Sounds like a Tom Clancy style conspiracy gone badly wrong. Its a long but interesting read. Its still from the Russian media, so take it with context in mind.
Early in the ongoing conflict, Kiev compiled a publicly available list of military hardware, promising monetary rewards for potential defectors who managed to bring the equipment with them. The more elaborate the weapons were, the better the rewards that were promised, with warplanes, helicopters and tanks fetching the top prize of up to $1 million.
Only up to $1 million for high treason? That's too cheap. BTW, the Russians are not that desperate for Western currency.
A Su-34 pilot targeted in the plot told RT that he was initially reluctant to speak with the Ukrainian spies, believing the promise of $1 million for stealing warplanes and defecting to Kiev to be a prank. After realizing his interlocutors were serious about the proposal, he tipped off Russian intelligence, which then monitored subsequent conversations.
“Initially, of course, I took it as a joke, but after a period of talking it became clear that I was dealing with representatives of the Ukrainian intelligence service and their Western partners,” the pilot said. “Also, I was supposed to get passports of European states and a comfortable life abroad was promised.”
Yes, the Ukrainians and the Western intelligence are a joke these days.
“They believed so much in the possibility of organizing the hijacking that they revealed the layout of their defense systems, altitude maps, and lots of other useful information to us,” the Russian pilot said, adding that the information obtained from the Ukrainians was used during the military operation.
If true, then this is perhaps the biggest intelligence coup the Russians had pulled off in a long time. Turning the tables on the enemy's malicious covert action.
The middleman claimed he had received orders directly from Christo Grozev, a Bulgarian journalist and chief ‘Russia investigator’ with Bellingcat, a controversial US-government-funded organization that was labeled “undesirable” in Russia earlier in July. Moscow has repeatedly questioned the independence of the investigative group, citing its close ties with Western intelligence agencies.
Bellingcat has always been shady. Didn't know they would actively participate in covert activities. Because Christo Grozev is such a screw up, the FSB don't need to assassinate him. He is much more useful alive than dead.
“Obviously, the operation itself was carried out with the support of Western and, primarily, British intelligence services. We know about Grozev’s involvement and MI6 not only from these statements,” the operative claimed, adding that Ukrainian intelligence had recently “ceased hiding” its ties with foreign spies.
No special agent 007. Just Christo Grozev.