Russia thwarts Ukrainian plot to hijack electronic warfare helicopter – pilot tells RT

An attempt by Ukrainian intelligence to hijack a Russian electronic warfare helicopter has been prevented, a pilot and a security source have told RT.

A Russian airman was offered $750,000 and Czech passports for him and his family in order to betray his country and fly the state-of-the-art Mi-8MTPR-1 aircraft to Ukraine, the broadcaster reported on Monday.

According to the pilot, a Ukrainian agent approached him through social media in November last year.

“A man, who called himself Sergey, contacted me on Telegram and offered cooperation. Thanks to the work that is being done in our unit to warn about security threats, I knew how to behave... I reported this to the command... the relevant agencies got involved, and then we acted together,” he said.

Russia’s security services decided to see the operation through to the end and began a complicated game of entrapment with the Ukrainian spy, the pilot told RT.

A Russian security operative told RT that attempts by Ukrainian military intelligence to organize hijackings of Russian aircraft are continuing.

“The methods are the same: bribery, blackmail, the transfer of a serviceman’s family abroad… where they essentially become hostages in the hands of the Ukrainian intelligence services,” he said.

The operatives stressed that Ukrainian spies, who are “feeling the support of their Western backers, primarily from the British special services… are ready to murder Russian citizens, including by poisoning.”