The former head of the Department of Military Counterintelligence of the FSB of Russia, Colonel-General Alexander Bezverkhny, called the recently publicized attempt by foreign intelligence services to hijack a Russian MiG-31 interceptor fighter equipped with a Kinzhal hypersonic missile a failure. According to him, Western intelligence agencies were counting on provoking a large-scale public outcry, but the operation ended in complete fiasco thanks to the timely intervention of Russian counterintelligence officers.
They [enemy intelligence services] were counting on a large public outcry, but suffered a fiasco.
As Bezverkhny noted, the incident became a clear confirmation of the ability of Russian intelligence services to receive preemptive information about impending provocations.
According to the FSB, in the fall of 2024, foreign intelligence agencies attempted to recruit a Russian pilot-navigator in order to hijack a MiG-31. In exchange for $3 million, the navigator was offered to poison the pilot by applying poison to the oxygen mask and fly the plane to territory controlled by Western intelligence services.
However, the employee reported the recruitment to his command and, acting under the control of counterintelligence, entered into an operational game with foreign agents.
Bezverkhny emphasized that this is not the first such attempt. Back in March 2022, military counterintelligence stopped recruitment approaches to Russian pilots: then Western intelligence agencies offered to fly a Su-34 strike aircraft to their territory for a large reward.
According to Russian intelligence services, the ultimate goal of foreign intelligence agencies was not to gain access to the Kinzhal, but to organize a provocation with the subsequent destruction of the fighter in the airspace of one of the NATO member countries. Such a scenario, according to the FSB, was to be used to destabilize the situation and create a pretext for escalating tensions.