Russia foils Ukraine bid to hijack Tu-22M3 strategic bomber, security service says

A Tupolev Tu-22M3 Backfire strategic bomber takes off during joint exercises of Russia and Belarus on Feb. 9, 2022. (AFP file photo)
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Updated 08 July 2024
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Russia foils Ukraine bid to hijack Tu-22M3 strategic bomber, security service says

  • ‘Ukrainian intelligence intended to recruit a Russian military pilot for a monetary reward and the provision of Italian citizenship’

Officers of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) blocked an attempt by Ukraine to organize the hijack of a Russian Tu-22M3 strategic bomber, the service said on Monday.

“Ukrainian intelligence intended to recruit a Russian military pilot for a monetary reward and the provision of Italian citizenship, to persuade him to fly and land a missile carrier in Ukraine,” the FSB said on its website.

Reuters could not independently verify the details. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.

During the operation, Russia received information that helped Russian forces to strike the Ozerne airfield in northwestern Ukraine, the FSB added in its statement.

The timings of the operation and the alleged strikes on the Ozerne airfield in Ukraine’s Zhytomyr were both unclear.


Changes to US security strategy ‘largely consistent’ with Russia’s vision: Kremlin

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Changes to US security strategy ‘largely consistent’ with Russia’s vision: Kremlin

MOSCOW: Russia has welcomed changes in the US National Security Strategy, saying the adjustments that marked a radical departure from Washington’s previous policy were “largely consistent” with Moscow’s vision.
Washington’s new National Security Strategy, published early Friday, took aim at allies in Europe, calling it over-regulated, lacking in “self-confidence” and facing “civilizational erasure” due to immigration.
The document stated that the United States would also prevent other powers from dominating but added: “This does not mean wasting blood and treasure to curtail the influence of all the world’s great and middle powers.”
Commenting on the new US strategy, the Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the current US administration was “fundamentally different from the previous ones.”
“The adjustments we’re seeing, I would say, are largely consistent with our vision,” Peskov said in an interview with state TV station Rossiya aired Sunday.
“President Trump is currently strong in terms of domestic political positions. And this gives him the opportunity to adjust the concept to suit his vision,” Peskov added.
The publication of the updated security strategy came as officials from Kyiv held talks in Florida with Trump’s envoys on the US-drafted plan to end the near four-year war in Ukraine.
Three days of talks produced no apparent breakthrough.
President Volodymyr Zelensky committed to further negotiations toward “real peace,” as Russia in the early hours of Saturday launched another series of drone and missile strikes at Ukraine.
Zelensky is due to meet with European leaders — French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz — in London on Monday to take stock of the negotiations.