Russia planned to shoot down Aeroflot plane to justify invasion — SBU

Russia planned to shoot down an Aeroflot airliner to justify the invasion of Ukraine claims the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). The SBU head Valentyn Nalyvaichenko reported on the findings at a press conference on Thursday, August 7, reports Ukrainska Pravda. According to Nalyvaichenko, the Russian plane was following the same air corridor at approximately the same time as the Malaysian Boeing. It was flight AFL-2074 on the Moscow-Larnaca route, filled with vacationing Russian citizens. It was for this specific reason that the "Buk" missile system, directed by a Russian crew, was delivered to Ukraine. As Nalyvaichenko explained, the Malaysian Boeing-777 was flying at the height of 10,000 meters, and the Aeroflot airliner was to fly at an altitude of 11,600 meters. The "Buk" missile system, which functions on much higher altitudes, was necessary to destroy the Russian airliner. Nalyvaichenko explained that this complex was to be set up in the village of Pervomaisk, 20 km west of Donetsk, but "because the experts weren't locals" they confused the location and transported the "Buk"  to a village further away with the same name, located northeast of Donetsk. " The Aeroflot airliner was to be struck from the originally planned location, so that it fell on the territory controlled by Ukraine's armed forces. This terrorist act was cynically planned as a pretext for launching open aggression caused by the mass destruction of innocent Russians," he said. According to Nalyvaichenko, the terrorists, including their leader Igor Girkin, expected a full-scale deployment of Russian troops in Ukraine during the night of July 18, UNIAN reports. In fact, it was on July 18 that Russian media began to report on the supposed shelling of Russian territory by Ukrainian troops. When asked why in the SBU's radio intercepts the terrorists believed that they had shot down a military transport aircraft of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Nalyvaichenko answered that terrorists at the lower levels were not privy to the real plans. He noted that the terrorist leader Igor Bezler (Bes) reported to Russian security services that the attack had been carried out and then was summoned to Moscow. The SBU wants to question the people who summoned him, Nalyvaichenko said. He also pointed out that the terrorist Girkin had plans to blow up residential buildings. "When one terrorist act didn't work, it was to be replaced by another," he said. Compiled and translated by Anna Mostovych Sources: Pravda, UNIAN