FSB says foiled Ukrainian operation to hijack Russian helicopter
3 Min Read
The Russian Federal Security Service says Ukrainian military intelligence officers had tried to recruit a Russian pilot to hijack the aircraft.
-
Russian military Mi-35 helicopter takes off from the building of the Federal Security Service (FSB) in Lubyanskaya Square in Moscow, Russia, on February 26, 2016 (AP)
The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) announced Monday that it had thwarted an attempt by Ukrainian military intelligence to seize a Russian Aerospace Forces electronic warfare helicopter.
"The Federal Security Service has uncovered and thwarted an operation by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry to hijack a Russian Aerospace Forces Mi-8MTPR-1 electronic warfare helicopter," the FSB said in a statement.
It also stated that Ukrainian military intelligence officers had tried to recruit a Russian pilot to hijack the aircraft and deliver it to territory controlled by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
According to the FSB, the information gathered by Russian counterintelligence agents who disrupted Kiev's operation enabled the Russian military to effectively target Ukrainian air defense positions and the locations of Ukrainian Armed Forces units.
Read next: Russian air defenses intercept tens of Ukrainian drones overnight: MoD
An FSB officer, in a video released by the security service, stated that Ukraine's military intelligence appears determined to continue its efforts to hijack Russian aircraft and equipment.
"Sensing the support of their foreign handlers, primarily British secret services, and in order to demonstrate their feigned efficiency and justify their expenditures, the Ukrainian services are ready even to murder Russian citizens, including by poisoning them," the officer said.
The officer also noted that special services in European countries are becoming increasingly hesitant to collaborate on joint operations with Ukrainian intelligence, fearing potential damage to their reputations.
In July of this year, the FSB announced that it had foiled an attempt by Ukrainian special services to carry out a terrorist attack targeting Russia's sole aircraft carrier, Admiral Kuznetsov, stationed in Murmansk.
"The Russian Federal Security Service has stopped attempts by Ukrainian special services to commit terrorist attacks on the heavy aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov in the city of Murmansk," the statement read at the time.
In the summer of 2022, the FSB confirmed that it had prevented an act of sabotage by the Ukrainian special services at an energy infrastructure facility in Crimea.
"A sabotage planned by the Ukrainian special services at an energy infrastructure facility in the Republic of Crimea was prevented. As a result of a complex of operational and search measures, a citizen of Ukraine was detained," it announced in a statement.
