Russian pilot Nosenko was ready to ‘sell’ his Su-34 Fullback to Kyiv
KYIV, UKRAINE — Russian pilot Roman Nosenko was ready to “sell” his Su-34 Fullback fighter-bomber for $1 million to the Ukrainian armed forces. This reveals a new report that several media outlets are talking about, including the EurAsian Times. The source of the information is Ukrainian volunteer “Bogdan”, who commented on the whole incident in an interview with Yahoo News.
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It all took place at the beginning of last summer almost immediately after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It should be noted that even then it became clear that with the help of its allies, Kiev offers a reward to Russian soldiers who hand over the equipment they operate on the battlefield. However, the story of “Bogdan” is one of the few documented in detail.
“Bogdan” had come up with a complex plan that would bring ultimate success. It involves agents of Ukrainian intelligence. The aim was to convince Roman Nosenko to surrender by landing the Su-34 fighter jet he was piloting at an airport specified by “Bogdan”. The Ukrainian volunteer has offered 1 million USD to the Russian pilot if the action is completed successfully.
Roman Nosenko was a pilot of two combat aircraft – Su-34 Fullback and Su-24 Fencer. Nosenko has shown signs that he is ready to assist in the implementation of the plan. After a series of difficult conversations, described by “Bogdan” as some of the most difficult in his life, he convinces Nosenko to prove that he is who he says he is.
The Russian pilot sends his Ukrainian recruiter photos of the two planes he flies. In the photo with his Su-34, Nosenko is holding up a piece of paper with “339” written on it. This is a requirement from “Bogdan” and a signal from Nonsenko that the information is reliable. At first, Nosenko is very skeptical and does not believe what I am being offered to be true. To ensure the seriousness of the operation, Bogdan sends $2,000 to Nosenko to provide detailed information about the launchers.
Realizing that things were getting more serious, Russian pilot Nosenko wrote: “I will move my family, but what will happen there if this is not a joke? The money is huge. Looks like a scam. What are the guarantees that I will not be scammed? Hell, it’s like a movie.”
While the operation is being prepared, Nosenko gives important information to “Bogdan”. For example, no Russian pilot knows in advance what the target is. Also, no pilot knows in advance where the target is.
Nosenko also provides other information – the type of weapons he carries as payload on his fighters. Very often its payload operates alone, which means using counter-munitions such as Kh-59 cruise missiles or Kh-31P anti-radiation missiles.
Nosenko says that all the operational information of a given task is revealed literally before the flight. This is done for security reasons.
The whole plan involved sedating the co-pilot. The Su-34 is a two-seat fighter-bomber, and for the plan to be fully implemented, the co-pilot had to be “out of the game”. Nosenko had accepted Bogdan’s idea after they took off on a mission for Nosenko to sedate his co-pilot and direct the fighter into airspace outside of Russian control. To accomplish this, Nosenko had to fly his plane at a very high altitude, then descend into uncontrolled Russian airspace.
However, Nosenko continued to have doubts and fears. In one of his conversations with Bohdan, he assured him that he would be much safer if he knew the location of the Ukrainian air defense systems, so that they would be avoided by him to avoid an accident.
The plan also included a second part – taking his family out of Russia with fake passports through channels in Armenia or Belarus. Then they had to be transported to one of the Baltic states in the region.
The plan fails. It is not known whether he would have finished successfully, judging by the cautious actions of the Russian pilot and the doubts that were fighting in his head. The fact is that Russia’s Federal Security Service [FSB] was apparently monitoring the communication and intervened at a moment that foiled the whole plan. Ukraine managed to get only some critical information about the Su-34 and the weapons it uses.
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