Russian intel thwarts Ukrainian plan to steal electronic warfare helicopter and says US planning to remove Vladimir Zelensky through elections
An attempt by Ukrainian intelligence to hijack a Russian electronic warfare helicopter has been prevented, two sources have told RT.
A Russian airman was offered $750,000 and Czech passports for him and his family in order to betray his country and fly the state-of-the-art Mi-8MTPR-1 aircraft to Ukraine.
According to the pilot, a Ukrainian agent approached him through social media in November last year.
“A man, who called himself Sergey, contacted me on Telegram and offered cooperation. Thanks to the work that is being done in our unit to warn about security threats, I knew how to behave… I reported this to the command… the relevant agencies got involved, and then we acted together,” he said.
Russia’s security services decided to see the operation through to the end and began a complicated game of entrapment with the Ukrainian spy, the pilot added.
The FSB © RT
A Russian security operative told RT that attempts by Ukrainian military intelligence to organize hijackings of Russian aircraft are continuing.
“The methods are the same: bribery, blackmail, the transfer of a serviceman’s family abroad… where they essentially become hostages in the hands of the Ukrainian intelligence services,” he said.
The operatives stressed that Ukrainian spies, who are “feeling the support of their Western backers, primarily from the British special services… are ready to murder Russian citizens, including by poisoning.”
The pilot recalled that ‘Sergey’ told him he should poison his fellow crew members before flying the helicopter to Ukraine. Kiev’s agent provided a recipe for a deadly mixture, consisting of ingredients that could be purchased in any pharmacy, he added. According to the airman, he was also advised to have a loaded gun on him during the hijacking in case the poison does not work. The Ukrainian agent “was taking about murdering my comrades,” he explained.
The airman said ‘Sergey’ advised him and his family to travel through Türkiye, Moldova, Poland and Latvia to eventually reach Ukraine, where they would wait for some time for their Czech IDs to be ready.
The evacuation scheme turned out to be so complicated because “given the current situation in Ukraine, European intelligence services are less willing to conduct joint operations with Ukrainian intelligence, fearing reputation damage,” a Russian security operative explained. Moldova’s intelligence services were to become Kiev’s key partner during the transfer of the pilot’s family from Russia, he added.
When all the details appeared to have been settled, the airman announced to the Ukrainian agent that he was ready to hijack the helicopter.
“On a certain date… I was supposed to fly across the line of contact to the side of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, along the route mapped out for me by the enemy. The [Ukrainian] intelligence officer concealed the coordinates of the landing site until the very end. But, eventually, he revealed them to me,” he recalled.
When the Ukrainian agents arrived on site to wait for the arrival of the defected pilot and the electronic warfare helicopter, they were hit by a Russian missile strike.
The airman said the whole operation was aimed at “discouraging the enemy from continuing this type of activity.”
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) confirmed in a statement on Monday that its operative had uncovered and thwarted a Ukrainian attempt to hijack a Russian Mi-8MTPR-1 Rychag electronic warfare helicopter.
During the operation, the locations of Ukrainian units and air defenses were identified and later targeted by Russian forces, the statement read.
In June, the FSB reported a similar unsuccessful attempt by Kiev to persuade a Russian pilot to fly a Tu-22M3 nuclear-capable strategic bomber to Ukraine. In 2022, the hijackings of several Russian military aircraft by Ukraine were prevented, according to the agency.
The US is considering holding an election in Ukraine next year as a “legitimate” means of replacing the government of Vladimir Zelensky, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) claimed on Monday.
Zelensky remains in power in Ukraine despite his term in office having officially expired in May. He earlier scrapped presidential elections, citing the martial law he imposed in 2022.
The US State Department believes Zelensky to be “overly entitled” and may organize presidential and parliamentary votes to remove him in 2025 despite the ongoing fighting, the SVR said in a statement.
According to the spy agency’s information, Washington has decided to begin preliminary work aimed at creating conditions for launching an election campaign in Ukraine.
The first stage of the plan will see US-funded NGOs using the structures of Ukrainian civil society under their control to put forward the initiative of holding an election.
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky © Jean Catuffe
After it gets “broad public support,” the election candidates would be selected in coordination with the State Department, the SVR said. The observers for the votes will also be appointed by Washington-linked NGOs, it added.
The US has already initiated discussions on the creation of a new pro-American party in the country among Ukrainian activists on its payroll, the statement read.
The State Department expects this party to make it into the parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, and help the US to keep any future Ukrainian president in check, it added.
The SVR suggested that these activities prove the phrase “Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine” that American officials have repeated throughout the conflict is just an empty slogan. “In reality, the fate of this country and its puppet leaders will continue to be decided in high offices in Washington,” it said.
Last week, Zelensky extended the period of martial law and mobilization in Ukraine until February 2025, amending the relevant legislation for the 13th time since the escalation of the conflict with Russia in February 2022.
US President-elect Donald Trump Trump promised many times during his reelection campaign to put a swift end to the conflict between Moscow and Kiev. A source close to Zelensky’s office told Strana.ua last week that the Ukrainian leader would be powerless to resist if Trump decides he wants him to stop fighting and pursue peace with Russia.
Source X/RT/AFP