{"id":564105,"date":"2025-11-11T18:33:20","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T18:33:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/564105\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T18:33:20","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T18:33:20","slug":"russia-accuses-journalist-christo-grozev-of-involvement-in-alleged-ukrainian-british-plot-to-hijack-fighter-jet-meduza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/564105\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia accuses journalist Christo Grozev of involvement in alleged Ukrainian-British plot to hijack fighter jet \u2014 Meduza"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A\u00a0still<\/p>\n

Moscow alleged on\u00a0Tuesday that it\u00a0had uncovered an\u00a0operation by\u00a0Ukraine\u2019s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) and its \u201cBritish handlers\u201d to\u00a0hijack a\u00a0Russian MiG-31 fighter jet.<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0a\u00a0statement from the Public Relations Center of\u00a0Russia\u2019s Federal Security Service (FSB), Ukrainian military intelligence officers attempted to\u00a0recruit Russian pilots for the purported scheme, \u201coffering them a\u00a0payment of\u00a0three million U.S. dollars\u201d in\u00a0exchange for stealing the jet.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe intelligence service then planned to\u00a0send the aircraft, armed with a\u00a0Kinzhal missile, toward the largest NATO air base in\u00a0southeastern Europe, located in\u00a0Constan\u021ba, Romania, where it\u00a0could have been shot down by\u00a0air defenses,\u201d the FSB claimed.<\/p>\n

Our only hope is\u00a0you.\u00a0Support Meduza<\/a>\u00a0before it\u2019s too late.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The agency also released a\u00a0video featuring a\u00a0person wearing a\u00a0flight helmet that conceals his face. The man appears against a\u00a0backdrop of\u00a0military aircraft, his voice digitally distorted. In\u00a0the clip, he\u00a0claims that in\u00a0the fall of\u00a02024, he\u00a0was contacted on\u00a0Telegram by\u00a0someone using the name \u201cSergey Lugovsky,\u201d who said he\u00a0was a\u00a0journalist from Bellingcat and offered to\u00a0pay him for \u201cconsulting on\u00a0military issues.\u201d To\u00a0confirm his identity, the man says, Lugovsky sent him a\u00a0press card. \u201cI\u00a0believe Sergey\u2019s real goal in\u00a0contacting me\u00a0was to\u00a0compromise me\u00a0and later use that to\u00a0the advantage of\u00a0intelligence services,\u201d he\u00a0says.<\/p>\n

An\u00a0FSB operative told Russian state news agency TASS that \u201cthe intelligence service used the so-called journalistic organization Bellingcat, which is\u00a0controlled by\u00a0the U.K.\u2019s CIS.\u201d The source added that in\u00a02022, the FSB had already accused journalist Christo Grozev, who worked for Bellingcat at\u00a0the time, of\u00a0involvement in\u00a0a\u00a0\u201cfailed HUR operation to\u00a0hijack a\u00a0Su-34 fighter jet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn\u00a0one of\u00a0our conversations, Sergey mentioned paying me\u00a0a\u00a0reward for allegedly providing him with military-related information. He\u00a0said the money would be\u00a0transferred to\u00a0my\u00a0personal bank card,\u201d the man in\u00a0the FSB video says, adding that he\u00a0\u201crefused further communication.\u201d<\/p>\n

The man goes on\u00a0to\u00a0say that shortly afterward, he\u00a0received an\u00a0anonymous email offering him one million dollars to\u00a0hijack an\u00a0aircraft. If\u00a0the plane carried a\u00a0Kinzhal missile, the payment would rise to\u00a0three million. A\u00a0man named Alexander allegedly kept in\u00a0touch with him through \u201cvarious foreign messaging apps,\u201d at\u00a0one point sending him a\u00a0video showing a\u00a0large amount of\u00a0cash.<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0the man, when he\u00a0said he\u00a0\u201cdid not have sufficient skills to\u00a0land a\u00a0MiG-31 on\u00a0his own,\u201d Alexander arranged a\u00a0phone call with a\u00a0Ukrainian Air Force pilot who attempted to\u00a0train him remotely, assuring him that \u201cthere was nothing difficult or\u00a0complicated about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The man in\u00a0the video also claims that the HUR plan would have seen a\u00a0Russian flight commander being \u201cneutralized in\u00a0the air.\u201d \u201cThey wanted me\u00a0to\u00a0treat the commander\u2019s oxygen mask with some kind of\u00a0poisonous substance or\u00a0break the glass partition and incapacitate him,\u201d he\u00a0says.<\/p>\n

He\u00a0adds that the hijacking was meant to\u00a0occur during a\u00a0flight over the Black Sea. \u201cAlexander suggested approaching an\u00a0airfield in\u00a0Ukraine\u2019s Odesa region via Romanian airspace over the city of\u00a0Constan\u021ba,\u201d the man claims. According to\u00a0him, Alexander also promised to\u00a0stage a\u00a0fake news report simulating footage of\u00a0a\u00a0plane crash to\u00a0send to\u00a0the media as\u00a0a\u00a0cover story.<\/p>\n

Later on\u00a0Tuesday, the FSB reported that, \u201cin\u00a0response to\u00a0the provocation\u201d by\u00a0Ukraine, Russian forces had launched Kinzhal missile strikes on\u00a0Monday night against the HUR\u2019s Main Center for Electronic Intelligence in\u00a0the Kyiv region and the Starokostiantyniv airfield in\u00a0the Khmelnytskyi region, \u201cwhere the notorious F-16 fighter jets are stationed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grozev dismissed<\/a> the allegations as\u00a0absurd. \u201cThey\u2019re using an\u00a0AI-generated face, the speech is\u00a0unnatural and fake, and on\u00a0top of\u00a0that, the whole thing makes no\u00a0sense,\u201d he\u00a0said.<\/p>\n

Why would \u2018British intelligence\u2019 or\u00a0Ukraine\u2019s HUR use a\u00a0non-existent journalist from an\u00a0\u2018undesirable\u2019 organization \u2014 someone no\u00a0Russian pilot would ever agree to\u00a0talk\u00a0to? And why would they show a\u00a0photo of\u00a0a\u00a0dead helicopter pilot as\u00a0supposed proof of\u00a0how attractive the offer\u00a0was? The whole thing is\u00a0so\u00a0clumsy that, in\u00a0my\u00a0view, it\u00a0doesn\u2019t deserve further comment.<\/p>\n

The Ukrainian authorities have not commented on\u00a0the FSB\u2019s claims.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Moscow alleged on\u00a0Tuesday that it\u00a0had uncovered an\u00a0operation by\u00a0Ukraine\u2019s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) and its \u201cBritish handlers\u201d to\u00a0hijack a\u00a0Russian…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":564106,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7655],"tags":[332,7888,7883,7886,7875,7868,7880,7870,7881,7887,7876,7864,7871,7865,7873,7874,7866,7869,7867,7885,7879,7872,7884,7882,7878,7877],"class_list":{"0":"post-564105","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-russia","8":"tag-russia","9":"tag-7888","10":"tag-7883","11":"tag-7886","12":"tag-7875","13":"tag-7868","14":"tag-7880","15":"tag-7870","16":"tag-7881","17":"tag-7887","18":"tag-7876","19":"tag-7864","20":"tag-7871","21":"tag-7865","22":"tag-7873","23":"tag-7874","24":"tag-7866","25":"tag-7869","26":"tag-7867","27":"tag-7885","28":"tag-7879","29":"tag-7872","30":"tag-7884","31":"tag-7882","32":"tag-7878","33":"tag-7877"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115532503966414637","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=564105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/564106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=564105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=564105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=564105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}