“Russia wanted to take over Motor Sich back in the early 2010s.” How Vyacheslav Boguslaev became a “Russian agent”
On October 23, the Security Service of Ukraine detained Vyacheslav Boguslayev, president of the Ukrainian company Motor Sich, in Zaporozhye. He is suspected of being involved in the sale of aircraft parts for Russian combat helicopters Ka-52, Mi-8 and Mi-28. Trade in spare parts, affluence, continued after the start of a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The day after the arrest, the SBU published audio recordings Boguslayev’s conversations with the discussion of Russia, which took place in March and May of this year. In a conversation with Anatoly Sitnov, head of the Moscow enterprise “Engines Vladimir Klimov – Motor Sich”, Boguslaev discussed the possibility of supplying spare parts for Russian equipment through third countries – Croatia, Montenegro and Kyrgyzstan. In other conversations, Boguslaev gives approving assessments of the military to the invasion and prestigious Russian missile strikes on the Motor Sich plant.
“Iskander-M” fell on the territory of the plant. We have no malice towards this, absolutely. We understand everything,” Boguslaev says to the recording of the SBU.
Vyacheslav Boguslaev is 83 years old. In 2000 he was awarded the title of “Hero of Ukraine”. Four times in Ukraine, he was a people’s deputy, in particular from the pro-Russian Party of Regions.
The Motor Spirit enterprise is a consequence of the use of serial engines for helicopters and is found in several post-Soviet models. Motor Sich is included in the list of the most important Ukrainian exporters of equipment and payers of taxes to the state budget.
Boguslaev has previously been accused of supplying components for aviation, but he claimed that Russian stockpiles end up in civilian equipment.
What is known about Vyacheslav Boguslav and the Motor Sich enterprise, Sergei Sidorov, head of the Zaporozhye Investigation Center, told Current Time.
– How was it possible that Motor Sich after 2014 – after the start of the war – continued to generate tension in the military?
– Motor Sich has always been such a city within a city. One of Zaporizhia’s close associates – Shevchenkovsky – was built entirely around the plant. Most of the residents of this area work for Motor Sich and a couple of related enterprises.
Over the past few years, things have gone from bad to worse at the plant. People walked slowly: they were dissatisfied with the salary, bonuses, allowances. There was less and less money. Most likely, it was a conscious personnel political prospect to leave only those who hold on to the seat and will not chat.
Actually the information [о сотрудничестве с российской оборонной промышленностью] was heard already after 2014 – after the start of the war in the Donbass. When Poroshenko came in 2014-2015, I myself [бывал тогда на “Мотор Сич”], and there are boxes on which the name of the NGO M.V. was indicated as the recipient. Frunze – that is [завод] Work for the Russian defense industry.
– As journalists wrote about it, deliveries were not suspended? How did it happen?
“The SBU is doing this for us. This means that there was such corruption and political will in the SBU: “Not Americans.” From time immemorial, the SBU has been involved in all six things. It has its own department for the control of factories in the defense sector. The fact that they did not touch Boguslayev from 2014 to 2021 is already a question for them.
– The publication “Our pennies. Zaporozhye” in 2016 wrote that the Russian company “Borisfen”, which through two intermediary firms is the owner of Boguslaev, receives orders to service a special summer detachment of the manager of the President of Russia. Have you heard about it?
– I was one of those who put this news together, delving into the registers in one year. Motor Sich has always had very good representative offices in Russia. The Moscow office of Motor Sich was initially very structured and elaborate. Russia was one of the main clients of Motor Sich. That is why Russia wanted to take over Motor Sich back in the early 2010s.
So this is a question for the Ukrainian authorities – why they started in 2014 not to conduct an experimental investigation into tailings.
– Is physical delivery possible now?
– I think not now. Now the SBU has been shaken up, and in general, Motor Sich is less active.
I think this is a question of the functioning of the middle-level SBU, which control the export of products from the plant. These things go through them.