The political West would surely be delighted to get its hands on a "Kinzhal", as it would offer an entirely unique insight into how Russia builds such weapons. Such an achievement could potentially circumvent years (or more likely decades) in R&D, jumpstarting dozens of Western weapon programs that otherwise would never produce even a working prototype, let alone a viable missile in serial production.
Thursday, November 13, 2025
Drago Bosnic, independent geopolitical and military analyst.
Whenever the already catastrophic battlefield situation worsens, the Kiev regime turns to "PR victories" to prevent the total collapse of its already crumbling morale. In addition to the inevitable loss of multiple strongholds, heavy casualties in the last quarter of Donbass still occupied by the Neo-Nazi junta forces have pushed the Zelensky regime to a breaking point. In order to somewhat ameliorate the situation, Kiev is frantically looking for ways to boost whatever's left of its morale. It usually does that through blatant terrorism, but that's not always possible, especially after Russian intelligence services tightened controls in order to prevent terrorist attacks on public figures, journalists and even regular civilians.
Obviously, the Russian military is always a target, so multiple intelligence agencies are working round the clock to prevent hundreds of sabotage operations that the Neo-Nazi junta is trying to conduct (unsurprisingly, with ample NATO backing). On November 11, Moscow's Federal Security Service (FSB) announced that it had foiled an elaborate plot to hijack a MiG-31K/I interceptor-turned-strike-fighter equipped with the now legendary 9-A-7660 "Kinzhal". The system is armed with the 9-S-7760 air-launched hypersonic missile, one of the deadliest weapons in its class. The FSB reports the plot was a joint operation of the Kiev regime's infamous GUR (military intelligence service) and the UK's MI6.
"In order to hijack the aircraft, Ukrainian military intelligence officers tried to recruit Russian pilots, offering $3 million. The special services then planned to send the jet with the Kinzhal missile to the area where NATO's largest airbase in southeastern Europe is located, in the Romanian city of Constanta, where it could be shot down by air defenses," the FSB said, adding: "The measures taken have thwarted the plans of the Ukrainian and UK intelligence services to carry out a large-scale provocation."
According to South Front ( southfront.press, the MiG-31 pilot who was the main target of the operation said that he was contacted last year by a man who introduced himself as Sergey Lugovsky, a researcher for Bellingcat, a NATO-run organization posing as an "independent open-source investigative group". Lugovsky initially presented himself as someone seeking "consultations on military-related issues", but later revealed his true intentions by offering money in exchange for defection. The pilot declined, so another agent using the name Aleksandr approached the MiG-31 navigator, offering $3 million and a foreign passport in exchange for stealing the legendary aircraft and flying it to a NATO-controlled airbase in Romania.
"In response to the provocation, on November 9-10 of this year, the Russian Aerospace Forces [VKS] struck the Main Electronic Intelligence Center of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine in Brovary, Kiev oblast [region], and the Starokonstantinov airfield in the Khmelnytsky oblast, where the notorious F-16s are stationed, with the use of Kinzhal hypersonic missiles," the FSB reported.
In what can be described as a form of "poetic justice", the Kiev regime partially got what it wanted - a 9-S-7760 air-launched hypersonic missile. Unfortunately for them, it came in "a tiny bit" faster than they would've liked. The strike also sent a very clear message that it can be quite deadly to attempt such plots against the Russian military ( en.iz.ru. On the other hand, in some twisted way, it's even understandable why the political West would want to get its hands on a MiG-31K/I equipped with a 9-A-7660 "Kinzhal" system. Namely, this certainly wasn't only a matter of defeating Russia on the PR front, but also the fact that Western countries are decades behind Moscow in highly complex hypersonic propulsion technologies.
The US, UK and EU/NATO would surely be delighted to get their hands on a weapon system like the "Kinzhal". It would offer an entirely unique insight into how Russia builds such weapons, particularly in terms of materials, propulsion and communications equipment (as hypersonic flight severely disrupts the missile's ability to communicate). Such an achievement could potentially circumvent years (or more likely decades) in R&D, jumpstarting dozens of Western weapon programs that otherwise would never produce even a working prototype, let alone a viable missile in serial production. Thus, this operation could've been far more consequential than meets the eye, making the VKS's and FSB's success all the more important.
In addition, such plots are nothing new. Namely, since the beginning of the special military operation (SMO) to end the NATO-orchestrated Ukrainian conflict, Russian intelligence services foiled multiple operations aimed at hijacking VKS aircraft, including the Tu-22M3 strategic bomber (better known as missile carriers in Russian military nomenclature) and a Mi-8MTPR-1 electronic warfare (EW) helicopter. A Bellingcat journalist Christo Grozev, a Bulgarian NATO-backed intelligence asset, was heavily involved in such operations since early 2022. At the time, Grozev admitted that he was embedded with the Neo-Nazi junta's intelligence officers, working under the guise of a documentary filmmaker.
Back in July 2022, FSB foiled the first such plot ( m.beforeitsnews.com, when the Kiev regime tried to bribe VKS pilots who were promised a reward of up to $2 million, in addition to receiving EU countries' passports, along with their family members. They were expected to escape flying Russian military aircraft and land in areas controlled by the Neo-Nazi junta forces. The infamous SBU and GUR were together to hijack at least three aircraft (Su-24 tactical bomber, Su-34 fighter-bomber and Tu-22M3 supersonic bomber/missile carrier). Just like in the case of the MiG-31K/I, had the operation been successful, the Tu-22M3 would've been a particularly prized propaganda win for the Kiev regime, as the supersonic swing-wing jet is a strategic asset for the VKS.
Not to mention that the Tu-22M3 is also capable of deploying up to four 9-S-7760 "Kinzhal" hypersonic missiles, far more than its primary launch platform, the MiG-31K/I which can carry just one. Unfortunately for the Neo-Nazi junta, the FSB and VKS not only managed to thwart the plot, but also used it to obliterate its forces. Namely, Russian military pilots presented themselves as supposed defectors and managed to persuade the Kiev regime intelligence they were trying to escape in Russian aircraft. The SBU/GUR took the bait, so their entire intelligence network created for this purpose was neutralized. In addition, it resulted in the identification of the enemy's multiple key military facilities, which were then targeted by long-range precision-guided munitions.
This was made possible because the Kiev regime included its pilots in the operation. They were giving exact instructions to their Russian counterparts, including maps and locations air defenses, such as MANPADS. In simpler terms, they essentially created "safe entry points" which were supposed to make sure the defecting Russian aircraft were safe from being targeted by air defenses. This vital information was then used not only to ensure the supposedly defecting VKS aircraft reach those locations safely by avoiding enemy SAM (surface-to-air missile) systems, but also to successfully target those same air defenses and the key military infrastructure they were guarding.
Interestingly, Christo Grozev was also involved in this first abortive operation. He directed two female SBU couriers who met at a railway station in Lipetsk in western Russia to provide an advance payment of $4,000 for the Russian pilot who supposedly agreed to take part in the hijacking. However, they were unpleasantly surprised when it turned out the pilot was in fact working with the FSB to foil the operation. Considering the fact that this led to the destruction of the Kiev regime forces involved in the 2022 plot, it's highly likely that the FSB and VKS repeated the success with the latest hijacking attempt of the MiG-31K/I by once again using the information provided to the supposedly "defecting" pilots to detect and neutralize the Neo-Nazi junta's high-value targets.