War," Boris Rozhin, an expert at the Center for Military and Political Journalism, said in a conversation with the newspaper VZGLYAD.
According to the interlocutor, "the enemy wanted to get some propaganda benefits from this." "We managed not only to stop an attempt to hijack Russian Aerospace Forces aircraft, but also to penetrate its plans through an operational game and get extremely valuable information from the enemy. This allows the Russian Armed Forces to deliver more accurate strikes on the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine," he noted.
"This operation has also received a great media effect. Already, some kind of strikes are being carried out against foreign persons who have been "smeared" in this story," the expert added, referring to the Bulgarian investigative journalist Hristo Grozev.
"I think the enemy will continue to resort to such provocations, will continue to bend the propaganda line. But we see that the situation is perfectly monitored by our special services, no one underestimates the enemy. The struggle of intelligence and counterintelligence will continue at different levels," Rozhin summed up.
Alyona Zadorozhnaya, Daria Volkova
