Russian secret service operation in Ukraine blown up: Also because of "lover too hot"

Created: 2022-08-03 04:56

By: Marcus Giebel

Russian pilots were at the center of this showdown by the secret services: in the Ukraine war, both sides are said to have secretly fed each other false information.

© IMAGO / SNA

Apparently, Ukrainians wanted to persuade Russian pilots to switch sides.

The FSB tried to use this for its own purposes.

But this endeavor went terribly wrong.

Munich - In the Ukraine war is fought with all means.

And no matter how dirty they are.

After all, it's all about one goal: somehow bringing the opponent to his knees.

The general public is not aware of most of the chosen paths to the hoped-for success.

Especially when the secret services have their hands on it.

The situation is different when the FSB is deployed against the Ukrainians, about which investigative journalist Christo Grosew from the research

reports in detail on Twitter.

Vladimir Putin's covert supporters thought they were secretly duping the other side, but Ukrainian agents simply turned the tables.

Ukraine war: FSB accuses opposite side and journalist of "aircraft hijacking plan".

Grozev's thread was triggered by the FSB's announcement that it had "frustrated a conspiracy by the Ukrainian secret services".

The aim was to persuade Russian military pilots to surrender and make their planes available in return for payment of millions.

The Bulgarian journalist goes on to say that the Russian media have accused him of being part of this "hijacking plan".

In this context, he accuses the FSB of “a traditional mixture of falsified 'evidence' and loosely interpreted facts”.

He only played a passive part and felt like a "documentary filmmaker" who "recorded one of the craziest counter-counter Intel operations of all time".

It is about "triple agents, fake passports and fake girlfriends".

Russian fighter plane in its element: Ukrainian ex-agents apparently wanted to win various pilots over to their side.

© IMAGO / SNA

Secret service operation in Ukraine: FSB is said to have involuntarily disclosed identities

Grosew considers the mission "a serious mistake by the FSB".

He "unintentionally disclosed the identities of dozens of counterintelligence officers, their operational methods, and their covert means."

This ignominy began with a "law on the inducement of the sale of weapons" passed in Ukraine in April.

As can be seen from an attached list, a combat aircraft would be worth one million US dollars, a combat helicopter 500,000 US dollars, and five-digit sums are being offered for missile systems.

also read

Putin's "lie" exposed: how the Russian economy is really doing

Because of Putin: the President of Poland raises the most serious allegations against ex-Chancellor Merkel - "I was stunned"

As a result, Ukrainian ex-agents decided to approach Russian fighter pilots on the basis of this law and try to convince them to defect.

aware of this and followed further developments.

Several of the Russian military officers approached even responded with videos and photos from their planes, some of which, according to Grozev, were "very detailed and revealing".

Interestingly, the investigative journalist continues, the FSB speaks of “controlled leaks” in retrospect.

However, the corresponding images of the aircraft's interior would be made unrecognizable in TV programs.

So they don't seem to be intended for every eye after all.

Spy thriller in the Ukraine war: Russian pilot passed off FSB agent as his lover

Bellingcat

observed the "negotiations" - as Grosew calls them - between Ukrainians and Russian pilots.

These quickly developed in such a way that the suspicion arose that the latter had been "coached" - presumably from the ranks of the FSB.

The Ukrainian negotiators became suspicious, for example, when a pilot asked that his mistress, rather than his wife, be taken out of Russia.

Grosew writes that he himself found out within five minutes that the alleged lover was an FSB agent.

Incidentally, it was "much too hot" for the pilot.

During the day the woman works as a fitness trainer, but on the side she is hired by the FSB as a friend for various cases.

This was also not hidden from the Ukrainian interlocutors.

On top of that, her alleged aviator friend was surprised that she already had a passport, was in Istanbul a few months ago and in Barcelona a year earlier.

FSB in the Ukraine war: Supposed lover makes drama about lost passport

However, the lady did not want to know anything about this passport when she spoke to the Ukrainians and asked them to issue her a new one.

According to Grozev, the FSB wanted to check to what extent Ukrainians would support their compatriots.

However, they advised her to report her passport as lost.

When the pilot was then asked why the passport had just now been lost, he replied: "Your ex-boyfriend tore it up." Grosew teases: "The FSB version of 'Dog ate homework'." The

- Reporters also found a contact between this lover and a military counterintelligence officer of the FSB.

In another case, according to the investigative journalist, it got even crazier.

One of the Russian pilots asked the Ukrainians for advice on putting his co-pilot out of action with a sedative.

Video: More than 75,000 Russian soldiers killed or injured, according to US information

Intelligence battle over Russian pilots: 'Don't want the same thing happening to us as the Skripals'

Even more conspicuous was a pilot who wanted new ID cards for his entire family so as not to leave any traces behind, because: "I don't want the same thing to happen to us as the Skripals did." To the former Russian agent Sergej Skripal, who defected to British MI6 was poisoned in the UK, as was his daughter Julija.

However, both survived after passers-by spotted them unconscious on a park bench and called for help.

But back to the completely screwed up FSB mission.

Grosew also dug up an intelligence officer in charge of the pilots.

He likes to present his vehicle on Instagram - of course with a fully photographed license plate.

That looks like a higher level of intelligence.

Ukraine war marked by the secret services: false information is exchanged for false information

In any case, for all of these reasons, the Ukrainians, who are voluntarily acting ex-agents, are also concerned that they are being fooled by the other side.

The double game of both sides began, from now on, according to Grosew, it was about "eliciting as much information as possible from the other and feeding him as much false information as possible".

The Ukrainians presented the pilots with false maps of anti-aircraft operations and false information about the runways used.

In return, presumably fake information about take-offs and landings came from Russia.

Secret services in the Ukraine war: In this operation, both sides emerge as losers

Grozev even reports that the Ukrainians were so persuasive that the FSB sent a pilot's wife - complete with its own surveillance team - to a scheduled meeting in Minsk to speak with Ukrainian negotiators.

In the Belarusian capital, the Russians waited in vain for a full four days.

Ultimately, the FSB found that no agents from the other side would be persuaded to meet.

The Ukrainians also realized that they would not encourage pilots to defect.

Grosew speaks of an "unexpected end", but does not consider a sequel to be out of the question.

Every good espionage thriller gets that too.

On top of that, there have only been losers on both sides so far - and of course nobody wants to fill this role.

Especially not in times of war.