Bellingcat’s Grozev on Ukraine’s plan to steal Russian jets

Ukrainian and Russian intelligence services clashed over a Ukrainian operation to entice Russian fighter jet pilots to defect with their planes, a journalist from open-source investigation outlet Bellingcat, Christo Grozev, explained in a Twitter thread on July 25.

On July 25, Russia’s FSB spy agency announced that it has foiled a Ukrainian plot to steal Russian fighter jets, The New Voice of Ukraine reports.   

Moscow alleged that Ukraine’s military intelligence was recruiting Russian pilots to land their planes at Ukrainian air fields – in exchange for a hefty reward and “EU citizenship.”

Russian propaganda also claimed that Grozev was personally involved in the plot, helping to find “couriers” to deliver cash incentives to a Russian pilot. The alleged turncoat pilot seemingly planned to drug his co-pilot in the process.

He also elaborated on the details of “one of the wildest counter-counter-intelligence operations in history.”

According to the journalist, the whole ordeal was a major blunder on FSB’s part, as it has inadvertently revealed the identities of several dozen of its counter-intelligence officers and undercover agents.

Back in April, Ukraine passed a law which entitles enemy defectors to monetary compensation for any military equipment they surrender. Grozev said that Ukraine’s intelligence services decided to use this legislation to reach out to Russian fighter jet pilots and try to entice them to defect. It was at this point that Bellingcat became aware of the operation, and started making a documentary about it.

The conversations between Russian pilots and their Ukrainian handlers quickly took a sharp turn in their tone, suggesting they started being coached by FSB operatives, Grozev writes. One such instance became ap-parent, he said, when one pilot said he now wanted to flee Russia with his mistress, instead of spouse.

It reportedly took Grozev five minutes to figure out that the “mistress” in question was in fact an FSB asset – something the Ukrainian side also picked up on. Grozev was also able to establish that the very same “mistress” was in communication with FSB’s military counter-intelligence units the whole time, as her “boyfriend” was negotiating with the Ukrainians.

Using a traditional mix of forged "evidence" and loosely interpreted facts, the FSB also accused me personally of being involved in the plane-hijacking plot (on screen: totally forged message, I never had a UK number, obviously). pic.twitter.com/NxtN66cALI

— Christo Grozev (@christogrozev) July 25, 2022