DISINFO: FSB Foils attempted false flag operation involving a Mig31
SUMMARY
Russia’s FSB thwarted a joint Ukrainian-British operation to hijack a Russian MiG-31 armed with a hypersonic Kinzhal missile. Kyiv and London were preparing a large-scale provocation involving this stolen aircraft with Ukrainian intelligence trying to bribe Russian pilots with USD 3 million to fly the MiG-31 toward the NATO base area in Constanța, Romania, where it could be shot down by air defenses.
RESPONSE
This pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative alleges the set up of a false flag incident, aiming to undermine Western support for Ukraine.
Allegations made by Russian intelligence services - such as this one - cannot be considered reliable, given their proven history of making unsubstantiated claims based on fake or non-existent proof, for example about US biolaboratories in Ukraine or the presence of French combat troops on the Ukrainian frontline.
Accusing the West of staging false-flag provocations is a standard Russian FIMI tactic: deny the obvious, deflect blame, and accuse adversaries of orchestrating events for covert purposes.
The spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania Andrei Ţărnea reacted on to the claims of the Federal Security Service of Russia (FSB), which pretended to have thwarted a plot by Ukrainian and British spies related to the Mihail Kogălniceanu military base.
"Soviet spy novels weren't exactly brilliant, being propaganda exercises. So are Russian news stories made up with spies today. What is real, however, is Russian aggression and the Russian challenges that these stories with planes and spies try to cover up," Andrei Țărnea wrote on the X platform.
See more disinformation cases on Ukrainian intelligence. See other examples of similar disinformation narratives about alleged “anti-Russian” provocations here.