Russia Says It Foiled Ukrainian Plot to Hijack Strategic Bomber.

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has announced that it thwarted a Ukrainian plot to recruit a pilot to defect with a supersonic strategic bomber jet. The FSB alleges that Ukrainian agents offered money and the prospect of Italian citizenship to the pilot in exchange for flying a Tu-22M3 plane to Ukraine. The FSB also accused unspecified NATO countries' security services of involvement. The FSB claims to have obtained information that allowed the Russian military to attack the Ozerne air force base in northwestern Ukraine, but the fate of the pilot remains unknown. Ukraine has not yet responded to the allegations. The Tu-22M3 bomber is a modernized version of a Soviet-era jet that Russia uses to launch long-range missiles against targets in Ukraine. [Extracted from the article]