Plan: shoot down the plane
Kyiv claims a Russian spy on the general staff has been unmasked
05/02/2022, 12:00 p.m
They allegedly wanted to shoot down a passenger plane and then blame Ukraine for it: However, the Ukrainian government claims to have exposed the alleged Russian spy ring and prevented their plan. What role the CIA plays in this is unclear.
According to their own account, the Ukrainian security authorities have dug up a ring of Russian agents. One of the spies even worked in the Ukrainian general staff, said President Volodymyr Zelenskyj’s adviser Oleksiy Arestovych, according to the Ukrinform agency. He did not provide any information about the exact number of members of the spy ring.
However, Arestovych named one of their alleged goals. “These comrades should shoot down a passenger plane over Russia or Belarus and then blame Ukraine,” he said. Anti-aircraft missiles from Ukrainian stocks should therefore be used for this action.
It is unclear whether foreign secret services – such as the CIA – played a role in the alleged unmasking, as the “Spiegel” reports. The US intelligence services and the White House are very reluctant to comment on the successes or failures of specific missions. But in principle, according to the magazine, the US side has made no secret of the fact that it has been massively supporting the Ukrainians with information from its intelligence services for months.
US President Joe Biden recently stated that the Ukrainian government was being provided with important intelligence information in a timely manner. The aim is to enable the Ukrainians to defend themselves against Russian aggression.