Russia has thwarted a Ukrainian-British plan to hijack a MiG-31 jet equipped with a hypersonic missile and to use it to carry out a false flag attack on a major NATO airbase, the country’s state security service reported.

The FSB, Russia’s domestic intelligence agency, said in a statement carried by state media on Tuesday that the alleged operation was directed by the main intelligence directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence and “its UK handlers”.

The plot sought to convince a Russian pilot to fly a MiG-31 armed with a Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missile – a key weapon in Moscow’s arsenal – to the Romanian city of Constanta, where NATO is building its largest airbase in Southeastern Europe.

The plane would then be shot down by air defences, providing a “large-scale provocati

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