The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) opened a criminal case over the unsuccessful operation of the Ukrainian military to hijack a Russian plane.
"Ukraiinska Pravda" ("Ukrainian Truth") writes about this with reference to interlocutors in the State Security Service, SBU and investigation data.
In April-July 2022, a soldier of the Special Operations Forces, ex-intelligence officer Roman Chervinskyi, a civilian IT-specialist, representatives of the Security Service of Ukraine and the Air Force recruited a Russian pilot to fly a military plane from Russia to Ukraine.
The men communicated with more than a hundred Russian pilots, having previously collected data about them from unofficial paid services. According to the Ukrainians, they followed security rules and did not release important information, and also allegedly agreed to the operation with the SBU and the General Staff.
The Ukrainian military and security forces realized that the Russian special services were playing their own "game", so they tried to get as much secret information as possible from the pilots from the Russian Federation: where they were performing tasks, who was giving orders and supervising the work.
Out of a hundred pilots, three were chosen and tested for the seriousness of their intentions: they were asked to send videos of their planes for $5 000. They were also promised to pay for the plane ride, make new documents for the family and transport them to a safe place. In the end, the organizers of the operation chose one married Russian without children — Roman Nosenko — a Su-24 and Su-34 pilot.
The plan was as follows: on July 23, the pilot will fly into Ukraine in a specific square at a certain height, where he will be met by the Ukrainian military. Air defense was on guard to shoot down the Russian if he violated the agreements. Nosenkoʼs landing place is the "Kanatove" airfield in Kirovohrad region. The pilot suggested it himself.
Nosenko had to tell his dispatchers that he had been hit, and Ukraine would have reported the capture of the pilot, preparing the "wrecks" of his plane at the scene. New documents would be issued to the man and hidden in Ukraine or the EU.
On the day of the operation, July 23, when the Russian pilot was supposed to fly to the airfield "Kanatove" near Kropyvnytskyi, Russia fired 13 missiles over the region.
The commander of the military unit was killed by the shelling, 17 soldiers were wounded, two fighter jets were completely destroyed, other equipment, the airstrip, and buildings were heavily damaged.
On August 4, the SBU opened criminal proceedings under the articles of "treason" and "abuse of power." The investigation believes that ex-intelligence officer Roman Chervinsky did not agree to the intelligence operation, that is, he exceeded his authority. The SBU also claims that Chervinsky arbitrarily sent the military to the airfield to meet the Russian plane.
- Two days after the unsuccessful attempt to hijack the plane, the FSB of Russia announced that it had allegedly thwarted a Ukrainian military intelligence operation. Propaganda Russian media accused Bellingcat project journalist Christo Grozev of participating in the operation.
- Grozev himself initially denied his participation in any operations of the special services in a comment to "Radio Svoboda" ["Radio Liberty"]. According to him, the Bellingcat team filmed an investigative documentary about how the FSB and Ukrainian special services have been playing the game for many years, trying to deceive each other.
- On his Twitter, Grozev added that his participation in this operation was limited to the fact that he was documenting the events for his film. The investigator called the special operation, which Russia tried to present as its achievement, "a serious mistake by the FSB", because the special service revealed the identities of dozens of counterintelligence officers, their working methods and other secret data.