FSB reports foiling Ukrainian plot to hijack Russian jet armed with hypersonic Kinzhal missile

A Russian MiG-31 fighter carrying a Kinzhal hypersonic missile flies over Moscow’s Red Square during the annual Victory Day parade, 9 May 2018. Photo: EPA / Yuri Kochetkov

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has accused Ukrainian intelligence agents of attempting to recruit Russian pilots to hijack a MiG-31 fighter jet armed with a hypersonic Kinzhal missile as part of a “large-scale provocation” against Russia, Interfax reported on Tuesday.

According to the FSB, Ukrainian intelligence operatives offered Russian pilots $3 million to carry out the mission, which it said had been planned with the assistance of “British intelligence handlers”.

Once the fighter jet had been hijacked, the plan was to fly it towards a NATO airbase near the city of Constanta in Romania, where it would be shot down by air defence systems, the FSB alleged.

Russian Telegram channel Mash reported that initial contact with the prospective hijackers had been made by a Ukrainian intelligence officer posing as a journalist from investigative journalism group Bellingcat.

Mash also alleged that those approached to carry out the mission had been promised European passports in exchange for the successful completion of the hijacking, and that preparations for the operation, which was scheduled to take place on 4 November, had been underway for about a year.

After an initial approach to an air force captain was refused, Ukrainian intelligence attempted to recruit a navigator who was asked to poison the captain using a toxin applied to his oxygen mask, the FSB alleged.

In response to the provocation, the Russian Aerospace Forces used Kinzhal hypersonic missiles to strike the main centre of GUR’s electronic intelligence in the Kyiv region and the Starokostyantyniv airfield in the early hours of Monday, according to BBC News Russian.

The Ukrainian authorities have not commented on the allegations.