Russian pilot allegedly offered $2 million and Italian citizenship to land the bomber in Ukraine. But several details don’t add up.
Claims have emerged of Russia foiling a Ukrainian intelligence operation to steal a Tupolev Tu-22M3 strategic bomber by luring one of its pilots with Italian citizenship and $3 million. Russia’s internal security service, the FSB, however allegedly exploited the information to bomb the Ozernoye airfield, where the plane was presumably supposed to land.
Russia has neither officially commented on the issue nor the RuMoD (Russian Ministry of Defense) published details of the strike at Ozernoye. However, Kremlin-leaning Telegram groups have released the screenshots of the alleged chats between the Russian pilot and the Ukrainian operatives.
Some reports also mentioned a statement claimed to be from the FSB, but this information could not be verified.
Questionable story
Overall, it is impossible to determine whether the episode is true, as no proof or dates were provided and no attacks were recently reported at Ozernoye. Also, Moscow’s security agencies have traditionally commented on developments that it perceives are threats to Russian citizens and not military intelligence matters that are of a tactical nature.
If successfully executed the operation would have harmed Russia but would have provided limited benefit to Ukraine or NATO, considering the the Tu-22M3 is quite outdated and probably very well known to the Western intelligence agencies.
Moreover, the closest Tu-22 base is quite far from Ukraine, so it would have been quite difficult to steal the Backfire bomber flying for quite a while before reaching the destination airfield.
Finally, it’s not clear how a single pilot could steal the bomber, considering the aircraft has a crew of four members, with two pilots seated side-by-side in front (pilot on the left and co-pilot on the right) and the navigator (right) and weapons system officer (left) seated to their rear. Was the money intended to bribe all members of the crew?
Russian counterintelligence operation
According to ‘Lord Bebo’ on X, Ukraine wanted data on Russian combat aircraft, including tail numbers, with operatives also threatening the pilot and his family, demanding that he set fire to military aircraft. Aircraft tail numbers give an idea of the availability and type of planes present at various air bases, which can further give an insight into future strikes and movement patterns.
🇺🇦🇷🇺‼️🚨 Ukraine wanted to bribe a Russian pilot into stealing a strategic bouncer TU-22, but Russia tricked them and bombed their airport.
Ukraine wanted to obtain data from the Russian Aerospace Forces pilot about Russian combat aircraft, including tail numbers, and they also… pic.twitter.com/hESZQA7jNF
— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) July 8, 2024
Air Forces can draw these conclusions from general information about tail number of enemy aircrafts also seen in open source images and official publicity material. This is one of the reasons why the RuMoD press releases featuring RuAF (Russian Aerospace Forces) combat aircraft in action are accompanied by photos/videos with blurred serial numbers.
Ukraine and Western planners often have to prepare for ATACMS and Storm Shadow strikes on Russian facilities by analyzing massive optical and satellite reconnaissance data, to judge the target’s importance and its goals. Obtaining tail numbers of strategic bombers like the Tu-22 would significantly ease that process, forcing the Russians to undertake a long and time consuming rearrangement of their assets.
Bebo added that “Russian counterintelligence officers received information that helped the Russian Army inflict fire on the Ozernoye airfield of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.” He then added that the alleged “involvement of the intelligence services of NATO countries” in the scheme was also revealed.
The Russian pilot was promised 2 (or 3) million USD for the hijacking of the Tu-22M3 long-range strategic bomber. According to the correspondence, Ukroboronprom promised to allocate $1 million. During “the operational game,” Russian counterintelligence officers received information about where the stolen plane was supposed to be brought to. However, the pilot apparently informed his superiors, who launched a “counterintelligence operation” with the FSB. This “helped the Russian Armed Forces inflict fire on the Ozernoye airfield of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”
While it is not clear what the strike constituted, an inference can be drawn from the Iskander-M tactical ballistic missiles strike on the Ukrainian Air Force’s (UAF) Mirgorod airfield in the Poltava region, where an overhead Russian drone footage showed cluster munitions exploding on the base. A few Su-27 jets could be seen being hit in the attack.
Iskander strike on Mirgorod (Myrhorod) airbase, Poltava region
Ukraine LOST 2 Su-27’s & 4 more were DAMAGED in the missile attack
Deployment of cluster munitions can be seen as well
AFU frequently use this to stage attacks on Russian territory pic.twitter.com/u3ySu2ft4K
— Zagonel (@Zagonel85) July 1, 2024
The pilot too gave a short interview in a clip released by Izvestia, repeating the same claims of the Ukrainian operatives mentioned in the report, and said the person interacting with him identified himself as “Pavlo.”
Ukraine ‘bought’ a Russian helicopter pilot before
Many Russian Telegram channels published screenshots of the chat conversations between the Ukrainian operatives and the Russian pilot, where the English translations of the Russian exchanges overlaid on the chat boxes show the latter playing along.
At one point the Ukrainian operative is asking if the pilot is “refusing the offer,” complaining that he is “not happy with his ambiguous response” and is “testing his patience.” At one point the pilot asks, “where are the guarantees that (he) will receive the money?” He later demanded for more money, adding that “the minimum does not suit me, money is my future.”
Snippets of the telegram chat.
— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) July 8, 2024
Ukraine had successfully managed to persuade a Russian Mi-8 helicopter pilot, Maxim Kuzminov, in 2023 and in September of that year announced a $500,000 reward for him. However, on Feb. 13, 2024, he was found dead, with his bullet-riddled body retrieved inside the garage of a house in southern Spain’s Alicante region.
Frontline strategic bomber
The Tu-22M is a twin-engine supersonic bomber with variable geometry swept wings. The Tu-22M3 and M3M variants are in wide service in Russia, with over 80 reported in flying with the Russian Air Force and more than 40 in use with Russian Naval Aviation as long-range maritime patrol, surveillance and attack aircraft.
The aircraft was primarily developed as an anti-ship missile carrier for the Soviet/Russian supersonic Kh-22/32 anti-ship missiles, with range of up to 1,000 km (621 miles), as well as for smaller Kh-15 missiles, with range of up to 300 km (160 miles).
