Did Ukraine Try to Hijack a Russian Helicopter by Inducing its Pilot to Defect?

The Russian State Security Service (FSB) released a video on Nov. 11 in which it claimed that that it had uncovered and foiled an operation by Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) to recruit a Russian pilot to defect with his aircraft. According to the FSB report the plot also involved “British handlers” in support of the Ukrainian agency.

In the video of the latest incident the FSB interviews the unnamed Russian pilot who said that that the targeted aircraft was an Mi-8MTPR-1 electronic warfare helicopter. He said that a HUR operator using the pseudonym “Sergei” had contacted him via the Messenger app, offering to remove the pilot’s family and children from Russia and to relocate them in Moldova by way of Turkey.

In the interview he says that he was given instructions on when and how to cross the border to avoid Ukrainian air defenses and which airfield he should land his aircraft at after putting the rest of his crew out of action by poisoning them. The pilot says he then told his comrades of the plot who then informed their superiors.

While the date of the alleged incident is not mentioned in the video or the TASS report, the FSB said the intelligence provided on the locations of Ukrainian air defenses by the HUR operator allowed Russian forces to carry out strikes against several positions on the proposed route for the hijack.

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This latest plan, if it indeed existed, seems to be a rerun of the successful August 2023 Operation “Titmouse” when Maxim Kuzminov, a pilot from Russia’s 319th Separate Helicopter Regiment, flew his Mi-8 AMTSH (NATO: Hip) armored combat helicopter to Ukraine’s Poltava airfield.

Kuzminov was found shot dead in a parking garage in the southern Spanish town of Villajoyosa in February. After being granted Ukrainian citizenship under an assumed name he had moved to Spain.

A similar accusation was made in July when the FSB reported an alleged attempt by Ukrainian special services to hijack a Tu-22M3 long-range strategic bomber. According to the claims this also involved members of an unidentified “special service of a NATO country” who assisted Kyiv in “preparing and implementing” the operation.

According to the FSB, the bomber pilot was promised money, and “Italian citizenship” in return for flying his aircraft to Ukraine. In foiling this attempt Russia said it identified the Ukrainian operators, and their backers involved in the plot.

Video published by the Ria Novosti state news agency pictured the Russian pilot standing in front of the warplane his voice disguised, and his face covered by a helmet as he detailed the attempt to recruit him:

“A stranger wrote to me on Telegram. Without morals or ethics, he started threatening my close relatives [and] demanded that I burn down aircraft.

“I told my commanders everything. The contact didn’t even hide that he was from the Ukrainian special services,” the pilot added. “He suggested I hijack a warplane to Ukrainian territory, but not just any plane, a long-range bomber that can carry nuclear weapons.”

HUR was contacted in connection with the latest alleged incident but declined to comment.