FSB accuses journalist Grozev of plotting to steal Russian aircraft by order of Ukraine

The FSB, Russia’s Security Service, claims Christo Grozev, a journalist for Bellingcat who became famous for investigating the poisoning of Alexey Navalny, is working for Ukraine’s intelligence and helps them plot a theft of Russia’s military aircraft, the agency told RIA Novosti.

The FSB believes that Ukraine’s intelligence has tried to recruit several Russian pilots in exchange for “a 2 million dollar reward and the citizenship of a EU country.” Some Su-24, Su-34, and Tu-22MЗ were the aircraft in question. The plot, they claim, was to “poison the navigator of the target jet with clonidine.” Grozev is alleged to be coordinating a courier that would deliver the substance, as well as the $4,000 advance payment, to the pilots in Lipetsk.

The agency also shared a video where, as they claim, “a Ukrainian intelligence officer speaks with a Russian pilot,” as well as the screenshots of a conversation with the alleged “recruiters.”

“The jet is our target, and you know that well. We are ready to pay for it. Our parliament’s website says that we pay a million dollars for this sort of thing officially,” a man in the video says. There is no evidence that he works for Ukraine’s intelligence, however.