In a newly-released film, Russian President Vladimir Putin says he ordered a suspected terrorist-controlled plane to be shot down — and then countermanded the order when terrorist reports were shown to be unfounded.
As Reuters reports, the passenger plane was believed to be en route to the Sochi Olympic Games to execute a terrorist attack on Feb. 7, 2014. The film “Putin” documents the Russian president saying he was told on that day that a civilian aircraft with a flight plan from Ukraine to Turkey had been re-routed by a hijacker with a bomb.
“I was told: A plane en route from Ukraine to Istanbul was seized, captors demand landing in Sochi,” Putin says in the film according to Reuters.
The movie records Putin relating to Audrey Kondrashov, his current press secretary, “I told them: act according to the plan.”
The plane was carrying 110 passengers while 40,000 people were watching the opening day of the Olympics.
But before Russian MIGs could reach their target, the terrorst threat turned out to be bogus; the disturbance on-board the aircraft was due to a drunken passenger.
The account has been confirmed by a Kremlin spokesman, Fox News reports.
”Putin” is hitting Russian theaters just in time for the March 18 presidential election — that Putin is widely expected to win with or without a hagiographic movie release.
