Putin's secret services have allegedly foiled an audacious British plot to pay off Russian soldiers and cajole them into defecting and become EU citizens.
The FSB, once headed by Vladimir Putin and which now gathers intelligence on behalf of the Russian war lord, claims the plot was hatched by British and Ukrainian intelligence aimed at embarrassing the Kremlin.
According to them, Kyiv military intelligence officers “tried to recruit Russian military pilots for a monetary reward and guarantees of obtaining citizenship of one of the EU countries".
Russian pilots hijacking and flying military aircraft into Ukraine and defecting could reportedly make $2million (£1.6m).
Putin’s security apparatchiks claimed to have intercepted text and voice communications between “an employee of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry” and “a Russian pilot".
Pictures show $4,000 (£3,300) in cash which reportedly were advance payments in a bid to persuade a Russian pilot to fly his Su-24, Su-34 or nuclear bomber Tu-22MZ to Ukraine, giving a huge propaganda coup to Kyiv.
Money was transferred by female couriers who were allegedly detained in Russian city Kazan, it was alleged.
Passports from Romania and Slovenia were prepared for the wife of one pilot, guaranteeing them a future in Europe, it is claimed.
There were no reports that any Russian pilot had been detained on suspicion of treason, despite claims that they had spoken to a Ukrainian military intelligence officer.
Russia appears to claim that one or more pilots colluded to explore the Ukrainian-British plot.
“Ukrainian intelligence tried to stimulate Russian pilots with promises to send their wives to EU countries and provide citizenship or a residence permit,” said the FSB.
Under the alleged plot, the defecting plane’s navigator would have been poisoned with clonidine.
A pilot took a picture of himself in front of a warplane to prove to the Ukrainians he was genuine, it is alleged.
The FSB claimed that “British intelligence agencies provided the main support to Ukrainian military intelligence in its operation to hijack Russian military aircraft”.
A source was reported as saying: ”It is obvious that the operation itself was carried out with the support of Western, primarily British, intelligence services."
The FSB claimed that chief investigator of the Bellingcat investigative journalism bureau - Christo Grozev - was also involved in the scheme.
He has as yet not responded to the allegation, and Bellingcat has denied any links to intelligence organisations.
Grozev - an expert on Russia - recently warned that if Putin was toppled “someone who is even more bent on war” could replace him.
It was unclear if the FSB account is true or an elaborate staged operation to scare Russian pilots from contemplating defection.
The Ukrainian intelligence officer allegedly told a potential defecting pilot: "I gave you a route. So that you would fly outside populated areas, because populated areas have the highest concentration of MANPADS.”
The Russians say this gave them useful information about Ukrainian defences.
“Among the secrets revealed were air defence zones in south-eastern Ukraine, charts of airfields in Khmelnytskyi and Chernihiv regions, altitude maps and locations of the largest concentration of units with portable anti-aircraft missile systems,” reported Zvezda TV channel, controlled by the Russian defence ministry.
“All this data was provided to the allegedly hijack-ready Russian pilot so that he could fly safely over Ukraine.
“A certain Ukrainian air force officer named Oleg called him.”
