Did Russia really foil Ukrainian-UK plot to hijack a fighter jet carrying a hypersonic missile?

Moscow: Russia on Tuesday claimed to have thwarted what it called an Anglo-Ukrainian plot to hijack a military aircraft carrying a hypersonic missile, alleging the operation was part of a “large-scale provocation.”

According to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), the plan involved stealing a MiG-31 high-altitude supersonic fighter jet equipped with a Kinzhal hypersonic air-launched missile.

The FSB said it had “uncovered and thwarted an operation by the... Ukrainian Ministry of Defence and its British supervisors to steal a Russian MiG-31 high-altitude supersonic fighter jet, which carries the Kinzhal hypersonic air-launched missile.”

It accused Kyiv of attempting to “recruit Russian pilots” by offering them $3 million and citizenship of a Western country in exchange for flying the jet out of Russia.

According to the FSB, the plan was to have the aircraft flown towards a NATO base in Constanta, Romania, where it would have been “shot down” by air defences — a move Moscow said was intended to provoke a major international incident.

The security agency said it had “thwarted the plans of the Ukrainian and British services to organise the large-scale provocation.”

State-run media outlets released a video purportedly from the FSB showing a masked Russian soldier claiming he had been contacted by a Ukrainian intelligence agent via email as part of the recruitment effort.

In response, the FSB said Russian forces struck a Ukrainian military intelligence centre and an airfield located in the Kyiv and Khmelnitsky regions.

Russia, which launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, frequently accuses Kyiv and its Western allies of sabotage operations on Russian territory, though it often provides no supporting evidence.

Throughout the nearly four-year conflict, Moscow has reported numerous acts of sabotage — often targeting its railway network — and has handed down lengthy prison sentences to individuals accused of espionage or treason.

In August 2023, a Russian Mi-8 helicopter pilot defected to Ukraine after flying across the border in an operation reportedly organised by Kyiv’s intelligence services. His crew members, unaware of his intentions, were killed as they tried to escape — both sides confirmed at the time.

The pilot, Maxim Kuzminov, was later found dead in Spain in February 2024.