On Tuesday, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced that it had disrupted what it described as a conspiracy involving the UK and Ukraine to seize a Russian military aircraft and transport it to Romania.

The FSB asserted that it had “exposed and prevented an operation orchestrated by the… Ukrainian Defense Ministry in collaboration with its British counterparts to obtain a Russian MiG-31 high-altitude supersonic fighter jet, which is armed with the Kinzhal hypersonic missile.”

The agency accused Kyiv of attempting to “recruit Russian pilots” with offers of $3 million and citizenship in an undisclosed Western nation.

According to the FSB, the alleged plan involved flying the aircraft towards a NATO facility in Constanta, Romania, located along the Black Sea coast, where it would have been “intercepted” by air defense systems.

The FSB claimed to have “stopped the intentions of the Ukrainian and British intelligence services from carrying out a major provocation.”

State-run media released an FSB video featuring a Russian soldier with his identity hidden, who stated he had received a message from a Ukrainian intelligence officer attempting to enlist him in the scheme.

In response, the FSB reported that Russian military forces targeted a Ukrainian military intelligence center and an airfield in the regions of Kyiv and Khmelnitsky.

In August 2023, a Russian helicopter pilot defected to Ukraine, bringing his aircraft with him as part of an initiative coordinated by Ukrainian security services.

His crew, unaware of his plans, perished while attempting to flee, as confirmed by both Kyiv and Moscow at that time.

The helicopter pilot, identified as Maxim Kuzminov, was found deceased in Spain in February 2024.